When national fast food chain Burger King announced that they would be selling their own brand of video games for the Xbox last November, the games proved to be sensational sellers. The stellar sales came despite less-than-stellar reviews from the gaming press for the trio of BK titles, Big Bumpin, Sneak King, and Pocketbike Racer, which retailed for a mere $3.99 each with the purchase of a BK Value Meal.
While BK won’t ever become another EA in the gaming industry, what Burger King has discovered is that video games sell, and when the games are linked to a food purchase, they also sell burgers–lots of them. BK announced that during the fourth quarter of 2006, when the video game premiums were offered, profits rose an astonishing 40 percent. In dollars and cents, this was an increase from $27 million to $37 million compared to 2005’s figures.
John Chidsey, chief burger flipper and CEO of Burger King, said the spike in sales was directly attributed to the Xbox games promotion. "Our brand and our great food continue to resonate with our restaurant guests. Specifically, our BK Value Menu, as well as our innovative Xbox game collection–which was the best-selling video game of the holiday season, with more than 3.2 million copies sold–increased both sales and restaurant traffic."
With the success of the Burger King games, BK has decided to form its own game publishing company, which will be named King Games. The success of the "AdverGames" from BK may have confounded the game industry because of their apparent mediocre gameplay. But, it may have revealed a secret that Burger King may have stumbled onto–a market for reasonably entertaining games at extreme bargain prices. But an inexpensive video game that offers minimal entertainment value can only go so far, and if the quality of AdverGames does not increase, the sales of these titles may slow to a halt no matter how inexpensive they are.
