Video games have been and will be the perfect opportunity to shape the most ingenious and colorful advertising campaigns. In fact, the one that we are going to return to today, ten years later, has a unique golden color, and an even more unique history .
For context, in 2009 THQ offered the Queen of England Elizabeth II a gold Wii , with matching Wiimote and Nunchuck. At that time it was said that the Queen enjoyed playing (like half the world) Wii Sports . However, it could be said that the offer was not totally disinterested.
That initiative would serve as a promotion for THQ’s Big Family Games game, one of many alternatives to Nintendo’s family / sports proposal, but with unique activities such as the throwing of horseshoes.
The royal family is possibly the most important in the country, so we thought they should have a copy of our game. But since Her Majesty the Queen would not play it on any console, we have commissioned a very special gold one.
We hope she and the rest of the royal family enjoy the game.
What was not known, at least officially, is that Buckingham Palace declined the gift. The riskiest advertising campaigns are exposed to this type of failure and it would not have given a good image to the brand or the game. So what happened to that gold Wii?
In 2012 THQ would close, complicating any point of contact with the company. Fortunately, People Make Games (via Kotaku) set out to find that true rarity. And, as you’ll see below, they were hugely successful.
Although no result was obtained by asking former THQ workers, following the trail they were able to find a collector known as Dan2K0 , who specializes in hardware that has not been put up for sale to the public.
After a trip to Utrecht, the Golden Wii appears in mint condition along with an astonishing collection of Nintendo consoles. According to Donny, his real name has never been used . In fact, despite its collection of consoles amounting to 280, it only has 35 games .
Despite the rarity of this Wii, for Donny it is the console that almost belonged to the Queen. And the history behind it is much more valuable than the gold that covers it. A solved case, although not completely closed: what will have happened to the golden nunchuk?
