Comments for Burger King Is In The Video Game Business; Earnings Up 40% Thanks to XBOX

Burger King Is In The Video Game Business; Earnings Up 40% Thanks to XBOX

2007-02-01T21:55:51Z

Who knew? Burger King's XBOX promotion featuring games like "Sneak King" was a huge success, raising same store sales 4.4% in the US. From CNN:

"Burger King Holdings Inc., the world's second-largest hamburger chain, said Tuesday that quarterly earnings rose a better-than-expected 40 percent as an Xbox 360 video game promotion spurred sales in the U.S."

Yikes. Are those games any good? —MEGHANN MARCO

Burger King's results get lift from Xbox [Burger King] [Photo: MrSnap]

Comment from The Great Aussie Evil on 2007-05-25

2007-05-25T23:36:46Z

It's just another corporate attempt to kill off the populace by infiltrating another media format with what are essentially ADS.

Comment from kerry on 2007-02-02

2007-02-02T20:53:24Z

@krunk4ever
I didn't want to buy food since I hadn't eaten at BK in years, either, so I asked the lady if I could buy the game without buying food. She said she wasn't sure but didn't feel like finding the manager and sold it to me anyway. You got suckered into buying BK, ha!

@Placekicker -
The games work on Xbox 360 and the original Xbox. all the advertising and labeling had the 360 logo. Regular Xbox compatibility was in fairly small print.

Comment from The Great American Placekicker on 2007-02-02

2007-02-02T10:24:47Z

"...better-than-expected 40 percent as an Xbox 360 video game..."

There's no Xbox 360 games, just Xbox.

Comment from Stepehn Colbert on 2007-02-02

2007-02-02T08:42:28Z

The games generally don't look that good.

Comment from krunk4ever on 2007-02-02

2007-02-02T07:35:03Z

Forgot to mention that because of those 2 games, I purchased 2 value meals on separate occasions when I haven't step foot into a Burger King in years.

Comment from krunk4ever on 2007-02-02

2007-02-02T07:34:11Z

I have both the pocketbike racer and the big bumpin' which are both amazingly fun with a bunch of friends. the sneak king looked rather weird so i didn't pick that one up.

Comment from Soulgenesis on 2007-02-01

2007-02-02T02:46:11Z

i love pocketbike racer. it's probably the only game i play out of those three. i don't have big bumpin though. i'll get it somewhere eventually.

sneak king was surprisingly freaky and difficult. especially when you hit the FPV button.

i'm not eating anything the king HIMSELF hands to me. i'll buy it at the chain myself.

Comment from saintjohnson on 2007-02-01

2007-02-01T23:59:46Z

Yeah, I agree with Kerry on the sneak king game.
Its pretty easy/boring/disappointing.

The Big Bumpin game is odd which makes it no fun to play.

Hands down, the PocketBike Racer game is the best of the three.

Comment from kerry on 2007-02-01

2007-02-01T22:46:14Z

I bought Sneak King without buying food, also. A friend of mine insisted that I buy it so he could play it at my house. He has yet to do that. The game gets boring pretty fast, and is surprisingly difficult. I wish I'd picked up pocketbike racer, it looks way more fun.
The advertising aspect of Sneak King is pretty hilarious, though, and quite effective. I know more about the BK menu than I ever did before.

Comment from KesCaesar on 2007-02-01

2007-02-01T22:17:39Z

I wanted to play SNEAK KING rllllllly badly.
Perhaps, one day, I will own an X-Box to play it with.

Comment from DeleteThisAccount on 2007-02-01

2007-02-01T22:13:30Z

Nothing like having kids sit around playing video games all day... Why not add advertising for fast food too.. (note sarcasm)

Comment from bluwapadoo on 2007-02-01

2007-02-01T22:10:14Z

I bought them without buying any food. By the end of the promotion they had so many of them that they just wanted to get rid of them. Normally they were $3.99 each with a purchase of a value meal. I bought them 3 for $10 with no value meal purchase. There is a rumor that you can still get these cheap at some BK stores. They just want to sell them out at this point.

I want to point out that these work for both Xbox and Xbox 360. Although the graphics for the Xbox 360 are better and you have to have a 360 to play the games online.

As for the games, they really aren't that bad for the price. The best one (imho) is Pocketbike Racer. It's basically a poor man's version of Mario Kart. You pick a character and race and can get different gagets to help you out on the way. You can play online but it tends to freeze a 360.

The 2nd best game is Sneak King. You basically have to sneak up on people and feed them when they are hungry. If they see you, then you get busted. They have 80 different tasks for you to do in this game. The game gets repetitive really quickly. Still there is something inherently funny in the creepiness of the King/this game. No online play (it's one player only).

Big Bumpin' is terrible by all accounts. Bad graphics and the games are no fun. There is online but it's all the same terrible bumper car games.

For each game you can earn achievements of 200 points (600 total). For 360 owners, it's like your nerd badge.

I will have to say that when I saw the pictures of the Whopper in people's thoughts when they were hungry did kind of make me want BK a little. Good thing I don't live by one.