In January of 1999, Electronic Arts had to recall 100,000 copies of the PlayStation version of their Tiger Woods 99 game. Someone had (possibly accidentally) included a data file on the disc that didn’t belong there, an AVI movie of the highly blasphemous original South Park pilot called “The Spirit of Christmas.” There was no way to see it accidentally by playing the game, but all the same it was extremely embarrassing—and costly—to EA. The error was made worse by the fact that EA didn’t
Break into the Game Industry: How to Get A Job Making Video Games Ernest Adams
have the rights to South Park anyway; they were held by Acclaim. A simple QA check, verifying the identity and purpose of each file, would have saved the company a small fortune.
Tiger Woods 99 / South Park pilot
