2K Sports today releases "MLB 2K12," and although the baseball simulation video game series has been a noted money loser for the company and the licensing deal with MLB is now in its final year, the title still arrives at retail with a heavy degree of marketing activation. 2K Sports yesterday released a second promo spot featuring model Kate Upton and Tigers P Justin Verlander, the game's cover athlete. The publisher is also expanding its $1M Perfect Game Challenge, shifting the format for the third-year event from a simple race to pitch the first perfect game in the title to a tournament format that will culminate in a final playoff in May at MLB's Fan Cave in N.Y. The challenge winner will be featured on a series of late-night and morning talk shows and appear in a forthcoming ad for the game. And 2K Sports again will conduct a coast-to-coast RV tour, promoting the tour with a mobile demo vehicle hitting a total of 25 spring training facilities and MLB stadiums between now and July's All-Star Game in K.C. "It's not in our DNA to do anything but evolve and push," said 2K Sports VP/Marketing Jason Argent. "We're simply going bigger this year than in any prior year." 2K Sports also surprised industry observers last month by offering a $70 pre-order combo pack of "MLB 2K12" and "NBA 2K12" on the XBox 360. The combined list price for the games purchased separately is $120, and in turn perhaps suggesting that "MLB 2K12" is simply a $10 tack-on to its more popular counterpart, or vice versa. But Argent said, "The consumer reaction thus far has been strong. This is clearly one of the best values out there in sports gaming." Meanwhile, Sony Computer Entertainment America also releases today the latest version of its first-party MLB title, "MLB 12: The Show." The game features Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez on the cover.
