Exposure. A simple word that is often dangled in front of inexperienced hopefuls by exploitative clients. It’s a word that has virtually become a meme in itself and not really one you’d expect to be used by one of the most successful EV startups of the century.
But according to one game developer, that’s exactly what Tesla offered in return for unfettered access to, and distribution of, his game. Sam Barlow, a game designer who had previously worked on titles in the Silent Hill franchise, claims that he was once approached by the automaker to use his independent release: Her Story.
The award-winning story-driven interrogation was released in 2015 and has become an indie classic, with a Metacritic score of 86. The crime fiction title apparently caught the attention of those at Tesla, who expressed interest in including it as a playable game, pre-loaded on their cars.
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Tesla once reached out to ask to put her story in a car. I asked how much they would pay for the license and to cover the engineering work- they suggested zero, that I consider the exposure I would get
— Sam Barlow 🔥 Buy IMMORTALITY! (@mrsambarlow) October 31, 2022
However, when asked how much the company was willing to cough up for the license, plus the development work needed to make the game run onboard a Tesla, the company suggested that Barlow consider the exposure. Ouch.
Barlow and Her Story seemingly weren’t the only ones offered unlimited exposure bucks. A developer who worked on Untitled Goose Game replied to Barlow’s tweet, claiming Tesla had come to them with the same offer.
Same re: Goose
— Cabel (@cabel) October 31, 2022
Aside from the rather poor value proposition for Barlow, a follow-up tweet says that it’s one of the sillier ideas he’s heard. That may be because Her Story is a rather intense investigative game — at odds with the casual nature of the likes of Missile Command and Sonic The Hedgehog that are included as great ways to pass the time during recharges.
We’ve reached out to Tesla for comment and will update the story if we hear back.
