The Man Running Amazon Games Talks His GTA Past, Failures, And Aspiring To Be The Disney Of The Future
With just months to go before Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was due to release in October 2014, Christoph Hartmann--then the head of publisher 2K Games--still didn't have a cover for the game. Pressure was mounting and 2K had a host of possibilities to choose from. So Hartmann came up with a plan, and that was to let his pug Sissi decide the cover.
Hartmann asked his marketing experts to put around 40 different mock-ups on the floor, and told staff that he would let his dog (named after the «Sissi» series of German films) choose which cover they would go with.
«We're like, 'What?' We've been working so hard, our blood pressure is so high. We're like, 'Okay, funny joke, haha, now let's get down to business.' He's like, 'No, we're doing this,'» Matt Gorman, one of 2K's earliest employees, recalled. «And so we all just looked at each other, and we're like, 'Holy cow! We've all gone insane.'»
Sissi walked around the room and eventually plopped down on a cover she liked. This would be the cover for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel seen by millions of people. The marketing team was shocked at this out-there approach for such an important decision.
«Sissi walks out, she sits on one, and it wasn't a bad one, but we were like, 'Are we really choosing the key art for this next big brand by where this pug sits?'» Gorman recalled. «And we got to the point, and [Hartmann] goes, 'That's it!» And we all just said, 'Okay,' and we gathered up all the pieces and started toward the door, and [Hartmann] goes, 'You know I'm f***ing with you guys, right?'"
Who is Christoph Hartmann? You may not know the name, but you have felt his influence. He worked on the original Grand Theft Auto, helped create the power-house publishing group 2K Games, and is
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