In order to promote the release of Black Ops 3, a controversial Call of Duty campaign was launched on Twitter.
The social account began tweeting messages like: "BREAKING NEWS: Unconfirmed reports are coming in of an explosion on the North bank of the Singapore Marina," essentially creating buzz about a fake terrorist attack. This continued with a series of tweets, which escalated to describe declarations of martial law, military drones being deployed and shots fired. Following all these tweets, it was revealed that: "This was a glimpse into the future fiction of #BlackOps3."
Much of the public was outraged by the social media stunt, especially since the handles, account photos and bio were changed to look like a reputable news source. As outraged as the public might have been, it drove tons of attention to the stunt and the new game.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Controversial Gaming Campaigns
- Opportunities for disruptive innovation exist in creating attention-grabbing and controversial campaigns that generate buzz for new video game releases.
- Simulated Terrorist Attacks
- Disruptive innovation can be explored in creating simulated terrorist attack campaigns within the gaming industry to generate excitement and engage players.
- In-game Social Media Integration
- Integrating fictional social media accounts into video games allows for innovative storytelling and immersive experiences that can capture the audience's attention.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Video Game Marketing
- The video game marketing industry can explore disruptive innovations in creating controversial campaigns that push boundaries to promote new releases.
- Virtual Reality Gaming
- Disruptive innovation opportunities exist in the virtual reality gaming industry by simulating realistic and immersive in-game terrorist attack scenarios.
- Social Media Platforms
- Social media platforms can develop innovative ways to integrate fictional accounts within video games, creating interactive experiences that blur the lines between reality and virtual entertainment.
