SimCity's Toothpaste Partnership Gets Off to a Sparkling Start

[Andy Chalk]

SimCity's Toothpaste Partnership Gets Off to a Sparkling Start

It's the most obvious corporate partnership ever - buy some toothpaste and get free SimCity DLC!

Wait a minute. This isn't an obvious partnership at all. In fact, it makes no sense whatsoever. Free DLC with the purchase of qualifying dental hygiene products? Has Crest become the Mountain Dew of toothpaste? Is Oral B the hippest toothbrush in town? I don't get it.

I suppose I should explain. Gamers in the U.S. who purchase a specially-marked Crest or Oral B product will receive a code for the SimCity "Attractions Set," a a collection of five in-game tourist destinations: the Giant Garden Gnome, Dolly the Dinosaur, Llarry the Llama, MaxisMan Statue and the World's Largest Ball of Twine. The attractions draw all three wealth classes of tourists to your city and also adds happiness to your low-wealth Sims.

But the best news of all is that Crest has also confirmed the release of SimCity on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3! It's right there, on the website - shots of both consoles (and nary a PC in sight, by the way) with copies of the game boxes right beside them!

Wait a minute. Those are PC logos on the boxes. Now I'm really confused. Buy toothpaste to get giant garden gnome DLC for a game that doesn't run on the systems prominently displayed on the promotional website?

Eh, I suppose it's better for you than endless bags of Doritos. Just a pity it doesn't come in Cool Ranch flavor. Cool Ranch flavored toothpaste with free DLC. Mmmmmmm.

You can fulfill all your oral hygiene-related non-console DLC needs at crest.ea.com [https://crest.ea.com/crestiwg/code.do].

UPDATE: I can't believe I missed it (and thanks to Andy Shandy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Andy+Shandy] for bringing it to our attention) but Crest is offering more than just SimCity codes - you can also redeem codes for exciting new content for EA's hot Facebook game The Sims Social!

That's right, The Sims Social. Which EA is closing down in June [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123281-Electronic-Arts-Shutters-The-Sims-Social]. So maybe, you know, you might want to get on that with some haste.


Permalink

 

[Andy Shandy]

And just for added idiocy, there also seems to be rewards for The Sims Social! A game EA are shutting down soon!

Fantastic work by everyone involved!

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think that from now on, every news item regarding Sim City should begin with the phrase lol whut?!

It's quite impressive how desperate EA are to make money out of it though, I wonder how much they spent on development without ever really thinking about the customer.

 

[Erttheking]

This just doesn't make any sense, no matter how you slice it.

 

[sleeky01]

Not so much a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. But the hand and cock just saying " The hell with it, we'll be over here in the corner". :/

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, why not? With the problems they are having, better scrabble round trying anything desperate to un stuff everything up.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Can anyone else see, in their mind's eye, SimCity standing on a street corner offering 'favours'?

If so, can I use your brain bleach please?

Also, anyone else glad they didn't buy this game?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Who the hell thought that this would be a good idea?

If this is the kind of shit we can expect from next gen then I am going to quit gaming for good. Video game companies should make video games. That's it. Just make sure that your video games are good. If they aren't, improve them. Or go out of business. But don't do this shit. This is fuckin' pathetic.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

EA just go out of business already, the lengths you are willing to go to peddle crappy DLC that any half competent modder could produce for free is getting embarrassing.

And have you even fixed the moronic AI in Simcity yet?

 

[TWEWYFan]

I wasn't even sure this was real at first. A desperate money grab is one thing, but this is just insane!

I mean seriously, toothpaste!? Mountain Dew and Doritos I can understand, gaming and snack food. Not the most flattering implication but it makes sense. Toothpaste though? What is it you think we're doing when we're playing SimCity EA?

 

[cathou]

It's not really that evident, but it's actually a contest. When you redeem your code you have a chance to win the tv and console on the picture.

Also they do say that if you take the sim social freebe it come with a June 15th expiration date

 

[poiuppx]

What saddens me in this whole affair is... well, you know how EA markets the hell out of their games, right? I mean, to the point some games probably have more marketing budget then actual game-creation budget.

This was what they came up with. People were paid and money was set aside for this partnership.

Some days I really want to take EA to the side and explain budgets to them, and how the larger your budget is for product creation & marketing, the more you need to bring in to make a profit, thus creating unreasonable burdens and... look, I'd at least tell them to lay off dumb shit like this.

 

[kajinking]

A month in and still terrible simcity news, at least Diablo 3 had calmed down at this point.

Captcha: Respect me

I will Simcity when you are an actual game and not a "service"

 

[VanQ]

You gotta hand it to EA. They really do their best to remain the laughing stock of the industry year after year.

 

[Longstreet]

Whenever i see a thread emerging about Sim City or EA i just start smiling already, since i know they have fucked up again.

But seriously guys, even EA should be able to figure out that this is a crap idea, what is going on there? Head of marketing got frustrated with the Sim City un-play ability that he decided to fuck over his own company as revenge?

 

[Covarr]

Hard to complain, at least toothpaste is something people need anyway.

P.S. Thanks

 

[duwenbasden]

What saddens me in this whole affair is... well, you know how EA markets the hell out of their games, right? I mean, to the point some games probably have more marketing budget then actual game-creation budget.

This was what they came up with. People were paid and money was set aside for this partnership.

Some days I really want to take EA to the side and explain budgets to them, and how the larger your budget is for product creation & marketing, the more you need to bring in to make a profit, thus creating unreasonable burdens and... look, I'd at least tell them to lay off dumb shit like this.

I just find it amusing a company failing at budget control made a game about budget control.