GameStop Promo Prank: Karissa the Destroyer

In truly epic fashion, ten-year-old Karissa the Destroyer absolutely crushed all her competition in a Super Smash Bros. tournament at a GameStop promotional event in California on November 8. The contenders, who happened to be the best players on the West Coast, were shocked at her skills, becoming increasingly frustrated and amused as she continued to win against these amazing players.

But she wasn’t actually playing them. As a part of their promotional strategy, GameStop had young Karissa pretend to play Super Smash Bros. while pro gamer Liquid’KDJ actually played behind the scenes. Karissa puts on a convincing performance, however, taunting and laughing at her competition, “beating” every competitor. She even went as far as asking one player why he was smiling, and asked her competition, “How’s this for cute?”. With a smirk on her face, Karissa said to one competitor: “You dress snappy but your game is crappy.”

The response to the video isn’t exactly glowing or even remotely positive. Many are calling GameStop “liars.” One GameStop customer threatened to never shop at GameStop again until the company issued a full apology, saying that everyone involved in the video should be ashamed of themselves. Many comments left on the video accuse the competitors of being paid to lose. And that’s not even remotely the worst of the comments. Many viewers of the video appear concerned about how women are perceived in the gaming industry and say that this video gives a negative view of female gamers.

Several people came to the defense of GameStop, discouraging negative comments and insisting that this promotional event was simply a prank. As a promotional event, it has definitely drawn attention to the new Super Smash Bros. game for Wii U, but it has perhaps garnered more negative attention than GameStop bargained for.