Time Extension reported on CDKeys’s latest advertising campaign where they claim that “only zombies buy physical games.” Mike Diver posted a Facebook ad depicting this on Bluesky and there’s another ad with the tagline “Only people from the medieval times buy physical games“. Just a month before that, they released ads that had a softer approach, with customers explaining why they choose CDKeys.
In a time when physical game preservation is struggling, this really isn’t the direction to go in. Yeah, it’s not serious and, yeah, they’re digital-only so what do we expect but the English language is broad—pick a different lane if you want to endear people to you. And they did in their previous ad so clearly they’re aiming for playful jabs.
A commenter on the Time Extension article referenced SEGA’s jabs at Nintendo in the 90s in terms of it being a bit of fun and nothing serious, which is fine. But I think a key difference was that they were rivals, so there’s more scope for competition. But with CDKeys, digital isn’t really competing with physical. People buy both for the same games where, previously, games were console exclusives. Instead, CDKeys are competing with other digital service providers so the joke, while playful, is misaligned. The real winners are the game publishers who make money from digital and physical (even if they’re trying to phase out the latter).
It’s not punching down or up or even sideways, but it’s punching a little when it doesn’t need to.
