- Raid: Shadow Legends is a mobile RPG with an infamously aggressive marketing strategy.
- The developers claimed on Twitter that they do not sponsor YouTubers… and that all of their shout-outs have been unpaid.
- This is easily one of the stupidest lies you’ve ever seen.
It’s hard to find a gamer who hasn’t heard of Raid: Shadow Legends. The mobile game has been supported by a massive marketing push over the past year. Pretty much any YouTuber who’s even vaguely connected to the gaming industry has had a video sponsored by Raid.
That’s fine. Except now Raid creator Plarium is inexplicably trying to claim it’s not true.
According to a tweet from the official Raid: Shadow Legends account, they don’t sponsor anyone. They “cooperate with” YouTubers who already play their game. And those YouTubers don’t take a dime for the privilege of promoting the game.
I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever heard a bigger load of bull in my entire life.
Raid: Shadow Legends is Hilariously Bad at PR
Let’s be clear: This is either an outright lie or a case of insanely incompetent PR.
It’s laughably easy to prove that statement wrong.
Hell, if you’ve ever seen a YouTuber mention Raid: Shadow Legends, they invariably say the word “sponsored” in their freaking videos.
Just watch the first four seconds of this:
As if that wasn’t damning enough, a YouTuber by the name of Upper Echelon Gaming provides more proof.
He claims Plarium hounded him with constant offers of sponsorship deals, even after he turned them down multiple times:
Why Would Plarium Even Go Down This Road?
The creators of Raid: Shadow Legends are very clearly pursuing aggressive marketing for their terribly-put-together mobile gaming garbage.
Their own insistence that they’re not sponsoring YouTubers is utterly baffling.
When someone is paid to advertise a product, the law in most regions is crystal clear. You must make it evident that you are delivering a paid advertisement. So if Raid isn’t paying all these YouTubers, why are these supposedly free shout-outs labeled like paid advertisements?
Maybe Plarium just doesn’t understand the laws governing social media influencers. Either that or their social media manager is about to get fired.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.
