Gizmondo
Ads in free-to-play mobile games are just something we’ve come to expect these days. Unless the title is created with in-app purchases in mind, this is the only way developers often find a way to make a living. There’s nothing wrong with that because usually these advertisements are not so irritating that you want to break your phone into six tiny pieces and claim you dropped it when the insurance company calls. So how about one of the worst handheld consoles ever made, which had the added benefit of covering your screen with ads whether you liked it or not.
The Gizmondo, a terrible name for a terrible creation if ever there was one, was a small handheld games console released in 2005 with a hefty price tag of $400/£229. You could buy a cheaper one at $229/£129 if you were willing to buy the version with “Smart Adds” (their typo, not ours). This system was a terrible example of product differentiation that luckily failed so the tradition didn’t continue. These cheaper versions would be exactly the same machine with one special difference. “Smart Adds” technology would display advertisements on the Gizmondo’s screen at random intervals three times a day, every day.
These advertisements were downloaded onto the Gizmondo via a GPRS system and were intended to mean that people paid a lower price for a slightly more irritating item. Luckily this system was never actually turned on for two simple reasons: no-one cared and the Gizmondo was such a flop that no-one even bought an SKU. Fewer than 25,000 units sold over the console’s 11 month life span even though it was being sold at places like a dedicated store on London’s Regent Street, a rare thing for consoles even to this day.
We are all used to advertisements these days in any media we consume. Hell pretty much every website you read including this very one is supported by advertising. Paying the same price as a Nintendo handheld console today which forced you to look at commercials every day though? That’s just too far.
It’s premier game was also called Sticky Balls. All hail the morally justified fail.
There were also links with criminal organizations in the executive branches of the business so yeah, there’s that.
