God of War II dev bets against the game, must lease Maserati Quattroporte if wrong
God of War II developer Eric Williams is urging you not to buy his game -- until after April 1. During one of his most loopy moments in the development cycle, Williams was baited into a wager, betting that God of War II would not sell 500,000 copies by April 1 (it releases March 13). Losing means leasing a Maserati Quattroporte and becoming lunch chauffeur for a year. According to LeaseTrader, a 49-month Quattroporte lease would be rated at $1,695 a month (a 12-month lease would run higher). "I might have to blow my entire savings on this bet, NOT COOL AT ALL," laments Williams.
The cynic in us wonders if this is merely a perverse marketing stunt: buy our game, make a developer suffer. Even if it's not, there are easily a half-million PS2 owners anxiously awaiting God of War II's release. Consider that similarly worded 'epic' Gears of War managed to sell one million units in two weeks; and Xbox 360's user base is a mere notch on the yardstick used to measure PS2's base. Factor in that PlayStation 3 has yet to replace PS2 as most owners' go-to console, and Mr. Williams, the (soon-to-be) poor fool, has made an awfully careless bet. Think the rest of the development team will hold him to it?
[Thanks, Yoon]
