PR reps working on upcoming zombie shooter The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct have confirmed to Giant Bomb that the trailer various game sites (including this one) shared earlier this week is fake. The reps told Giant Bomb:
“That trailer that's going around on 'TWDSurvivalInstinct' channel isn't official. It is a fan edit. It looks like they pulled gameplay from the first reveal which was on IGN's Up at Noon last week.”
I'd like to apologise to readers and the staff working on the game for failing to research this properly before writing about it. If you'd like to know how so many gaming news sites were equally duped, Ben Kuchera has written a long editorial about it on the Penny Arcade Report. Essentially, by the time Kuchera (and I) came to spot the video, various other gaming sites had it up already. The YouTube account hosting the video had no other videos and looked similar to other official accounts. And even Dan Amrich, Activision's social media manager, had the video on his blog. Amrich later Tweeted:
“FWIW, I thought I'd missed something and posted the same video. Humans — we do make mistakes.”
While this mistake is embarrassing for those who fell for the fake, the news is also a bit of a relief. After all, that video didn't make the game look very good at all. Hopefully, the first official gameplay trailer we get to see will promote the game in a much more promising light.