Advertisements for mobile games tend to be put under the spotlight for being bad, but the Thai ad for Goddess of Victory: NIKKE takes the cake by portraying the player base as perverts.
The ad features an otaku stereotype performing acts like pretending to lick the phone screen and imitating the movements of self pleasure.
The official Thai NIKKE Facebook page posted the ad on 11th January but took it down due to negative feedback. According to a post from the NIKKE subreddit, the official Thai NIKKE Facebook page posted an apology announcement the day after the incident. It mentions the team apologising for the content and style of presentation in the ad, resulting in players feeling uncomfortable.
The Thai player base had voiced out their disapproval of the ad under the comment section of the announcement. One user mentions “Not everyone who plays this game want to jerk off to the mobile screen”. While another user says “The population that play the game ain’t all men and not everybody play the game for the bouncy ass. Respect the player”.
However, users from Reddit and Twitter have different opinions on the ad, most of them find it funny rather than offensive.
For what’s it worth, the Goddess of Victory: NIKKE is still a popular game despite its controversies, even amassing 100 Million USD during its first month of release.