EA Can Do Bad All by Itself

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles
September 15, 2009 | Comments (3)

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I guess Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS ) didn't need Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO ) to garner a reputation as the bad boy of its industry. The video-game giant is making waves with the risky underground marketing of its upcoming Dante's Inferno.

It all started during the annual E3 conference, when the game's marketing team staged a protest. Christian picketers urged gamers to trade in their PlayStation consoles for "Pray Stations" to repent for coveting EA's hedonistic title. When Christian bloggers realized that the over-the-top protests were fake, they were understandably outraged over being lampooned.

EA didn't quit while it was behind. According to Ars Technica, other questionable promotional campaigns in support of Dante's Inferno include a sexist "booth babes" contest and the mailing of $200 checks to the owners of popular gaming blogs.

There was a catch to the $200 checks: "By cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality," read the check's explanation. "Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin."

These cutting-edge stunts may seem clever to the targeted gamer, but this isn't Take-Two. It was easy for Take-Two to get away with the racy "hot coffee" incident four summers ago. Being banned from Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT ) was a badge of honor for the company.

EA doesn't have that luxury. Critics and boycott organizers won't aim at just a single randy release. They'll battle against all of EA.

Industry giants EA and Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI ) can't take the same kind of gutsy chances that smaller publishers and developers can. I realize that the video game industry has suffered through six consecutive months of year-over-year declines, but EA can't afford to ignore the bigger picture.

What's your take on EA's guerrilla marketing? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Take-Two Interactive Software is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts are Motley Fool Stock Advisor selections. Wal-Mart is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Play along with any of the premium newsletters for the next 30 days with a free backstage pass.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz remembers when he had all of the time in the world to play video games. He owns no shares in any of the companies in this story and is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

Read/Post Comments (3) | Recommend This Article (6)

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Report this Comment On September 15, 2009, at 5:59 PM, cabooth238 wrote:

Rick - great post.
The little guys can afford to create a name and establish a niche by pushing the envelope. EA is too big with too many genres.
Christian groups boycott small company? big deal...they weren't buying grand theft auto to begin with.
Christian groups boycott EA? BIG DEAL! They may not buy the racier games, but that doesnt mean they don't buy their kids the Madden/NCAA/NBA/MLB/FIFA games.
Report this Comment On September 15, 2009, at 8:11 PM, TyrantBone wrote:

I think EA and it's marketing team should be able to explore any idea a smaller publisher like Take Two would. When companies become dinosaurs, we praise them when they come out a bit edgy. I don't see why EA is any different.
I for one applaud EA for taking risk and actually creating buzz. You can't make everyone happy. This country is extremely sensitive and boycott anything. Things like this need to get judged on their quality more than the actual content. If you think it would've been brilliant as a Take Two marketing plan, then it should also apply for EA. On the other hand if the marketing plan sucked, then it should also suck for both. Thumbs up to EA.
Report this Comment On September 15, 2009, at 8:16 PM, Varchild2008 wrote:

As bad as EA's marketing is, the reality is people will judge Dante's Inferno and whatever other video games EA makes (Origins: Dragon Age) by the quality of the title....and not the gimmick to attract attention to it.
Boycotts never work.
Protests never work.
America didn't win World War II because American society decided to boycott something... Or protest something.
Yes...Reprehensible... I totally think EA's marketing gimmick was absolutely reprehensible...
But you have to realize that most video gamers won't extrapolate this to the Developer... Especially when this stunt looks to me like an EA only based stunt.. Maybe the developer acquiesed to it or knew about it or whatever...
But still... If the GAME is good... People will buy it.
They aren't going to NOT buy Grand Theft Auto 5 because the commercial to promote it was bad.

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