When Hype Goes Horribly Wrong
Over the decades, publishers have tried everything from bribing parents to staging fake crimes just to get your attention for a few seconds. While most of these stunts were meant to be edgy or "viral" before that was even a common term, they usually ended up confusing and weird. With that in mind, here are 20 times video game companies went too far.
1. The Turok Name Change Challenge
In 2002, Acclaim offered $10,000 to whoever changed their name to Turok in order to promote their game, Turok: Evolution. Apparently, someone actually agreed, along with four other people who also took Acclaim up on their “generous” offer… but really, no one understood what they were trying to accomplish with that promotion.
2. Dante’s Inferno Fake Protest
EA hired protesters to protest Dante’s Inferno because they wanted attention drawn to the violent aspects of their game. Many speculated that EA paid these people because the signs referenced pop culture one read “Hell is not a book." Which you generally don’t see in legitimate protests.
3. Resident Evil 6 Market
To give fans a "taste" of the zombie apocalypse, Capcom opened a pop-up butcher shop in London that sold meat shaped like human body parts. While the items were actually made of pork and beef, the sight of edible hands and torsos sitting in a display case was a bit much for many passersby.
4. Shadow Man Second Coming on Gravestones
Acclaim makes a second appearance on this list for a plan that was genuinely morbid even by 2002 standards. They announced they would pay "poorer families" to place small advertisements for their horror game on tombstones. Unsurprisingly, the Church of England and the general public weren't thrilled about the idea of turning cemeteries into billboard space.
5. Homefront’s Balloon Disaster
THQ released red balloons over San Francisco to promote Homefront, as red was their game’s theme color. Since they floated away into the bay, animals were eating rubber, and locals were not happy about it. Professional crews had to dive in and fish all the balloons out of San Francisco Bay themselves.
6. Splinter Cell’s Fake Gun Scare
A marketing firm in New Zealand thought it would be a great idea to have an actor dressed as Sam Fisher point a fake weapon at patrons in a crowded bar. Because the weapon looked incredibly realistic, the police were called immediately. It’s a miracle no one was hurt.
7. The God of War Goat Party
Sony celebrated the launch of God of War II by sacrificing a goat. They held an event in Greece and let guests get way too involved to play tribute to the game’s violent themes. When photos got leaked to the press, they had to recall an entire magazine publication to censor the event.
Constantinos Kollias on Unsplash
8. Burnout 2 Speeding Ticket Reimbursement
Acclaim promised to pay anyone’s speeding ticket issued on Burnout 2’s launch day, effectively asking players to speed everywhere to get a free ticket. This resulted in government officials intervening and telling them to cancel their promotion.
9. Watch Dogs Explosive Incident
Ubisoft sent out mysterious black safes to several media outlets to promote Watch Dogs. But they forgot to include instructions on how to open them. One reporter heard a beeping sound coming from the box and, naturally, called the police and evacuated the whole building.
10. The Skyrim Baby Contest
Bethesda urged fans to name their newborn children born on November 11th “Dovahkiin” in order to win a lifetime supply of video games. One couple even took them up on their dumb offer. That poor kid.
11. Mafia Wars Glued Money
Zynga thought they were being clever by gluing fake $25,000 bills to the sidewalks of San Francisco and New York to promote their Facebook game. Since the money was stuck to the ground, people couldn't pick it up, which city departments classified as illegal vandalism rather than street art.
12. Virtua Tennis Painted Pigeons
In one of the most confusing stunts ever, Acclaim painted the Virtua Tennis logo onto the wings of homing pigeons and released them over Wimbledon. They hoped the birds would land on the court during a match, but the pigeons mostly just flew away.
viswaprem anbarasapandian on Unsplash
13. Dead Space 2’s "Your Mom Hates This"
The marketing for Dead Space 2 focused entirely on showing middle-aged mothers reacting with pure horror to the game's most disgusting scenes. The tagline "Your mom hates Dead Space 2" was meant to make the game look rebellious and cool to teenage boys. While it was a funny concept, it was also very weird.
14. Daikatana’s Aggressive Poster
Before Daikatana even came out, a famous print ad featured some explicit text. The ad was meant to bank on Romero's rockstar status in the industry, but it came across as incredibly arrogant to the fans.
15. Mercenaries 2 Free Gas Frenzy
Wanting to capitalize on a game about an oil war, EA decided to gift one unlucky London pumping station 34,000 pounds of free gas. The ensuing traffic jam took hours to clear, and local politicians were not amused. Typical EA.
16. Call of Duty’s Fake Attack Tweets
In a cringe-worthy attempt at advertisement, Call of Duty announced an attack was happening in Singapore on Twitter. The posts were disguised as news alerts. Obviously, these were quickly deleted after sparking panic.
17. Mass Effect 3 Discs in Space
EA sent up multiple copies of Mass Effect 3 into space with attachable tracking devices so players could follow them and find them when they land. Fun concept! But most discs landed either too far or into private property.
18. Hitman: Absolution Facebook Hits
A promotional app for Hitman allowed you to "put a hit" on your Facebook friends for silly reasons like having "bad hair" or "boring status updates." The app would then send them a video of Agent 47. It was quickly pulled down because it essentially provided a tool for cyberbullying.
19. The N-Gage "Side-Talking" Models
When Nokia tried to enter the gaming market with the N-Gage, they hired models at trade shows to walk around with the price of the device written on their skin. This was already considered pretty tasteless. It didn't help that the device itself required you to hold it sideways to talk, looking like a taco.
20. Sony’s Human Scavenger Hunt
In another gruesome attempt to promote Resident Evil, Sony hid "body" parts around several major cities for fans to find. The idea was to create a zombie-themed scavenger hunt, but it mostly just resulted in people finding realistic-looking ears and fingers in public parks.
