Ben Affleck had a very specific way of handling fame in the late 90s. Speaking on the October 12 episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor and director said that Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft took over his life right after he became famous, to the point that he barely left the house for three years.
The topic came up during the show's rapid-fire questions at the end of the episode, when Horowitz asked Affleck to name his favorite video game of all time, or the one that "sucked the most life" out of him. Affleck called it a hard question before landing on his answer. "There was a game called StarCraft that probably took the most life out of me for a period of time," he said. "I had just got famous and all I did was stay home for three years and play StarCraft."
Check out the full episode below:
Perfect Timing For A StarCraft Habit
The timeline lines up almost perfectly. Good Will Hunting, which Affleck co-wrote with Matt Damon, hit theaters in December 1997, and the two won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in March 1998. StarCraft launched on PC at the end of that same month, and the Brood War expansion followed later in 1998. For a newly famous 25-year-old who suddenly couldn't go anywhere without being recognized, a real-time strategy game with three very different factions to master was an easy way to disappear.
He was in good company. StarCraft went on to become one of the best-selling PC games of its era and practically launched professional esports in South Korea, where pro players became household names. Blizzard followed it with StarCraft II in 2010 and released StarCraft: Remastered in 2017, and the series is still active today with the StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game from Archon Studio.
Affleck also has a soft spot for the whole genre. He said he likes "real-time strategy, civilization building style" games, which he feels have "sort of gone out of style," and named StarCraft as one of the best examples.
Valorant Is Much Less Kind To Him
Affleck is still playing games today, but the competition has gotten a lot tougher. He called Riot Games' Valorant a great game before explaining the problem with it. Kids who grew up playing it keep crushing him, and he admitted he sometimes gets mad enough to ask if they are cheating, only for an 11-year-old to fire back an insult. "It's very humiliating," he said, while still calling it "a great game."
He also named NBA 2K and Madden as favorites, though 2K at home comes with its own humiliation. He gets to play it with his 14-year-old son and lose, and his son beats him and then mocks him for it. Affleck said "it's all I can do not to get really petty and competitive."
Doom Breaks While Writing Good Will Hunting
Long before StarCraft, there was Doom. Affleck said he and Damon were playing it back when they were writing Good Will Hunting, adding "I remember writing and taking these long breaks to play Doom." He called it a great game and credited it with paving the way for Quake.
He also gave a shout-out to Myst, which he called "a fabulous game" with great storytelling, and said there is an opportunity for somebody to make something like it again. His gaming history goes all the way back to the arcades, too. Affleck said he played Donkey Kong, Tetris, and Ms. Pac-Man "for tens of millions of hours" as a kid, and he still owns a stand-up Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet.
The podcast covered much more than games. Affleck was on the show to promote Animals, the thriller he co-wrote, directed, and stars in alongside Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, and Steven Yeun, which began streaming on Netflix on October 9. Horowitz noted it was the final conversation of Affleck's press tour, and the actor also talked about his directing career, Justice League, Gone Girl, and passing on the chance to direct a Star Wars movie.
Would you rather see Affleck show off his StarCraft skills in a show match against a pro, or try to get revenge on those Valorant kids?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.