If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

PR firm fined $7,000 over San Francisco Homefront balloon stunt

A PR firm has been fined up to $7,000 after a majority of balloons, released as part of a stunt promoting THQ shooter Homefront, fell into San Francisco Bay.

TrashTalkFCM, the firm behind the balloon release, said it had expected the balloons, which contained leaflets for pre-orders at GameStop, to disintegrate beforehand, with THQ adding that any balloons that did fall into the Bay would be removed from it by a clean-up crew.

Now TTFCM has 30 days to pay the $7,000 fine, which came through a settlement between the firm and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, according to the San Francisco Appeal.

The balloon release was part of a staged protest to promote the release of Homefront at GDC back In March before the game's release.

The shooter launched on PS3, 360 and PC, with developer Kaos closing soon after. After strong sales of the first game, a sequel is currently in development at Crytek for FY2014.

Thanks, 1UP.

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

In this article

Homefront

PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Related topics
About the Author

Johnny Cullen

Contributor

Johnny has experience at a wide range of games media outlets, having written for Eurogamer, Play Magazine, PC Gamer, GameDaily, and more. He worked at VG247 pumping out news at an astonishing rate for several years. More recently, he founded the games website PlayDiaries.

Comments