Gaming and April Fool’s Day go hand-in-hand, as there have been countless examples of developers and publishers pulling off elaborate jokes to fool fans. Here are some of the best April Fool’s pranks in gaming from down the years.
Like Christmas, Halloween, or even Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day is a one-day-only affair that distances itself from all the other regular days in the calendar. When it crosses paths with gaming, it can be absolute magic for even just 24 hours.
Everyone loves a well-thought-out April Fool’s gag, and some of the world’s leading brands from Overwatch to LEGO have all been involved in one way or another.
So let’s run through some of the best examples of April Fool’s Day clashing with gaming and pick out the most memorable pranks.
Best gaming April Fool’s Day pranks
From goats appearing on the big screen to unbelievably retro football, the best April Fool’s gaming jokes really do range from the wacky to the wonderful.
Check out each entry below along with a short description of what each stunt entailed.
1. PlayStation Flow
You know those annoying swimming levels in gaming? Well, wouldn’t they be cooler if you actually had to mimic them yourself? That’s what PlayStation Flow promised, but despite the very convincing advert and promotion, it was nothing more than an April Fool’s day hoax.
2. Football Manager 1888
Re-introducing Football Manager 1888. pic.twitter.com/zkvIsSpvsM
— Football Manager (@FootballManager) April 1, 2020
Football Manager is a success year-on-year as fans all around the world get to assume the reins of a football club and enforce the advice they shower the TV with every week. Football Manager 1888 was announced on April 1, 2020, but as you can guess, ye olde football was just a brilliant joke.
3. Overwatch googly eyes
OVERWATCH PUT GOOGLY EYES ON EVERYONE AND IM CRYING pic.twitter.com/4FJfQ0NMnu
— Splatty 🎶 GRADUATING‼️🎓 (@Splatsune_) April 1, 2022
Overwatch 2 carries on the cartoony, somewhat serious nature of Blizzard’s incredible Hero shooter, but back in April 2021, the devs went a bit kooky with the original. See, they made it so that every hero could be equipped with a pair of googly eyes, and it made matches both hectic and hilarious.
4. Touch Grass keys
our TCH Grass keycaps are OUT NOW!>> https://t.co/wztNkVfVzV pic.twitter.com/4UlCa6vmAq
— HyperX (@HyperX) April 1, 2022
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At one point or another, you might have heard the expression to go outside and “touch grass.” Well on April 1, 2022, HyperX took this one step further and jokingly advertised a keyboard with all-new “Grass keycaps,” and we can’t imagine how impractical they would’ve been if they were real.
5. New Twitch categories
Today we’re excited to launch five new categories you can watch and stream to.
Here’s what’s new… 🧵 1/6
— Twitch (@Twitch) April 1, 2022
The meteoric rise of Twitch has been helped in part thanks to games such as Just Chatting. Twitch decided to go all in on 2022’s April Fools by including ‘new’ categories for users to enjoy: Pizza Time, Silent Reading, Character Creation, Chores, Odd Jobs & Errands, and Literally Just Chatting.
6. Diablo makeover
Felt cute, @Twitter deleted us. Now we're back to spread more positivity. ✨ 💖 https://t.co/OiapOfZwZy
— Diablo (@Diablo) April 1, 2022
It didn’t change too much, but Diablo underwent a bizarre makeover in 2022, and it was quite a drastic swerve compared to its traditional heaven and hell theme. With Diablo 4 set to lead the franchise’s future, we can’t imagine it’ll be incorporating this kind of permanent theme anytime soon.
7. LEGO Halo
Reminds me of the old Lego Halo EGM April Fools' joke. This is… odd, but I love it so much pic.twitter.com/LSBhzCtv5z
— Drewtopia97 (@GaukerTimothy) April 26, 2022
There seems to have been a LEGO version of almost everything at this point, especially where games are concerned. Halo fans thought they were getting something special at one point after it was announced that LEGO Halo was on the way, but you already know how that ends.
8. Dark Ciders
The award for the best-named April Fool’s joke has to go to Dark Ciders – a play on the Darksiders series. Described as “artisanal beverages,” the made-up drinks were a great tie-in to the action-adventure games.
9. Goat Simulator: The Musical Motion Picture
Coffee Stain (somewhat) proudly presents…'Goat Simulator: The Musical Motion Picture' – an udder spectacular in the making, directed by @steveo himself.https://t.co/Zz6sU8cvCd#GoatSimMovie #GoatSimulator pic.twitter.com/Wke6nBoKlz
— Goat Simulator (@GoatSimulator) March 31, 2022
We have saved the best till last – Goat Simulator on the big screen. The original game was bigger and better than it had any right to be and its creators teased everyone with a full-scale movie with Jackass’ Steve-O at the helm. We so wish this was true, but for the time being, it’s just another cruel April Fool’s joke.
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