10 Worst Video Game Marketing Campaigns Ever

It's been said for generations that fortune favours the bold. So, when a video game company wants to promote their work, churning out a few trailers and posters isn’t going to cut the mustard. To sell their brand effectively, things need to get a little crazy.

Unconventional promotions can look silly or counter-productive, but they can also be directly responsible for a game's success. The "Third Place" commercials for PS2 were weird as hell, but they were also extremely memorable. To promote Battlefield 3, tanks stormed through London with the game's title branded on the vehicles. Although these strategies could've backfired, they helped to win consumers over.

However, it must be emphasised that outlandish endorsements and guerrilla marketing doesn't always pay off. In fact, they can come across as desperate, exploitive, stupid, or downright offensive.

Some of these advertising methods went so badly, they jeopardised the very product they were trying to sell. Sometimes, it's better for the marketing team to do absolutely nothing, rather than relying on these laughably harebrained schemes. Here are the ten worst marketing campaigns ever put out for video games.

Splinter Cell has a reputation for being the ultimate stealth shooter. The franchise's hero, Sam Fisher, is such a skilled assassin, he can slip into any facility and kill his target, without anyone being the wiser until it's too late.

So, when Splinter Cell Conviction was nearing release, Ubisoft decided to run a promotion in New Zealand that was sure to leave an impression (but not the one they hoped for). Basically, the company hired an actor to walk into a crowded bar in Auckland before threatening the locals with a fake firearm.

Unsurprisingly, the situation played out exactly as you'd imagine. Instead of the customers saying, "Oh, look. This gentleman is clearly promoting a video game," everyone hid under tables or ran out of the establishment in terror.

Worse still, the actor portraying the gunman was nearly shot on sight by the police.

Even though some marketing campaigns only seem dumb in hindsight, it's bewildering how no one involved in this stunt thought this was a bad idea. I mean, how did they think locals would react upon seeing a man wielding a realistic gun prop?