8 Epic Fails in Videogame Marketing

ffronw

I am a meat popsicle
Oct 24, 2013
2,804
0
0
8 Epic Fails in Videogame Marketing

Sometimes videogame marketing goes a little crazy, as these eight examples demonstrate.

Read Full Article
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
4,419
0
0
Thats a pretty good list.

Though i would argue that the Ocean incident isnt actually videogame marketing, no doubt it was a PR disaster but it wasnt from a promotional event or tactic like the rest of the list.

Also, no love for the free petrol promo for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in England that saw people queueing up in thier cars for miles just to get a free refill?
 

The Rogue Wolf

Stealthy Carnivore
Legacy
Nov 25, 2007
16,302
8,779
118
Stalking the Digital Tundra
Gender
✅
It's funny that even a decapitated goat doesn't quite measure up to the debacle that was the XBone's unveiling. (I'm sure the goat would disagree, but... hey, he's dead.) Sony's was just bizarre; Microsoft dropped every last ball that could be dropped, right onto their toes. The cocksure tone-deafness the company displayed was the stuff of legend.

Triple bonus points to Sony for coming out with the perfect "commercial" afterwards:

 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
3,560
0
0
Man, the Christoforo debacle was stuff of legends. This is why popcorn was invented, so we can enjoy assholes like this crash and burn in such a spectacular way of epic proportions.
 

JCAll

New member
Oct 12, 2011
434
0
0
Johnny Novgorod said:
I would throw in the Wii U's poor marketing in there somewhere.
I think you have to HAVE marketing before it can be judged. The WiiU just sort of sits there.
 

PunkRex

New member
Feb 19, 2010
2,533
0
0
The Ocean Marketing thing still makes me cringe.

That Hitman: Conviction thing is just next level dumb, I mean all these ideas were dumb (and fucking disgraceful in the case of the goat one) but THAT could have got some one killed! No piece of media, especially one as meeeh as Conviction, is worth that.

Johnny Novgorod said:
I would throw in the Wii U's poor marketing in there somewhere.
The Wii U didn't have poor marketing, it had NO marketing, at least not here in the UK.
 

Dango

New member
Feb 11, 2010
21,066
0
0
1 Bad Decision Writers on Hobbyist Websites Should Avoid

1: Using the phrase "Epic Fail" in any context to describe anything.

Otherwise, good article.
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,465
3,005
118
PunkRex said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
I would throw in the Wii U's poor marketing in there somewhere.
The Wii U didn't have poor marketing, it had NO marketing, at least not here in the UK.
JCAll said:
I think you have to HAVE marketing before it can be judged. The WiiU just sort of sits there.
I stand 100% corrected.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

New member
Nov 19, 2009
3,672
0
0
Showing, once again, that gaming has a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go. Most of this is just terrible because it looks so desperate and juvenile. Like watching a bunch of old men trying to guess what "the kids are into."
 

Hairless Mammoth

New member
Jan 23, 2013
1,595
0
0
Well, John Romero once again failed to make someone his *****, as these all beat the Daikatana magazine ad, if only a little.

The gunman actor and the balloon dumping remind me of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie campaign that caused a massive bomb scare in Boston. (It was 2007, long before the tragic marathon bombing, but still with the 9/11 fears lingering.) Two guys put LED Mooninites signs up in random points around Boston. Of course, people reported them as bombs.
Aiddon said:
Showing, once again, that gaming has a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go. Most of this is just terrible because it looks so desperate and juvenile. Like watching a bunch of old men trying to guess what "the kids are into."
I think some ad agencies in general have a long way to go, no matter if they are contracted to advertise games or not. There are so many recent stories about ill thought out ad campaigns for a variety of products.

Arguably, the advertisers were going for the "any publicity is good publicity" strategy for many of these situations. Why else would they bother doing half of the items on this list.
 

Mikeybb

Nunc est Durandum
Aug 19, 2014
862
0
0
I'm increasingly convinced that video games companies need to institute a new and probably most important position in all of their companies.
The idea barometer.

This would be a person who is just paid to sit in a room reading a newspaper.
When any member of staff comes up with an idea that passes muster among their usual methods they then must present it to the idea barometer.
If they just look at you with disinterest then return to reading their paper, you have the all clear.
If they roll up that news paper, bat you on the nose and yell "NO!", it's back to the drawing board.
Persistent or defiantly bad ideas would result in the barometer dragging the worker to the scene of his crime and rubbing his nose in the offending article while speaking in a firm, deep tone.

This all might seem a bit patronizing, but you have to get the basics right in a way they'll understand.

I have other ideas on how to fix the gaming development community involving flea collars and a neutering program.
 

Piorn

New member
Dec 26, 2007
1,097
0
0
Wasn't there a GTA5 promotion where they pretended to rob banks and posed as masked criminals with AKs on the street?
That didn't end well either, iirc.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

Bound to escape
Legacy
Jul 15, 2013
4,953
6
13
Mikeybb said:
I'm increasingly convinced that video games companies need to institute a new and probably most important position in all of their companies.
The idea barometer.

This would be a person who is just paid to sit in a room reading a newspaper.
When any member of staff comes up with an idea that passes muster among their usual methods they then must present it to the idea barometer.
If they just look at you with disinterest then return to reading their paper, you have the all clear.
If they roll up that news paper, bat you on the nose and yell "NO!", it's back to the drawing board.
Persistent or defiantly bad ideas would result in the barometer dragging the worker to the scene of his crime and rubbing his nose in the offending article while speaking in a firm, deep tone.

This all might seem a bit patronizing, but you have to get the basics right in a way they'll understand.

I have other ideas on how to fix the gaming development community involving flea collars and a neutering program.
You had me at rolled up newspaper, where do I sign? Does the position allow for the donning of a stylish Victorian smoking pipe? :D

OT: These creative marketing execs seem to get insufferably smug pretty easily it appears. It is nice to see them crash n' burn at these vital learning periods. Ah the sweet smell of smouldering scolded smug!
Ahem, anyway wasn't there some sort of bomb scare in Australia the tail end of 2013 caused by ubisoft for possibly a Watchdogs promotion being an unmarked parcel with a cryptic message, sent to a press outlet? Not sure on the details of it all. It doesn't beat the stupidity portrayed here though. That EA promotion legal disclaimer is hilairious. It should have been the butt of a modern satirical sketch. Unfortunately for EA, it was not.
 

CaitSeith

Formely Gone Gonzo
Legacy
Jun 30, 2014
5,343
358
88
I think 3 and 4 merit the jingle reserved for the videogame industry "special" moments:

Let's all laugh
At the industry
That never learns anything
Tee hee hee
 

briankoontz

New member
May 17, 2010
656
0
0
008Zulu said:
Well when you're on a cocaine high, every idea seems like a good idea.
It's funny and impressive - it wasn't often (to say the least) that the egalitarianism of trash talking was brought into a game developer's lexicon.

But don't you know, John, that you're supposed to be a GAMING GOD? You're above us, man... so your comment must be cocaine-fueled ramblings.

Now John Carmack - there's a guy who understands the hierarchy and just where he presides from it. There's no trash talking up in the air he breathes.
 

Dragon Zero

No one of note
Apr 16, 2009
710
0
0
I'd add the Dead Space 2 "Your Mom hates this game" ad campaign to the list and the 2010 Konami E3 press events as well.