10 Most Controversial Video Game Marketing Campaigns Of All Time

9. Acclaim Encourages Speeding For Burnout 2

Burnout 2
Acclaim

Back in 2002, to promote the upcoming Burnout 2, developers at Acclaim decided to push themselves as a cooler alternative to other games in the racing sub-genre.

Rather than letting the their sequel speak for itself though (which was all they needed to do, because it was phenomenal, by the way), the studio put out an ad offering to pay the fine for British speeders if they were caught over the limit on the day of the game's release.

Obviously encouraging players to go out and mimic the frenzied driving of the series received virtually instant backlash, the British Department of Transportation demonising the ad for "encouraging people to speed and break the law".

Rather than backing down when confronted about it, Acclaim used the excuse that they weren't trying to promote speeding, but rather trying to "ease the financial pain" that speeders were suffering from in the UK.

Needless to say, the justification didn't really fly with the people offended.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.