A company that supplies 3D mapping technology for games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed saw a £3 million drop in its profits this year, and blamed the fact it spent way too much time animating a bunch of dumbass superheroes Stan Lee thought up for the National Hockey League.
The "NHL Guardians" was a big cross-promotion between the league and Marvel that sought to personify all 30 franchises as super heroes, with names and descriptions like "The Oiler: The roughneck protector of the Great White North. Controls wintery weather patterns and oil manipulation." The whole thing debuted to arched eyebrows around last year's all-star game.
OMG, that's the name of a company, not what you think it means, put a lot of effort into rendering the characters, then saw the whole thing fall on its face by the middle of the year. The NHL still sells Guardian stuff, but no one's buying it because, well, it's kind of stupid. The promotion's half-finished website hasn't been updated since the summer.
OMG Blames Stan Lee For Poor Profits [Bleeding Cool]