10 Most Controversial Video Game Marketing Campaigns Of All Time

3. John Romero Wants To "Make You His 'Bitch"

john romero daikatana bitch
Ion Storm

One of the classic offensive marketing campaigns that managed to piss off just about everyone, the brazen poster for Daikatana, a forgotten shooter from 2000, featured black text on a red background that proudly displayed the words "John Romero's about to make you his bitch. Suck it down".

Admitting that it was risky at the time, the ad might have worked had the game itself been good, but unfortunately the first-person shooter was derided when it released.

Becoming even more of a laughing stock when the title turned out to be terrible, the phrase became instantly iconic for all the wrong reasons, with the humour of the ad eventually outweighing the controversy it caused when it first came out.

The ad went down in infamy for being one of the most misguided marketing stunts of all time, but it's not all bad, because if it wasn't for this then nobody would remember Daikatana at all.

Contributor

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.