Sam Fisher storms pub with pistol, police intervene

Published on 20-04-10 at 12:21 PM AEST by

rec

Attachment 6807News.com.au is reporting that "Splinter Cell Evolution launched", and backfired. Which is of course is Splinter Cell: Conviction to journalists without the faintest actual interest in the games industry. The backfiring part is quite correct however, but looking at the scenario it could have never not have. Genius marketers hired to handle the launch of this Ubisoft title thought it would be a good idea to have an actor dress up as Sam Fisher and storm a pub with a fake pistol...

Patrons ducked for cover under tables as one screamed "he's got a gun!", and police were called immediately. Even they took the threat entirely seriously until the weapon was confiscated. Those responsible have admitted that it was clearly "marketing gone wrong." I personally would go a step further than that, but I'll refrain from using such language on the news page.

Splinter Cell Conviction launch backfires as drinkers flee "man with bandaged hands" [News.com.au]

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Tags: conviction, splinter cell, tom clancy, ubisoft

4 Comments

Bam Stroker - 20-04-10, 01:49 PM
What to they mean marketing gone wrong? This is exactly what they wanted. Running into one single pub with a fake gun isn't going to move many copies of a game if only the patrons in there know about it. If this was some kind of marketing strategy they'd have used dozens of Sam Fishers in different locations.

On the other hand doing it only once but having the police called in and getting mass media coverage over the incident is going to raise the profile of the game substantially.

This is their marketing plan gone exactly right. And the likes of news.com.au publishing the story means the marketing wankers behind this will give these kinds of ideas a big tick. At least until they try this somewhere in the US and their Sam Fisher gets shot.

Aegis - 20-04-10, 04:03 PM
What Bam said. there is no possible way that was anything BUT their strategy - and if ubisoft didn't know what they were going to do they're bigger dickbags than we've given them credit for.

rec - 20-04-10, 04:52 PM
From an exposure perspective it has worked out well for them, but I doubt the attention of the police and a potential lawsuit by one or more of the patrons was their strategy. This is likely to end the agency's contract with Ubisoft, despite it hitting news websites all over the world.