Montreal – Watch Dogs, a product of Montreal’s video game giant Ubisoft, was released this week to critical acclaim. The game allows players to play as Aiden Pearce, a hacker with the ability to turn Chicago’s futuristic security system into a weapon.
Hacking streetlights to disrupt traffic, bank accounts and more, Pearce controls the city through a program on his mobile phone.
The game was met with high praise from critics and received overwhelming fan support.
According to Ubisoft’s official blog, the game has become the fastest selling game in the company’s history.
“Today we broke the record for the biggest first day sales in Ubisoft history,” said creative director Jonathan Morin.
The strong sales can be attributed to a successful global marketing campaign that was applauded for its uniqueness.
WATCH: Watch Dogs prank
However, despite the praise, Ubisoft has come under fire for one PR stunt in particular, which resulted in the evacuation of a small news media station in Australia.
The company had sent black safes, along with voice mail messages to several media outlets that alerted them to the contents of said safe.
Unfortunately, Australia’s nineMSN did not have voice mail and caused employees to report the suspicious package to authorities.
Fearing a potential bomb scare, the building was evacuated and the bomb squad was called in.
Ubisoft issued an official apology Thursday to all those affected by the PR stunt, saying they plan to take more precautions to avoid this situation in the future.
“We unreservedly apologize to nineMSN’s staff for the mistake and for any problems caused as a result,” Ubisoft said in an official statement.
The company also stated the stunt hadn’t gone as planned.
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