EA- or rather “Electronic Arts”- is one of the largest video game companies in the entire world. It’s also one of the most hated companies in America- it even has a Wikipedia page dedicated to its numerous controversies. From harassing their employees, to imposing horrific crunch times in game development, to shoving predatory micro-transactions into most of their games.
But let’s go back in time for a second. Revisit one of EA’s more humorous, unintentional, controversies.
The punch up
The year is 2009.
EA was gearing up for the release of The Godfather II...the video game. Only thirty five years after the original movie came out.
Wanting to hype up their new product, EA decided to do a publicity stunt.
But what could be cheap, yet still attention grabbing?
The representative that contacted me said that the company wanted to make sure that the brass knuckles were “properly disposed of.” He declined to comment any further. Contacted by email Friday, an Electronic Arts spokesperson verified that the company is asking that all of the brass knuckles shipped out be returned.
They claimed that the brass knuckles were a “novelty item”. They sent reviewers a pre-paid shipping package to mail them back.
As far as I’m aware, no one was ever charged, and EA was able to brush the whole incident off as a dumb mistake.
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u/angry_cucumber·122·
It turns out that it’s illegal to own brass knuckles in many states
have we given up on the "paperweight" excuse?
u/Tokyono·40·
or maybe you can make the brass knuckles into a pretty necklace?
u/justaheatattack·14·
I think you mean 'belt buckle'.
u/BellacosePlayer·8·
"its illegal to own *brass* knuckles but these are gold, so..."
u/New_Shift1·86·
Somehow not the biggest fuckup EA did with game marketing stunts. Look up the Dante's inferno "Sin to Win" contest.
u/Tokyono·47·
Oh yeah they also sent $200 checks to every reviewer.
u/audible_narrator·29·
u/Party_Magician·17·
And even that doesn’t hold a candle to the stuff Acclaim used to pull
u/Liam2012----·18··1 odpowiedź
u/NotToBeCalledAlesso·18·
And that wasn't even the only controversial marketing method they did for that game.
An entirely separate hobbydrama post could be made about Dante's Inferno and its wacko marketing.
u/SpaceCaptainFlint·7··1 odpowiedź
u/EntaroArthas·16··1 odpowiedź
u/bookdrops·63·
They claimed that the brass knuckles were a “novelty item”. They sent reviewers
a pre-paid shipping package
to mail them back.
If it was illegal for the reviewers to own brass knuckles in their state, wouldn't it have been illegal for the reviewers to mail brass knuckles from their state??
u/Tokyono·43·
Yep.
u/bookdrops·15·
u/ilikedmatrixiv·35·
Yes, as I was reading that, I was thinking *"are they asking those reviewers to commit felonies for them?"*
u/bookdrops·26·
u/warlock415·9·
EA also happens to be headquartered in California, making it illegal for the reviewers to mail them back, at least back to the HQ.
Which prompts the question of how EA got all those brass knuckles in the first place.
u/sterling_mallory·41·
Oh yeah those are definitely quite illegal in New Jersey too.
IIRC, wasn't it also illegal for customers to mail them back? I only remember this whole thing vaguely.
u/Tokyono·23·
Yep.
u/wheniswhy·8··1 odpowiedź
u/CelioHogane·1·
Im struggling to understand how are brass knuckles illegan on a country where guns are legal.
Like im not gonna start a debate on gun rights, im just baffled at the contrast.
u/sterling_mallory·1··1 odpowiedź
u/Similar-Shame7517·5·
The formatting on this post is broken.
u/Tokyono·5·
Is it fixed now?
u/lifelongfreshman·3·
u/Similar-Shame7517·2·
u/9657657·1·
u/queenroadie·15·
You have to wonder what marketing agency they talked with to come up with this idea, and how they didn't check with their legal team about this doofy idea. Excellent write up!
u/Tokyono·15·
I think it was brassknucklesaresocool inc.
u/queenroadie·3·
u/Maffewgregg·13·
I remember this controversy but assumed it was an Acclaim thing, ha.
Also shout out to The Godfather game before this featuring Marlon Brando's last recordings...which were unusable because he could only breathe with the aid of an oxygen tank, the noise of which was picked up on the audio recordings.
u/Gunblazer42·3·
Man the Godfather game was soooooo good.
I liked Godfather 2 for the whole management thing, but I didn't like >!how it killed off Aldo, the PC from the first game!< like immediately.
u/[deleted]·1·
[removed]
u/SunnySatori·3·
Would love to be a fly on the wall during the meeting where they decided that *that* was going to be the prize they gave out.
u/djseifer·4·
IIRC, it was also illegal to ship them in the first place, so asking reviewers to send back was a pretty bad too.
u/7MinuteUpdate·3·
It's a shame they didn't make The Godfather 3 game
We really missed out on some quality "Get Michael some orange juice before he goes into diabetic schock" minigames.
It was rumored they were planning a $6 million DLC where you could asset swap George Hamilton's character with Robert Duvall.
u/Gumpenufer·2·
Not surprised since it's EA, but this is still one of those "oh wow, nobody at the whole company just quickly googled that huh" moments.
u/BenMitchell007·1·
Very good writeup. EA stepping on a rake like Sideshow Bob, you love to see it.
I considered buying this - hell, pre-ordering this (yikes) back in the day, but the bad reviews scared me off. I first attended community college later that year, and one of my classmates told me it was the only game he'd ever bought and then returned the same day. Oof.
I did play through the first game (the "Don Edition" or whatever on PS3), and I remember liking it, even if it was very repetitive and full of copy/pasting (yeah, because we NEVER get open world games like that these days), and if you have the means to play it, I'd give it a mild recommendation if you're looking for an open world mafioso game to dick around in while you listen to podcasts or whatever. Two things in particular stand out in my mind:
They recreate the attempt on >!Don Corleone's!< life, and it's hilarious. Seriously you see him running in slow-mo as the oranges bounce around, and then you have to drive him like a madman to the hospital as rival mobsters chase you. And the icing on the cake? You do this as fuckin' FREDO leans out the car window blasting away with a tommy gun like some kind of badass.
All of the movie characters look exactly like the actors who played them, with one glaring exception... Michael Corleone himself. Al Pacino chose to lend his likeness and approval to the Scarface game instead, so for The Godfather, we get a Michael who looks and sounds nothing like Pacino. I remember thinking at several points "Who's this guy? Oh yeah, it's supposed to be Michael."
u/digitaldisgust·1·
Brass knuckles are such a wack PR gift, can't even wear it casually 😭🤣