Product placement and gaming: name a worse combo.
Marketing campaigns are a funny thing.
Sometimes, it can be subtle.
And lest you think otherwise, the games industry is not impervious to this level of backdoor palm-greasing either.
In fact, games are notorious for their constant brand crossovers.
Killing shadowy demons with bottles of human excrement?
Fighting giant lions made out of tar with bazookas?
I dont see why not.
IncludingThe Game Awardshost Geoff Keighley in a sidequest that depicts him as a literal fanboy of Hideo Kojimas work?
Ill give that a pass too, but I draw the line at this games unhinged product placement.
However, it only does this when you use the bathroom to poop.
Hideo Kojima, I have… questions.
I repeat: furry controllers.
And somehow, this is still just the second-weirdest Sonic collab on this list.
Better late than never, I guess?
Thats not the outrageous bit, of course - Uniqlo did the exact same thing a while later.
Whats outrageous are these prices!
Balenciaga sold Fortnite hats for $395 and hoodies for $725 and somehow, people actually bought them.
The venn diagram of Fortnite players and high fashion enthusiasts is larger than you think.
The promotion involve several Hooters restaurants in Tokyo and ended up being fairly unremarkable.
Martin Luther King x Fortnite
Good intentions dont always result in good ideas.
TakeFortnitescollaboration with TIME Studios for a Martin Luther King Jr.-themed special event called March Through Time.
Tonally, the event itself wasnt the problem - the platform was to blame here.
Fortnite is a deeply unserious videogame.
One of Diablo 4s most striking features is its art design.
This clothing line didnt quite spark joy for us, however.
The Bubble Skirt doesnt really scream League of Legends, making it a questionable inclusion in this lineup.
The biggest factor working against this clothing line is its unfortunate pricing.
$485 pocket squares?
$940 cycling shorts?
At this point, youd have to win Worlds just to pick up one of these parkas.
Subway x Nathan Drake
As far as product placement in videogames go, this was pretty shameless.
As in, sandwich seller Subway.
You’ll never be so hungry or angry, which is probably exactly what Subway was going for.
