Oh, marketing departments, the bane of sophisticated gamers everywhere. It’s easier to make your product appeal to the lowest common denominator these days, but sometimes I have to wonder how these ad campaigns get pushed through. Take this recent bout of advertising for Dead Space 2 which features 200 mothers watching, and being horrified by, EA’s upcoming sci-fi thriller. Now, as a child of the 90s, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this type of advertising stunt before, probably for Soldier of Fortune or something. I’m sure that my mom would hate Dead Space 2, but would I make her watch it and upload my own reaction video to win a custom PS3? Probably. Here’s the shameful behind the scenes video.
So, any opinions on EA’s attempt to bring Dead Space 2 down to the level of common grade schlock? Any thoughts on months and months of hard work invalidated in order to appeal to 12 year olds?
I saw this yesterday and was tempted to send you guys an email to put this on the site. I personally was laughing near hysterically when it played during the NFL playoff game last night, mainly because I knew my mom would probably respond the same way. I can’t wait for a mom to come in my store and mention this commercial as the reason their little Jimmy couldn’t get Dead Space 2.
I actually saw this with my mother and grandmothers in the same room as me, and i was pretty ashamed to call myself a gamer.
So….I dont get this. Is it supposed to be used as a tool to shut down sales of Dead Space 2? Is it supposed to PROMOTE the game through “your mom will hate it, that makes it cool!” type of marketing? If its the later then Im surprised they would use these tactics. It would probably shut down a majority of their sales. If most places that sell games card now a days if a kid relies on his mom to get the game and she sees that, he may not get it.
The other odd thing is that its so biased. Anyone who looks at the video can see that it says “in the heart of conservative America” which already is slanting the results almost 99% to a certain direction. If I played a game about the crusades which was very graphic and brutal, throw in some very risque material, but then show it to a pannel of middle eastern people, they probably will not support the game. So already to me it seems unfair and biased. But perhaps thats what they wanted.
So I dont get this, is it really trying to make the game sound so ‘awesome’ to young kids because mommy hates it? Is that really the goal?
If I worked on that game, I would HATE for someone to market my hours of work in that manner. That just doesn’t seem like a good way to make what game designers do be anything more than garbage. Every 10 year old boy will love to do something that grosses his sister and mom out. But to do this for the level that video games are on? Im pretty sure the creators didn’t make this game to be offensive. They put time and effort in to make a realistic and immersive action/horror game. Id hate for people to think the only reason I made this is to offend people and make young kids want to play it. How sad
This add campaign is pretty bold and out there. Too bad it seems to be out there in the wrong direction
“we made a Mature game that is intended for persons under the age of 18 who still live with their mothers”. Do you think if they showed this to Dad’s, there would be the same reaction? Maybe women 50yrs+ just don’t like gratuitous violence!? =D