In what a NineMSN employee called “the other side of the line in terms of what it’s safe for a PR company to send anonymously to a newsroom,” New South Wales police were called in over a Watch Dogs PR stunt that some say went awry.
At the moment, it hasn’t been confirmed if Ubisoft or an agency working on their behalf sent the package. The item in question, a black safe containing a copy of Watch Dogs alongside an “iconic” Aiden Pearce hat and beanie, was thought by NineMSN to be suspicious.
Mumbrella reports that the safe, which had a PIN code taped to it, beeped as the code was entered and didn’t open. At that point, NineMSN called the police, fearing for their safety.
“We did check with other newsrooms to see if they had received a similar package as we thought it was a PR stunt, but no-one else had,” NineMSN’s Hal Crawford told Mumbrella. “We weren’t panicked at any point, but given there was no note explaining what it was, we had to take sensible precautions.”
Stevivor can confirm that at least one other media outlet received a similar package. Moreover, from the looks of the package itself, it appears it was direct from Ubisoft.
https://twitter.com/ztharli/status/471172808396275713
A tweet from Gamespot’s Zorine ‘Harli’ T shows that the gaming-centric media outlet received a similar package and opened it without issue.
Well… mostly. At any rate, they didn’t call in the bomb squad.
https://twitter.com/ztharli/status/471173955144146944
What do you think, gamers? A PR stunt gone wrong, or a media company freaking out with no real reason? Do you know of other media companies that received the safe, yet didn’t call the police? Sound off in the comments below.
Thanks, Rob!
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