Kixeye Recruits With Unicorns, Helicopters, Maniacal Children

Fanghawk

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Feb 17, 2011
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Kixeye Recruits With Unicorns, Helicopters, Maniacal Children

Kixeye invites developers to join "the best damn gaming company on the planet".

When it comes to recruitment campaigns for the game industry, most job applications tend to be as dry and unexciting as every other profession one can apply to in life. That's because design teams are places that require a degree of professionalism, and as such require very standard applications like <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116774-Valve-Hiring-For-Help-With-Hardware>this one for Valve, or <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118708-id-Starts-Work-on-Next-Gen-Console-Title>this one for id. Facebook games developer Kixeye looked at these recruitment styles, then threw them out the window to come up with something far more awesome, all while taking the opportunity to lambast their rivals.

The video posted to the right appeared on YouTube and Kixeye's website this morning, and puts the viewer in the perspective of an interviewee meeting with satrical versions of actual game companies. The first, representing Zynga, is run by a demanding foul-mouth child who switches between verbally harrassing the interviewee and ordering Yoo-Hoos from his secretary. The second, representing EA, is led by an old man who'd rather reminisce about "the good old days" while trying to keep his dentures from falling out of his mouth. The third, Kabam, is a data-based company that uses a wheel of popular gaming trends to determine what the developer will be making for the next two years. "Oh look," he says, "'Zombie Castle Rescue'. Hardcore."

Finally, the developer turns to Kixeye's interview. "What is best in life?" the developer is asked. "Is it to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women? Well, that's a pretty good start. But at Kixeye, we want more then that. We want to make games for gamers by gamers." He then proceeds to give the most motivating speech a developer could ever possibly hear before putting on a unicorn mask and flying away in a helicopter.

Apparently this is the style of advertising that Kixeye always used, it simply never drew attention on the internet because it was usually limited to large prints in their home location of San Francisco (seen below). This video appears to be part of a larger push to import fresh new talent through the internet, as also shown in <a href=http://www.kixeye.com/#/en/jobs>an "Are You One Of Us?" application quiz available on their website that lets you choose between using a Gentleman's Pistol or a Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher to answer questions. According to comments on the video's YouTube page, Kixeye's campaign has been a huge success that will draw many candidates. Now it's up to Kixeye to go on to produce games that are as good as the advertising claims.

By the way, I got a 93% on that quiz. How about you?

Source: Inside Social Games



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dragongit

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Feb 22, 2011
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... what the fuck did I just watch? and who the fuck is Kixeye ?

I'm serious, who are these guys? According to their website they have come up with 3 facebook games. I understand they are new, but this advert makes them look obnoxious.
 

Pinkamena

Stuck in a vortex of sexy horses
Jun 27, 2011
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Hmmm.
Slightly intrigued, but put off by the try-hard attitude and "we know memes so we are cool" style of the poster.
 

PureIrony

Slightly Sarcastic At All Times
Aug 12, 2010
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While, they've raised the bar just high enought that they're almost certain to break their nose off it.

Really now, while I'm sure they're current games will be at least in some way innovative and/or unique, I give them less than two years before that ad makes them look like hypocrites.

Please take your obnoxious unicorn and at least try to prove me wrong, Kixeye.
 

GenGenners

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Jul 25, 2012
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Give that ad campaign to Valve, and then Gabe will finally ascend to godhood.

EDIT:
Wow, it just hit me! This is basically a Kevin Butler ad, but with less Kevin Butler, therefore less awesome.
 

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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PureIrony said:
While, they've raised the bar just high enought that they're almost certain to break their nose off it.

Really now, while I'm sure they're current games will be at least in some way innovative and/or unique, I give them less than two years before that ad makes them look like hypocrites.

Please take your obnoxious unicorn and at least try to prove me wrong, Kixeye.
Actually, Kixeye's been around for a while, and their games are doing pretty crazy business. At GamesBeat earlier this month, Will Harbin said they cleared $100 million the past fiscal year.
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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Cool... not sure what else to say.

Oh, also does anyone know what the theme playing during the Kixeye portion was?
 

evilneko

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Jun 16, 2011
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Anyone else think the kid looked and talked kinda like a young version of the Angry Video Game Nerd?
 

Saviordd1

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Jan 2, 2011
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I'll give it to them, that ad made me very curious about them and with that kinda ad I wish SOME success on them.

And what do you mean there is more to life than driving our enemies before us?
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

The Killjoy Detective returns!
Jan 23, 2011
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Saviordd1 said:
I'll give it to them, that ad made me very curious about them and with that kinda ad I wish SOME success on them.

And what do you mean there is more to life than driving our enemies before us?
Hearing the lamentations of their women is the only thing I can think of to add to that to make life complete.
 

Krion_Vark

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Mar 25, 2010
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So the foul mouthed kid is supposed to be Zynga. The Old Guy is EA but I don't know who Kerpoop is supposed to be.
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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vansau said:
Actually, Kixeye's been around for a while, and their games are doing pretty crazy business. At GamesBeat earlier this month, Will Harbin said they cleared $100 million the past fiscal year.
The thing I might wonder, though, is whether financial success is a measure of a company's professional/artistic success. It's an easy and reasonable metric, to be sure, but I feel it's incomplete... After all, how much did EA or Activision make?

I just have yet to encounter a Facebook game that really made me marvel at the minds behind it. I think the ad ends up mostly style and not much substance.
 

teqrevisited

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Mar 17, 2010
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The craziness got me interested as to what games they've made, then I saw "Facebook games developer" and stopped reading.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

Warning! Contains bananas!
Jun 21, 2009
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Visited their site. Checked out some of their products. Didn't leave me all that impressed.

I do like how all three of their games are the hottest mmorts on Facebook, apparently at the same time.
 

webkilla

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Feb 2, 2011
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so... they've made some facebook games?

but they make fun AAA game companies?

Am I to assume that they want to break into that market then?
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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... that...

... was...

... tragic.

It was a dumb meandering ad that took cheap shots at other companies, never rose above juvenile humor* and basic prop comedy (and if you're gonna weight a spinner, try not to be so obvious about it), and the end was so over the top I thought it was continuing the "parody".

And it didn't reveal a single thing about the company. Number of employees, locations, existing market**, anything. What was that Yahtzee said? "If they're just showing you scripted cutscenes, ask yourself what they're trying to hide." or somesuch?

* Though I'll admit to smirking at the "took the boner one by mistake".

** Oh, wait, they said "online". Because that means a lot in a world where vending machines and public transit are online.