11 Accidental Video Game Events That Cost THOUSANDS
Everyone makes mistakes, but not all cost a decade's wages.
Video games have never been more popular, causing the industry to grow at an incredible rate.
With rapidly increasing popularity, technology, and tighter deadlines, it can be hard for developers to make the right decisions.
Did we check that line of code? Can this server hold enough people? Will this PR stunt help sell the game? These are all questions developers must ask themselves. And they don’t always answer correctly.
From PR creating a poorly planned event, to designers leaving something in a game that might be exploited, the video game industry doesn’t always run smoothly. Occasionally though, there are big mistakes. An overlooked line of code or a poorly thought out idea can impact a large amount of the player base, costing the company (or the players) thousands.
These types of mistakes can leave a bad mark on a company. Some use it to strengthen their team and gain valuable experience, but others may never be the same again.
Either way, the company handles the problem. These are some of the most impactful decisions that cost the company or players thousands.
11. Homefront - Red Balloons
How would you go about PR for the frankly disappointing Homefront?
Hold press events? Release special edition versions? Maybe just invest in more ad space? Well, the company TrashTalkFCM who was hired by THQ, had another idea. They would release hundreds of red balloons over San Francisco, the city where Homefront is set.
This was not a well thought out idea, however, as there is one guaranteed impact of letting balloons go, that they will once again come back down. I’m sure they had an idea that they would land in interesting places such as the top of buildings and lead to the public interest they desired, however, a majority of them just came down into the San Francisco Bay.
The city, of course, lodged a complaint about this.
THQ first defended the idea of the balloons by assuring people that they were 100% biodegradable, but this was not the problem. The problem was that these balloons presented a danger to wildlife and the local ecosystem.
THQ did not defend this point, and quietly paid around $7,000 in fines.
This bad press did not have any impact on sales of the game though, because reviews did that instead.