A video game company has landed itself in hot water after accidentally offering a racist character skin as a pre order bonus.
Plok was released on the Super Nintendo back in 1993 to critical acclaim, but unfortunately failed to make traction at retail, falling well behind sales expectations. As such, the IP remained largely dormant, although has recently seen a small renaissance with the release of the game's exceptional soundtrack on vinyl and a web comic book series.
The Pickford brothers (owners of Plok) decided to continue that small momentum, by commissioning a quick remaster of the beloved cult classic for the Nintendo Switch, in the guise that Plok will finally find the attention it deserves.
Plok Remastered has certainly garnered an unprecedented amount of attention since it's announcement — just for the wrong reasons.
What was merely an incredibly lazy but ultimately innocent palette swap of Plok's usual costume to drum up some pre-order interest, has turned into an international media circus. Thanks to the implications associated with the colour chosen.
The Pickford brothers released the following statement.
"When we posted the pre-order bonus online last night, we were hoping to receive a few thousand engagements. A mere 5 hours later we were already over 50 million. Everyone at the company was elated from the instant success. Well, until we read some messages in our inbox and realised what happened. They say any publicity is good publicity, but not in this case. Although pre-order numbers are through the roof in the southern states of America!"
"Next thing we knew, Donald Trump was calling us and wanted to purchase Plok. He said that we were Patriots to America despite our European heritage and offered 1000 Russian whores to be supplied by Vladimir Putin that included Melania and Ivanka Trump. If we also helped him port the game to the Parler platform, he'd give us shares in GameStop that he bought while the stock was peaking."
"After a meticulous internal meeting where we openly ridiculed Trump's moronic antics, we're proud to announce that Ivanka and Melania are on their way to our office as we speak."
"After a meticulous internal meeting where we openly ridiculed Trump's moronic antics, we're proud to announce that Ivanka and Melania are on their way to our office as we speak."
