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Worst marketing campaigns in the history of gaming (or: wtf Sony!?)

S

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
My memory is short but I pick Dragon Age 1-2 campaigns. I know what they wanted to achieve when they were making the notorious "This is the new shit" video but I being their target audience bought the game only a year after its release.

And I'm sure Dragon Age 2 despite looking bad in all regards will be a pretty decent RPG. But their marketing pushfor this game is just:

amazing_fun_quaint_weird_offbeat_200907240257202408.jpg



But I'm sure there were much bigger trainwrecks in Dreamcast days or PS1, whatsoever. I just don't remember/don't know about them.

looking forward to a lot of armchair analysis of marketing, I will participate!
 
C

Chozo

Member
This gen has had some good contenders, but even then I don't think we've yet hit the "advertising on gravestones" nadir that Acclaim pioneered during its horrific marketing life.

EDIT:

Huh, now that I thought about it: are we only counting campaigns that actually happened?
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, squandered whatever sales potential the game might have had. Staggered releases, slow updates and silent DLC updates. Whatever partnerships they were trying to make with Microsoft with the release window, and rushing the game to make it, really bit them in the ass.
 
G

Gravijah

Member
Adamm said:
I dont see what is so bad about this?
Surely it catches your attention the first time you see it?
Click to expand...

I was really disappointed when I found out the PS3 didn't make the cool noises in those commercials when it started up, instead we got the... orchestrated crap.
 
S

Speevy

Banned
Without question "Who are you?" from Nintendo, I'm talking about the American version of this campaign.
 
E

Emitan

Member
Speevy said:
Without question "Who are you?" from Nintendo, I'm talking about the American version of this campaign.
Click to expand...
They're not nearly as bad as the PSP ads with the cartoons animals/dust balls.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
I defy you to find a worse marketing campaign than I'd hit that PSP squirrel campaign.

This was around the first time I realized truly the Sony of old was gone - no longer did they understand the market.
 
S

Sir Ilpalazzo

Member
It might not have been so bad at the time, but Earthbound's US ad campaign probably didn't help the game at all. The slogan was "this game stinks", and they tried to market it with gross-out humor that really had nothing to do with the game at all.
 
S

StealthGoblin

Banned
Amir0x said:
I defy you to find a worse marketing campaign than I'd hit that PSP squirrel campaign.

This was around the first time I realized truly the Sony of old was gone - no longer did they understand the market.
Click to expand...

Somehow that game went on to sell over 3.5 million copies.

The guy at the end sounded so bored.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Sir Ilpalazzo said:
It might not have been so bad at the time, but Earthbound's US ad campaign probably didn't help the game at all. The slogan was "this game stinks", and they tried to market it with gross-out humor that really had nothing to do with the game at all.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, that was "bad" but I think it looped around and became "good" over time. I mean, scratch and sniff that smells like vomit? And then using that to market the damn game? It's show-stoppingly brilliant.
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
subversus said:
wat
Click to expand...
http://news.cnet.com/Turok-maker-plays-the-name-game/2100-1040_3-955594.html

As the video game industry grows in size and competitiveness, publishers are resorting to increasingly wacky stunts to promote their wares.

New York publisher Acclaim Entertainment unveiled the latest marketing gimmick Tuesday, offering $10,000 to parents who name their newborn child after the dinosaur-slaying hero of the upcoming game "Turok: Evolution."

The company received thousands of responses earlier this month when it offered $766 (500 pounds) and an Xbox game console to British residents willing to legally change their name to Turok.
Click to expand...
.
 
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