[Brazelton] Maker of game controllers declares war on Penny Arcade

When will Ocean Marketing cry uncle?

  • End of Business today

    Votes: 5 22.7%

  • In their bankruptcy papers

    Votes: 2 9.1%

  • As they are having security escort out Christoforo

    Votes: 15 68.2%
  • Total voters
    22
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Dubyamn

So early this morning Gabe of Penny Arcade posted an email chain the went between him, a reader called Dave and Christoforo an executive at Ocean Marketing.

During this email chain Christoforo was not only unhelpful to the customer but also very rude and then he turned all that on Gabe insisting that Gabe had no power to keep him out of PAX if he even wanted to have a booth there since he was already going to bigger conventions.

The chain was posted about 9 hours ago and their product the Avenger Controller rating has already fallen to three stars despite overwhelming positive reviews earlier, Kotaku who Christoforo declared would be on his side has remained neutral and it looks like they will have a huge shitstorm on their hands.

Overall should be interesting to watch a man who claims his name is gold in the gaming community take on some of the most beloved and successful people in the gaming industry. Though really I don't think the outcome will ever be in question.

Relavant links:
http://kotaku.com/5871235/controller-company-berates-customers-penny-arcade-bring-popcorn
http://penny-arcade.com/2011/12/27/just-wow1
Amazon product
Amazon product
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
The worst part is Christforo writes like a third grader. I've never seen so many typos and grammatical errors outside a teenage girl's texts or Facebook posts...
 
B

BErt

I like how quickly he went from trying to calm things over so Mike wouldn't blast him, right back to "whatevr my kid can make a better site and I know people!"

Holy cow.
 
drifter

drifter

I was under the impression that this conversation happened with a pr firm handling outsourced customer support, not the actual manufacturer. Or is there some closer connection between the two companies?
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

Sad thing in all this, is the blow back Ocean Marketing ( 1 t) is going to get for having a similar name to these chumps.

As loathe as I am to declare something ironic on the internet, the branding phrase that Ocean Marketting has chosen to appear on the first page of their website is just too much :)

Your brand is no stronger than your reputation and will increasingly depend on what comes up when you are Googled.
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:rofl:
 
Tress

Tress

I love how he brags about who he knows and how connected he is, until he finds out that Mike co-created PA. Then he kisses ass until Mike makes it clear that he's gone too far... then it's back to the childish claims of connected friends and infinite power in the industry.

Oh noes! He's going to have his marketing team start a smear campaign! PA is doomed!
 
Espy

Espy

I looked at the thread on this over at PA and they are tracking all the folks on twitter who are disowning this guy and calling him out. People he mentions in his emails that are his "bros" like the guys who run IGN and Kotaku. Man, whoever makes this controller better fire this guy fast.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Holy crap. He could give Kurtz lessons on unprofessionalism. I'm guessing this guy just doesn't want to have a successful business anymore.
 
rac3r_x

rac3r_x

Wow this guy @ Ocean Marketing is just mentally deficient in so many ways how did he ever get a gig like this in the first place?? What did he have a bunch of Bud Lights with the crew at Ocean Marketing and have one drunken brilliant insight, and they all said,"Hey brilliant idea let's make this guy head of PR!" then immediately regret it 2 weeks later? :confused:
 
drifter

drifter

Anybody see the update at PA? Guy begs Gabe to stop the internet hate machine, Gabe basically goes meh, burn motherfucker.
 
Tress

Tress

It might not always make the most business sense and it is a policy that has caused us some legal problems, but I really don’t give a shit about that. When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.

-Gabe out
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:eek:

Mental note: never fuck with Mike or Jerry.
 
Steve

Steve

I can't stop following this. Paul's twitter account is a fun read. http://twitter.com/#!/oceanstretagy At one point he claimed he was going to take everyone's credit card numbers and sell them. From what I understand 4chan has now got involved. Fark has a thread on this with some good comments in there.
I love the follow up on PA where Paul basically says "Please make it stop". Mike's response "
I love Penny Arcade. And they are saying in the Fark forum Paul has lost his job.
 
Bones

Bones

this guy doesn't know how to back off, he is literally going to keep yelling until someone finds him and ends him, my dollar is on one of shegos associates.
 
DarkAudit

DarkAudit

Someone on Fark suggested that newest twitter is a fake. The controller maker has pulled their account with his firm, and their phone has been disconnected.
 
strawman

strawman

Gabe:
I think there is a big difference between being sorry and being sorry you got caught. I have a real problem with bullies. I spent my childhood moving from school to school and I got made fun of everyplace I landed. I feel like Paul is a bully and maybe that.s why I have no sympathy here. Someday every bully meets and even bigger bully and maybe that.s me in this case. It.s the same thing that happened with Jack Thompson. It might not always make the most business sense and it is a policy that has caused us some legal problems, but I really don.t give a shit about that. When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I.ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.
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I cannot :popcorn: this enough...
 
redthirtyone

redthirtyone

Seriously, this guy is giving Reed Hastings a run for his money.

Sounds like this guy is running his little enterprise from his house. He somehow ended up with marketing rights to the Avenger. Looks like he's done a lot of work building up interest in the product & generating sales (planted customer ratings on eBay, Amazon & the like). But judging from both of the examples of his fine PR work, it looks like he's having cashflow issues. i.e. - he needs $X to be able to get the units off the dock in China. So he illegally charges the credit cards of all his pre-orders, & floats the check to get the product moving. Then it hits customs, & now he needs $X to clear customs. I'm sure next up he would have needed $X to ship all the units out. All these paid for by illegally charging the customer before the item actually ships. Every step was delayed by an amount of time necessary to generate enough pre-orders to pay for the next step.

Whatever the issue, it seems the guy is coming down for some roid rage.

pvponline Scott Kurtz

This Ocean Marketing shit is why I treat Mike and Jerry like that kid from The Twilight Zone. Don't wanna get wished away into a cornfield.
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checkeredhat

checkeredhat

This is the most entertaining thing on the internet since Homestar Runner's debut.
Added at: 04:00
Dubyamn said:
The chain was posted about 9 hours ago and their product the Avenger Controller rating has already fallen to three stars despite overwhelming positive reviews earlier, Kotaku who Christoforo declared would be on his side has remained neutral and it looks like they will have a huge shitstorm on their hands.
Click to expand...
Just in case anyone missed it, Kotaku's not so neutral on the matter anymore.
http://kotaku.com/5871400/cut-paul-oceanmarketting-christoforo-a-breakhe-probably-just-has-roid-rage

Man this is too good.
 
General Specific

General Specific

Woooow, this has been an interesting read. How can anyone with that poor of a grasp on customer service dare call themselves a PR professional? I'm glad that the company creating the controller has tossed this douchenozzle to the curb.
 
redthirtyone

redthirtyone

Actually I'm not so sure he qualifies as a PR professional. Marketing does include some PR, but he seems to have concentrated on the "How can I make fat stacks of cash off this product" portion of the marketing.
 
Krisken

Krisken

They're cool guys, they can take a bit of joking. Besides, I'm hardly like that tool. I also don't really have a future to ruin. ;)
 
LordRendar

LordRendar

This is delicious.A nice way to start the day.Took me a while to get all the twitter accounts sorted out...
@OceanStratagy is the current twitter account of Christophoro
@OceanMarketting - taken over by a gamer after Christophoro canceled it.
@oceanStretagy - another troll account.

And this email
Hey Joel,
3rd party agency we were using to help us through the Holidays . I think things are a bit blown out of proportion on this today.
Brandon Leidel,
Director of Marketing
brandon@avengercontroller.com
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turned out to be Chirstophoro masquerading as Brandon Leidel.The balls on that guy,would be huge.If they didnt shrink due to Anabolic Steroid use.
 
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