There is no doubt that the game of the year, for now, is Hogwarts Legacy, which has sold millions of copies for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S and has surpassed $1 billion in revenue. Not to mention that since last Friday we already have it also available for PS4 and Xbox One and that another version for Nintendo Switch will drop in July. A round business.
To Warner it seems little
But it seems that Warner Games doesn’t think much of that success and it has taken one of those steps that many could consider controversial because it is about invading the territory of another video game with the sole objective of sneaking publicity, as if we were circulating around apps for free mobile phones, the kind that fill the screen of the device with notices, alerts or images flash with offers and opportunities from any other apps or whatever.
Indeed, on the occasion of the launch of Hogwarts Legacy for PS4 and Xbox One, Warner Games has not had the slightest qualms about taking Mortal Kombat 11 and include ads of all kindsnot just full-length, multi-second commercials on video, but also banners on some of the screens of the game itself, including close-up graphic elements of those that you cannot stop looking at.
As an example, use the one of this user who complained bitterly the same day of launch of Hogwarts Legacy for previous generation consoles, which arrived on May 5:
Mortal Kombat 11 is running a full Hogwarts Legacy ad when you log in. Wtf!? 👀 #MK11 https://t.co/yzNYKSBViD
May 05, 2023 • 18:39
Needed an update
The most curious of all is that this advertising load from Warner Game within a game that is not exactly free, came through a update surprising a few days ago. The players saw how Mortal Kombat 11 received an update that, with total security, added this entire catalog of advertising spaces destined to want to sell us the (already) success of Avalanche in this 2023.
The temptation to include advertising in games is not something new that Warner Games has invented, but it is strange to see that resort to such an invasive method in products that are sold to full price. This publicity is acceptable when we talk about a free2play of which there are thousands on the Android or iPhone stores, but not so much on consoles where gamers don’t want to be bothered by any such content. And they pay a lot for it.
In your case, do you think it is acceptable for them to do something like this? We are very afraid that no, that It is not something that comes to seem within the admissiblehowever famous, trending or friendly that seems to us the announcement of a game that is captivating millions of gamers and Harry Potter fans. Or are we wrong? We will wait, in any case, to see what Warner Games says about this incident that is raising blisters and pointing out to a distributor that this year it has little to complain about.
Although given the clumsiness at the time of sneaking ads, you don’t know if success has gone to their heads And she has stopped thinking, precisely, of all those players who have trusted her and some of her franchises.
