Royal Fail: Firebox game parodies Royal Mail strikes

by Andrew McCormick, revolutionmagazine.com 30-Oct-09, 13:07

LONDON - Firebox is attempting to tap into public fury at the Royal Mail strikes by creating a game that parodies the amassed backlog of undelivered mail.

The Royal Fail game challenges players to throw letters at delivery vans and at union leader Billy Hayes. On completion, the game says that by delivering letters you've made Hayes angry and then offers free courier delivery worth £4.95.

Firebox is hoping the game will help boost its sales in the run-up to Christmas and launched the game following unprecedented reaction to a banner on the site that included the term 'The Royal Fail'.

Online retailer Amazon, Royal Mail's second biggest customer, switched delivery companies earlier this month due to the strikes amid mounting public anger at the effect the strikes are having on delivery times.

Royal Mail claims to have reduced the backlog of mail from 30 million items to two million but that number could rise again should further strike action go ahead as planned.

Comments

Oli Christie - 30/10/2009

It depresses me quite honestly that Revolution has this as their lead story. Yes, it's topical. But this type of "splat" game is prehistoric and on top of that, it's probably the worst quality splat game I have ever seen on the entire Internet. Which is saying something, as there a lot. There is so much high quality viral activity out there, yet this is poorly designed and the gameplay is pitiful in the extreme. PS Play a good game like our latest for McCoy's! www.mccoysdarts.com

Holly - 30/10/2009

That is the worst self-promotional comment have ever seen on the entire internet. Which is saying something, because there are a lot. PS: Read a good comment, like mine.

Ed Callow - 30/10/2009

Of course the visual could be better, but that's not the point. Firebox probably spent next-to-nothing developing and publicising this, and yet it's being talked about, played, and they're probably generating some additional revenue from it too. I've used Firebox before, but I'd not visited their site in a long time before today \(when someone pointed me in the direction of this stunt/game). The result? I've browsed through their latest products, and will probably end up buying something as a result before Christmas. As well as being a bit of light-hearted fun, this game is an awareness-raiser and potential sales-driver. Why would a company like Firebox want to create a beautifully-crafted app or game \(that cost a small fortune to produce) if they don't see any sales as a direct or indirect end result?