God of War II party goes wrong

PS2 News | Sony acting the (decapitated) goat.

Think the disastrous "all i want for xmas" campaign couldn't be topped for sheer, cringe-inducing awfulness? Well think again, because it's been comprehensively beaten. And, as with that ill-advised campaign, it's Sony that is behind gaming's latest watching-from-behind-your-fingers PR fiasco.

The sorry episode began when Sony hired a Greek firm to organise and stage a release party in Athens, to celebrate the launch of the PlayStation 2's God of War II. Said Greek firm went to work, booking pits of snakes, men in fur togas and women in, uh, body paint (and little else) to take part in proceedings.

So far, so tacky, but in truth it was the semi-decapitated goat that formed the centrepiece of the party that prompted UK newspaper The Daily Mail to report on the event. According to the paper, "Guests at the event were invited to reach inside the goat’s still-warm carcass to eat offal from its stomach."

Pictures of the "party" (one of which can be viewed in our Media Panel here) were then printed in the UK edition of the official PlayStation magazine, which is when the mainstream media stepped in, forcing a recall of all 80,000 copies of the mag.

Responding to the story, a spokesperson for Sony told the Mail, "It has come to our attention that at the God Of War II launch showcase, an element of the event was of an unsuitable nature. We are conducting an internal inquiry into aspects of the event in order to learn from the occurrence and put into place measures to ensure that this does not happen again."

None of which should put you off the tremendous God of War II of course, which we reviewed last week and loved to bits.

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44 Comments

ittekimasu

5 years ago

i guess this is what happens when sony leave's companies with money and no supervision perhaps... still as long as the heart is in the right place >.>

ugh the boot

5 years ago

The people at the 'greek party' place are just stupid!

Michael Kontoudis

5 years ago

I'm half-Greek, and thus I know the mentality and cultural differences which lead to such a fiasco.

*shakes head* - seriously, while the organisers were stupid, Sony are the ones who should know better than to trust a Greek firm to organise this. I'm sure the firm would have sacrificed a few virgins to Ares simply to be authentic if they thought they could get away with it.

Infested Jibbs

5 years ago

Tsk, i mean, it sounded so good on paper......

TheAnswer

5 years ago

haha now that's a classic, I guess that PR Firm won't be hired again

ugh the boot

5 years ago

sidzed2 wrote

*shakes head* - seriously, while the organisers were stupid, Sony are the ones who should know better than to trust a Greek firm to organise this. I'm sure the firm would have sacrificed a few virgins to Ares simply to be authentic if they thought they could get away with it.

It's this sort of crap that pisses me off, people not taking responsibility for their own actions! Why shouldn't Sony trust the Greek firm? At my work we trust the Thai place down the road for food why should it be any different for Sony? Just a bunch dumbasses who organised the party...that's all there is to it.

LeonJ

5 years ago

Wonder if this was Ken's idea?

renegadesx

5 years ago

This smells of pulbicity stunt all over it.

The Brett

5 years ago

Brilliant publicity stunt. There's no way this would have slipped under the radar COMPLETELY up until now.

ObsoletE

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

sidzed2 wrote

well, one difference is that for an event of this magnitude, the organisers (Sony) should still have had to sign-off on what the caterers (the Greek firm) had planned.

ok, i know we have a few Greek descended people on the boards, so please correct me if i'm wrong as my knowledge of Greek cuisine is very limited, but i'm assuming that this is a traditional delicacy?

i know "Assume" makes an ass of u and me, but if so, then i really don't see the problem.

GooberMan

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

At my work we trust the Thai place down the road for food why should it be any different for Sony?

Just a small point of contention here - one shop is quite different to an entire nation's mentality.

the doag

5 years ago

I too think this is a very cleverly implememted publicity stunt. If the games release isn't known by the gaming community before, surely it is now.

Frozencry

5 years ago

LOL

That's all I have to say on the matter. That is freaking hilarious stuff.

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

I read that Daily Mail article (think I saw the link on Kotaku? somewhere) and I honestly thought it was just one of the many 'tabloid'-esqe British rags taking a real event and spinning the hell out of it. It was the 'guests were invited to reach into the goat and eat offal from it' part that set off my BS alarm. The fact that I couldn't find many other sources reporting on it didn't help that either.

I get the themed party thing. I get the scantily clad ladies. Don't quite get the freshly-dead animal... it just seems a little too much on the bad-taste side of shock entertainment. Great for PR, I guess, but still pretty naff.

Jaws

5 years ago

Considering the 160 redundancy packages aswell as the PSP's price drop occuring in Europe, id say that Sony are cutting loses drawn from a backlash in response to this move and banking that this exposure will guarantee top sales for God of War II. I dont believe that a corporation as large as Sony would allow an event to slip out of their supervision or control on purpose.

This has 'spotlight' written all over it.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

well, one difference is that for an event of this magnitude, the organisers (Sony) should still have had to sign-off on what the caterers (the Greek firm) had planned.

So on the 'Party Plans' list...a Sony rep glazed over 'Sacrifice of live goat?' I highly doubt it!

GooberMan wrote

ugh the boot wrote

At my work we trust the Thai place down the road for food why should it be any different for Sony?

Just a small point of contention here - one shop is quite different to an entire nation's mentality.

oH...so Greece as a country are to blame?

ObsoletE

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

ObsoletE wrote

well, one difference is that for an event of this magnitude, the organisers (Sony) should still have had to sign-off on what the caterers (the Greek firm) had planned.

So on the 'Party Plans' list...a Sony rep glazed over 'Sacrifice of live goat?' I highly doubt it!

did i say they glazed over it?
or missed it?

no.

i said that they would've had to sign off on it. meaning, that regardless of if they did overlook it, there should be somewhere, a contract between Sony, and the catering/function team that put this together, and somewhere on that there's probably
"traditional greek goat banquet"
or
"sacrificed animals"
or something, and underneath, and signature saying Sony.

i've had to deal with catering on only a small scale (20 people) and the amount of paperwork involved is no small task when dealing with something more than Chicken Treat catering. you have to ok every type of savory roll, every type of biscuit, which type of coffee bean they use. a goat would not be added if the caterers were legit.

whether or not Sony knew exactly what they agreed to, i don't know, if they didn't, then more fool them for not taking 15 seconds to ask what that meant. i personally find it harder to believe that Sony didn't ok it on some level, than the caterers acted independently.

ie: i think Sony either:
(a) knew what it was, and ok-ed it as it makes the news, all coverage is good coverage.
(b) didn't know, but signed anyway, which still lays the blame at their feet, not the caterers.
i don't think that Sony simply gave them free reign.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

^ or...

(c) Didn't know about it.

No way either of us can be positive unless we see the actual contract. In any case....something as unorthodox as 'animal sacrifice' should be on a page of it's own or should atleast be brought to the attention of someone. And don't say "oh but it might not be unorthodox for greeks" in which case the company should only operate for greek people and not huge multi-million dollar japanese corporations.

My point still stands.....what a stupid stupid catering company!!

David

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

^ or...

(c) Didn't know about it.

No way either of us can be positive unless we see the actual contract.

the article wrote

Pictures of the "party" (one of which can be viewed in our Media Panel here) were then printed in the UK edition of the official PlayStation magazine, which is when the mainstream media stepped in, forcing a recall of all 80,000 copies of the mag.

Sony's official UK magazine were showing off the event as a good thing. And the magazine article was based on a Sony press release boasting about what happened at the party.

All that's after the fact, but it's pretty hard to say Sony didn't know about it. The catering company wouldn't have supplied nude women and a guy dressed as the main character, it's quite clear it was a Sony run event.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Yea but the nude women and a guy dressed up as the main character weren't the problem. I have no doubt it was a Sony run event....I mean who else would run it? But I highly doubt it was a Sony rep that said "Yea let's sacrifice a live goat in front of potential customers!" Seriously any PR/Marketing department would be out of their minds if they did that!

Infested Jibbs

5 years ago

Even if they didn't organise it they fully supported it by including it in their official rag.

Same diff really.

ObsoletE

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

note that it doesn't actually say the goat was sacrificed, but slaughtered. freshly slaughtered at that, which i infer to be not even done in view of the guests (though admittedly this could be wrong). so there was a dead goat, for people to eat.

slaughtered != sacrificed.

additionally, the event took place in Athens. so the "but it was for greek people" argument is perfectly valid. if it is a delicacy, then they have every right to do it. it's only once the pictures made it back to the UK that the sh!t hit the fan.

Michael Kontoudis

5 years ago

ugh the boot wrote

My goodness, Ugh, always Mr. Combative, aren't we? Must have sand in your underpants.

I have an enormouse Greek family, and you know what? Despite the myriad great things about Greek culture, I happen to know, firsthand, that 'delicacy' and political correctness are not their strongpoint. In Greece, a semi-decapitated goat would barely raise an eyebrow. But for a corporate event which was going to be covered by magazines in other parts of the world, I would never, ever trust any of my family

This doesn't surprise me in the least - Greeks are relaxed, easy-going, and hard-to-shock/offend. This is stereotyping, but rest assured, all good stereotypes exist for a reason.

There is no way in hell that this party was conducted without any present Sony executives. They should be smarter than to allow this *smacks head*.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

sidzed2 wrote

I know I have heaps of greek friends (HEAPS) so it's not a shock/offend thing....it's just a 'common sense' thing.....but you and Obs raised a couple of good points...1.) The event being in Athens and 2.) Sony Exec's being on hand....I mean seriously if I was an exec and I saw a goat being brought in....I would ask....so yea stupid Sony for not asking.

The problem I have is with the Goat! What gives us the right to sacrifice these animals for our own good? The killing of this animal has become a publicity stunt. I can't wait for the day something comes along to start sacrificing humans! And I don't think this goat was for eating.....well because for 1 thing it wasn't exactly cooked after it was killed.

Also....

sidzed2 wrote

I have an enormouse Greek family...

Sorry it's oxymoron at it's best.

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God of War II

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Australian Release Date:
  Out Now
European Release Date:
  Out Now
Publisher:
  Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Developer:
  Sony Computer Entertainment America
Players:
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