What is the biggest game advertising fail you have ever come across?

[Popeman]

Such a terrible advertisement, how can Blizzard possibly believe this will bring them more customers? Terrible humour and a really vague reference.

I was going to suggest the Chuck Norris one or the Mr.T one but no you're right.

 

[freakydan]

The Dante's Inferno advertising campaign kind of backfired. Especially the Lust portion, where fans were encouraged to "engage in the most depraved acts of lust" or something to that effect with booth girls, and take pictures of it. That didn't go over too well.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

Out of all the recent adds I've seen, I'd have to say the worst is for Final Fantasy XIII-2. I didn't play the first one, and I don't really know what to think about either, but the trailer I saw for it was horrible. It dragged on and on, all set to slow, emotional background music. That's not what I want to see in an ad! I want to see action, swords and magic flying around everywhere! I want to see just how epic this adventure's gonna be!

 

[NerfedFalcon]

This commercial, along with that "This Game Stinks" campaign were pretty awful.

I seriously believe that's why this game tanked.

But here's the thing: I honestly believe that if it hadn't tanked, if it had sold pretty well for the time, it would have been forgotten at the onset of Gen5 rather than remembered as the ultimate cult classic video game.

OT: I don't keep much of an eye on video game advertisements, so I really wouldn't know. These are some pretty good examples, though... Here's the thing: I want to say Skyrim, since its hype is probably going to make the game look a lot worse to future historians, but most of it was created by fans of Oblivion...

...particularly this nutcase.

 

[Ninedeus]

Another vote for Daikatana here. Pure ego, no substance in the ad campaign.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

Well the Ivy chest pic for the upcoming Soul Cal 5 is pretty bad but I'd say the biggest ad fail would be anything to do with Duke Nukem Forever.

Haha, yeah, the soul calibur 5 ads were pretty bad. Though they would become the exact opposite if the voldo one was actually real.

It would go from cheap, sad attempt at the blatant 'sex sells' field of thought, to brilliant, hilarious satire with a tongue-in-cheek element that an advertising campaign like that so desperately needs.

Or sometimes you just get examples that are just so unintentionally goofy that they're hilarious. For example, passing my local Gamestation in town today my eyes were drawn to a big, bold poster advertising the new Resident Evil: Revelations. The gimmick for this game being that it's a Resident Evil game on hand-held consoles, and thus the poster bore this slogan...

'Now you can sh*t yourself on a bus!'

Now, obviously, I see what they're intentions were here, but how the hell did no-one marketing this notice how that slogan could backfire? It's not really offensive and it's not hurting anyone, but the sheer fantastic stupidity of it has earned a special place in my heart. I very nearly collapsed in the middle of the street laughing!

haha. Well in this case i would say that maybe you should think for a moment about that. I'd argue it's the exact opposite of terrible, as it seems to have achieved everything an ad sets out to do.

It's made you think of the game, it's made you remember both the game and the ad, it's made you tell others about the game/ad... and with any luck all that attention has roped a good number of people into actually buying it.
I mean, as far as advertising goes sounds to me like they hit the nail on the head, and then some.

 

[MPerce]

EA's Dead Space 2 commercials.
I facepalmed every time I saw one on TV. Way to portray the gaming industry in a positive light, EA!

 

[Zhukov]

I think people are taking the DS2 'You mum will hate it' ads way too seriously.

I found them funny.

 

[Chaos James]

I'd have to say one of the top bad gaming advertisements that come to mind is the Chuck Norris World of Warcraft commercial.

Had Daikatana not sucked, I feel like it's ad would of faired better.

 

[Jezzy54]

Has to be Dead Space 2's "Your Mum Will Hate This" advert
Smart move EA, using an advert that will appeal to children (the only people who would instinctively buy stuff that their mother wouldn't want them to), who just so happen to be under the age limit to buy your game. Oh, and thanks for the "It's violent, it's revolting. It's everything you love in a game" bit. It's not like we're trying to get rid of the angry, violence addicted gamer stereotype, EA. Thanks a big huggy bunch.

Good choice

Come to think of it, what about the PSP squirrels?

 

[Valanthe]

Such a terrible advertisement, how can Blizzard possibly believe this will bring them more customers? Terrible humour and a really vague reference.

I was going to suggest the Chuck Norris one or the Mr.T one but no you're right.

At least Chuck Norris and Mr. T are well known celebrity icons, especially to the 18-35 male gamer demographic marketing execs seem to think are the only beings buying their game. Whereas I wouldn't even have known who Aubrey Plaza was if her name hadn't been posted on the embedded vid, and I loved Scott Pilgrim!

It seems all the super crazy ones have already been covered, but does anyone remember the "Used Games, Cheaper than a girlfriend!" Ad from the UK?

Here's a link:
http://www.gamesnark.com/2011/03/24/gamestation-games-are-cheaper-than-your-girlfriend/

(P.S. the image in that link, the longer you stare at it, the creepier she gets...)

 

[Baralak]

The "Your mom hates this" campaign for Dead Space 2. Now, I get that they wanted to show off how INTENSE and TWISTED and DARK their game is, but the only people those ads would appeal to are kids under the age limit to buy Dead Space 2. EA's marketing department seriously thought it would be a good idea, both for their image and the image of the games industry, to market and adult game to the 9-13 demographic (the only people who would probably buy a game just to revolt their mothers).

Seriously. That was probably some of the worst marketing for any product.

Pretty much this. EA are the unparalleled masters of bad game advertising.

 

[Kreett]

EA's Dead Space 2 commercials.
I facepalmed every time I saw one on TV. Way to portray the gaming industry in a positive light, EA!

The TV spots in Sweden wasn't so bad, mostly just Isaac shooting stuff with metal blasting in the background.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

The Netherlands barely has game advertisement on television as far as I can tell. The occasional Wii or Kinex ad floats by, and in some rare cases an ad for one of the AAA-Juggernaut titles. I guess that despite 98-99% of Dutch being on the internet, we're not a hot demographic. Posters on bus-stops are more common, but it's hard to fail in those.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Here's another beauty.

Now, if Sony had released that ad in South Africa, THAT would have been a masterpiece.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

The Netherlands barely has game advertisement on television as far as I can tell. The occasional Wii or Kinex ad floats by, and in some rare cases an ad for one of the AAA-Juggernaut titles. I guess that despite 98-99% of Dutch being on the internet, we're not a hot demographic. Posters on bus-stops are more common, but it's hard to fail in those.

on the other hand, we ARE kinda lucky when it comes to obnoxiousness levels, so I think it's a fair trade-off.
except for radio commercials, god I hate those.

watch an hour of american/japanese commercials and I garantee you will claw out your eyes and ears.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

New Zealand. An advertising company thought they would pull a stunt involving a man pulling out a fake gun in a bar to promote Splinter Cell: Conviction.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/19/new-zealand-police-respond-to-splinter-cell-stunt-involving-gun/

 

[M4t3us]

Has to be Dead Space 2's "Your Mum Will Hate This" advert
Smart move EA, using an advert that will appeal to children (the only people who would instinctively buy stuff that their mother wouldn't want them to), who just so happen to be under the age limit to buy your game. Oh, and thanks for the "It's violent, it's revolting. It's everything you love in a game" bit. It's not like we're trying to get rid of the angry, violence addicted gamer stereotype, EA. Thanks a big huggy bunch.

This one right here! In my opinion this is exactly what is wrong with the game industry!

 

[Bvenged]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Activision, it is not.

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Go sit back down Activision, you might need to take a nap once your supply of hyperactive adolescences runs dry.

 

[spartandude]

Here's another beauty.

Now, if Sony had released that ad in South Africa, THAT would have been a masterpiece.

Im sorry, what!? i refuse to believe this was an official ad, it just cant be....