10 Video Game Promotional Tactics That Backfired HORRIBLY
6. Virtual Boy’s Blockbuster Rental Mistake
Video game rental, by the mid-1990s, had become a normal thing and it was actually something that many developers struggled with. The ability for players to try before they buy meant that many would pay a pittance, blitz through a title and the company would never get the consumers' money. It was something that had major ramifications on games becoming longer and more replayable.
Nintendo of America however decided to embrace the Blockbuster video rental chain. After all, their upcoming hardware was hard to explain to consumers who hadn’t had a chance to try it for themselves. What was the Virtual Boy and what did it mean by virtual reality?
Paying out a $5m campaign, NBC would run ads to promote the possibility of renting the Virtual Boy from 3,000 different Blockbuster stores for $10 a weekend. The problem was, unlike Bethesda obscuring the truth, Nintendo were giving fans a look at the Virtual Boy, warts and all.
So many people who got early hands-on time with the system would have recognised that it was awkward, stunted and potentially painful to use for long periods of time. The console was doomed to fail no matter what but giving people a transparent experience with it let them know to give it a miss.
At least Nintendo were being honest, if not misguided.