1. Call of Duty Black Ops 3- About a week or two before the game was released, the official Call of Duty Twitter changed it's handle to something along the lines of "Current Events Aggregate". This stunt failed to capture any positive attention after posting a completely dry tweet about a military attack (which was an event in the game franchise). Due to the recent ISIS troubles, this stunt was criticized as irresponsible. Also, it couldn't hurt to go back to writing class.
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| This alone makes me feel like I'm in Grammar Nazi mode. |
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2- This video is a commercial for the game. it is a giant double entendre called "Everybody's Doing It". Basically, it is a giant joke about ]how people fill their natural desires. The United Kingdom was displeased and their council on advertising standards ordered a shortened commercial.
3. Deus Ex Mankind Divided- Square Enix thought it would be a bright idea to offer a kickstarter-esque promotion to entice pre-orders: The more pre-orders the larger the rewards. Let's just leave the tier system for the smaller guys. At first it seemed like a good way for Square Enix to ensure they can make a profit. Then you realize it's a desperate attempt to beat out the competitors.
4. Mercenaries 2 World in Flames- EA decided to offer free gas at a certain refilling station in the uk. There were 2 failures. First of all, there were predictably a large number of people looking for free gas causing economic burns. Secondly, lines at the gas station got so bad it backed up traffic for about 4 hours. Free gas is free gas I guess. And besides, I know not everyone is a fan of Electronic Arts, so even if I had the strongest boycott on them I would bring all the gas cans and cars in our house over there and I would do it out of spite (hooray for doing ridiculous things out of spite!).
5. Burnout 2 Point of Impact- Publisher Acclaim Entertainment told UK drivers that they would be willing to pay off any speeding tickets on the day of the game's release. The government responded critically stating that the promotion encouraged reckless driving. Acclaim cancelled the promotion before the fire mushroomed. Believe me, those people have done far worse in promotional stunts.
6. Watch Dogs- This stunt involved a mysterious safe hidden in Chicago. A bomb squad was sent down to the location, and upon opening it, copies of the game and various promotional material was discovered. Well Ubisoft, that was certainly an idiotic move. I would at least hope that the cops were generous enough to give out the said promotional material.
7. Xbox- This video "Life is Short" is a graphic advertisement (there's a reason why I did not embed this video into the blog post). It depicts a boy's aging process in a speedy fashion. It starts off with a baby boy literally flying out of his mother (like a cannonball), with each camera cut aging him a few years at a time until he is an old man and lands right in his grave. At least Microsoft was being creative.
8. Dead Island- This was actually a pre order bonus, but it still revolted people. Pre-orders in the UK would come with a model of a woman's bust (Note: Link contains images that may be considered Not safe for work. Proceed at your own discretion.) with nothing but swimming garments and a zombie bite on a shoulder, People were not as shocked at the gore as much as they were shocked with how sexualized the product was. As far as I know of, the bonuses were removed. It might be a funny novelty, but really? I think we can all agree that this product is unnecessary.
9. Playstation 2 and their magazine ads- This is a link to a Kotaku slideshow filled with cringe worthy photos. Before you just click on that link, this contains some images not safe for work and are pretty gross (Believe me, I nearly vomited. Don't take it as a challenge). I think that it is self explanatory why these would not work out (Good luck explaining to your moms that it is a gaming magazine). If you don't feel like losing your lunch, I understand. Take a look at All I Want for Xmas is a PSP (I embedded the video below. The worst that can happen is you go deaf today). The worst part is that what seems like a fan video was actually produced by Sony, and they tried to pass it off as some fan's sloppy tribute video, make it go viral, and boost PSP sales. I'm sorry that this passive form of pressure is going to guilt you into experiencing this:
10. Dead Space 2- Your Mom Hates This. That's the name of the publicity stunt. Imagine a Fine Bros React video. This is pretty much what was done, except researchers for EA showed Moms clips from Dead Space 2. Even though the campaign was a considerable success, it is something that should not have happened given it exploits how desensitized gamers are and also, as far as I know about the game details, the participants did not know what they were about to watch.
I'm not saying pre-orders or publicity stunts are bad. For me, I'll pre-order a title if I find worth in the promised bonus. I pre-ordered Quantum Break (so far an excellent game), but mostly because of the part where you get a free copy of Alan Wake (and since I ordered from Amazon, also Alan Wake's American Nightmare). Sometimes, a preorder is really nothing worth noting. Take for instance Call of Duty Black Ops 3 with their Nuk3town bonus map, which was later released for free to all gamers. Advertising when used correctly can make a game seem much more enticing, such as in the case of Halo 2's viral marketing campaign: I Love Bees. This sort of advertising is memorable for the right reasons. Let's hope for a future of equally good advertising and that we don't have to put up with any more of this nonsense. If you want to know about more bad preoder bonuses and advertising campaigns click here, here, here, and here.
Game on
-Jacob Bacci
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