Like Acclaim and Sega before it, no marketing stunt was ever considered too outlandish for the original incarnation of THQ.
Before the publisher went bankrupt in 2012, it used its marketing budget to hire expensive Hollywood talent like Guillermo Del Toro (who consulted on the story for the never-released Insane), while also doling out a few bucks to hire an army of porn stars to promote Saints Row 2 and Saints Row: The Third. But THQ’s marketing department had to get extra creative when promoting the company’s more family-oriented titles.
Sticking with the “family” theme, THQ tried to recruit Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the Royal Family in the marketing effort for 2009’s Big Family Games, a budget title that was similar to Wii Sports. While they were likely hoping for a slew of “Royal Wii” headlines, it was not to be, as Her Royal Highness was obviously not going to just stop off at the studio for a commercial shoot. So THQ went to her…
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Or rather, someone from THQ’s marketing department added gold plating to a Wii console and shipped it to the Queen. Danielle Robinson, a former Product Manager at THQ, revealed the reason behind the unique gift in a Press Release:
Big Family Games is the ultimate Wii game to get all family members, from grandparents to young children, playing together. The Royal Family is arguably the most important family in the country so we felt that they had to have a copy of the new game.
But we thought that Her Majesty the Queen wouldn’t want to play on any old console, so an extra-special gold one was commissioned. We hope that she and the rest of the Royal Family enjoy the game!
Sadly, the Queen never received her “Royal Wii” as her Correspondence Team politely declines any unsolicited gifts from the public as a matter of policy. Instead, the console was shipped back to THQ and remained with the publisher until their assets were liquidated in the bankruptcy filing.
After that, it disappeared for a few years, but it was tracked down in 2019 by Chris Bratt for his People Makes Games series:
Bratt discovered that the golden Wii had been purchased by Donny Fillerup, a console collector from The Netherlands. He keeps it in a glass display case and even had a custom red pillow made to match the press photo (though the golden Nunchuk is currently missing from the set).
So why is the Queen’s Wii back in the news now? It’s because Fillerup has decided to sell it on eBay for $300,000. He expounded a bit on why he’s parting with this shiny piece of history on his site, ConsoleVariations.com:
I’ve been in one place for my whole life, it’s time to get my own place. At times it has been difficult for me to have free time or relax. Lately it’s all CV and my daily job. When I come home, I don’t get to spend a lot of “me time” so I would like to take the step and move on.
I have to admit, that’s a very good reason for wanting to part with it. Hopefully the “Royal Wii” finds a good home and good luck to Fillerup on his house hunt.