2K Sports Faces Controversy Over Leaked “Sexy” Top Spin 4 Advert

An unfortunate incident involving Serena Williams and a pair of fishnet tights has seen 2K Sports forced to distance themselves from an ill-advised advertising campaign for their recent tennis title, Top Spin 4.

In a baffling and completely unnecessary attempt to sex up the otherwise respectable game, the advert features Williams and actress Rileah Vanderbilt playing the game on the PlayStation Move dressed in outfits that definitely would not be allowed at Wimbledon. Whilst scantily-clad women gyrating around in front of a flame thrower might make sense in an advert for Dead or Alive, they seem strangely out of place against the backdrop of 2K Sports’ sophisticated tennis simulator.

The publisher seem to be aware of this, and claim never to have planned to release the advert to the public. It was apparently leaked by Vanderbilt herself (on Twitter, the medium of choice for the classy self-publicist), who was unhappy about 2K’s decision to drop the campaign. Quite how Vanderbilt got her hands on a copy of the tape remains a mystery, as does the veracity of 2K’s claim that “this video is not part of the title’s final marketing campaign and its distribution was unauthorized”.

Although no real harm has been done, one can’t help but question the wisdom of whoever commissioned the offending article in the first place. Anyone buying Top Spin 4 in the hope of seeing Serena in her pants will be sorely disappointed (she does appear in the game, but never in fishnet tights), and the advert may reflect poorly on a game which, quite frankly, deserves better.

For the rest of us, let’s just hope that the advert doesn’t get devoured by the “Video Games Are For Horny Teenagers” brigade as evidence that gamers will only buy something if it has boobs on the cover.