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Microsoft Advertising at Wii U Best Buy Events

Permanently A

Junior Member
THERE IS NOW VIDEO EVIDENCE.

Full disclosure: this comes from /v/, but there is photo evidence and multiple reports so I thought I'd post it here anyways.

At my best buy, the rep told us they only got one Station to set up. They expect low numbers that turned out to be completely wrong. There was up around 200 people in line at any time before 40 minutes till 8pm.

Rep told me they were completely unprepared for the event turnout numbers.

A best buy employee also talked about how Microsoft and Sony have contracts with them to limit competitor demo stations allowed in different stores.

Also in another thread I saw how a Microsoft employee visited a best buy to talk about the Xbox One.

The same thing happened to me where a dude in a Grey-white shirt showed up and asked why everyone was in line. We said Wii U. He said Why?! Why not just go pre-order the Xbox One. He talked about the Xbox One and started to talk to others in line.

People in line told him to leave them alone. He didn't wear a Microsoft t-shirt though.

Culver City here, saw some people in MS shirts, but too many people were bashing the xbone - they didn't speak up at the part of the line I was, but I saw them near the back

O7PctG2.jpg

This video shows the person above.

Anyone here been to the events have a similar experience?

There was a guy wearing a collared Microsoft shirt at my Best Buy. I did not speak to him, but he was definitely lingering and speaking to people around the demo station.

There was a guy in a microsoft shirt at my best buy, but I'm not sure if it was relevant to this event or not. The best buy usually has reps from various companies (apple, samsung occasionally, microsoft) in it so I dunno.

This is hilarious though, regardless.
 

Mael

Member
Arf would be fun to have the MSFT marketing people kicked out of there because no one want to hear about the xbone
 
There was a guy wearing a collared Microsoft shirt at my Best Buy. I did not speak to him, but he was definitely lingering and speaking to people around the demo station.
 

_woLf

Member
There was a guy in a microsoft shirt at my best buy, but I'm not sure if it was relevant to this event or not. The best buy usually has reps from various companies (apple, samsung occasionally, microsoft) in it so I dunno.

This is hilarious though, regardless.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
There was a guy wearing a collared Microsoft shirt at my Best Buy. I did not speak to him, but he was definitely lingering and speaking to people around the demo station.

There was a guy in a microsoft shirt at my best buy, but I'm not sure if it was relevant to this event or not. The best buy usually has reps from various companies (apple, samsung occasionally, microsoft) in it so I dunno.

This is hilarious though, regardless.

It seems like we can confirm that there were Microsoft people at the events, but whether they were there expressly for the events is up in the air.

In any case, they were there, advertising the Xbone, to Nintendo fans.
 

goomba

Banned
A best buy employee also talked about how Microsoft and Sony have contracts with them to limit competitor demo stations allowed in different stores.

fucking anti competitive bullshit
 
The best part about this is that some guy on Gaf was talking about doing this exact same thing during the Xbox launch. T shirt and all. Hilarious. Only he wasn't going to be paid.
 

JoeInky

Member
Either very dedicated Microsoft fans or yeah, shills. Some people have driven like an hour to play those demos though. They'll get no joy.

They'll get no joy with the WiiU anyway, why not pre-order an Xbox One™ today at your local Best Buy?


This is a joke, I'm no shill. Please don't ban me
 

MilesVor

Banned
fucking anti competitive bullshit

Yeah, that's pretty bad.
I get that business is business, but I'm pretty sure that would be considered illegal, anti-competitive behaviour here in Europe.

It's one thing for companies to have equal rights to advertise, but it's not cool to stop others from doing so.

This is why the reactions to the Sony press conference were so weird. Sure, Sony done did good, but they're not the second coming of Christ. They're still corporate assholes; just less so than Microsoft.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
"Hey guys, anyone of you hate selling your used games? Want to be unable to play your games without internet?

Anyone?"
 
I would have simply told him

" When I can find The Legend of Zelda and Smash Brothers on Xbox One you've got another sale from me.. Until then I'll continue to buy my Nintendo consoles and love em."

Then i'd tell him i'm buying a PS4 as of now instead of an Xbox one as my Secondary console. Just to get him talking more :p Why not have fun with these guys
 
Focusing on converting hardcore Nintendo fans who took the time to go to Best Buy to play a demo seems like a gigantic waste of time. What the fuck is the pitch? They don't want to hear your PR shit, being in a line is bad enough.

Seems too dumb to be true but who knows at this point. Hopefully it was just an obnoxious fan.
 

StevieP

Banned
Don't shoot the messengers guys. They are hired to do a job, and often for not very much. Blame the parent corporations, not the lowly employees trying to make a living
 

mclem

Member
"What's the best 2D platformer on Xbox One? Hmm? Well, until you can answer that question, go away and stop wasting my time"
 
Wii U owners at this point probably aren't interested in an online-focused console anyway. Just seems like such a bizarre, dumb counter-marketing attempt when they have far bigger things to worry about.
 

demolitio

Member
"Sooooo uhhhhh, have you guys heard about the new XBOX? If so, how much have you heard?"

Might as well try to poach a few clueless people with PR talk while you still can. All I can say is that it's extremely sad when I go into a Best Buy and hear employees telling customers about the Xbox policies. I know each employee is different, but usually it's the other way around. Mostly the local GS employees were the ones that just made shit up about why the 360 was so much better and how it matches PC versions but I still didn't expect an employee at Best Buy to be so vocal about the Xbox One...
 

$h@d0w

Junior Member
I've got no problem with this as long as it's approved by the shop staff and the people are clearly identified as Microsoft employees.
 
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