Chicken Kart
Bethann Gendernalik
Crazy Chicken (originally released in Germany as Moorhuhn), sometimes known as Chicken Hunter or Moorhen, is a shooting gallery video game franchise. While originally intended to merely serve as a small-scale advertising game, the first game's unintended online release and subsequent distribution as shareware were followed by an unprecedented surge in popularity, making it Germany's most popular computer game in the early 2000s[1] and enabling Crazy Chicken to develop into a multi-platform franchise with a variety of spin-offs and merchandise.[2]
The original Crazy Chicken game (now distributed as The Original Crazy Chicken Hunt) was commissioned by Bochum-based Art Department advertising agency - known for their advergames - and developed by Dutch Witan Studios as an advertisement for Johnnie Walker whisky in 1998. The concept of using a video game to promote the Johnnie Walker brand was originally thought up by another advertising agency, Hamburg-based Vorwerk & Buchholz, in 1997.[3] A prototype of the game that would later be turned into The Original Crazy Chicken Hunt was shown off by Witan Studios at the Bizarre 98 demo party in summer of 1998 as KippenSchieten.
It was originally made available in October 1998 to play on laptops in select bars, with promoters dressed up as fowlers.[3] While never intended for sale or further distribution, it seems to have been illicitly copied, and became widely available for download on private websites.[3] The publisher's initial irritation at this subsided after the game received favorable mentions in popular media and demand for it grew. From the beginning of 1999 onwards, the game was officially made available for download by Art Department.[3] It became wildly popular in German-speaking Europe, to the point of being described by various media outlets as a threat to the bottom line of businesses, on account of the number of hours wasted by employees playing the game due its ease of accessibility and shareability (the original game only had a file size of approximately 2 MB, meaning it could be sent via email).[4]
In 2002, their stock value rapidly collapsed after it became known that the company's leaders were under investigation for falsifying balance sheets.[1] Chairman of the Vorstand Markus Scheer and CFO Bjrn Denhard, who confessed to the falsifications,[6] were fired.[1] In 2009, they were sentenced by a German court to 46 and 36 months' imprisonment, respectively, for securities fraud and other infractions.[5] Scheer would subsequently leave the video game industry and turn to politics instead, allegedly becoming a puppet master of the far-right AfD party in North Rhine-Westphalia, until founding Bndnis Deutschland in 2022.[7]
Phenomedia AG underwent insolvency proceedings. Its assets, including the Crazy Chicken series, were bought by a successor company, Phenomedia publishing GmbH, which continued to develop and publish games[5] until its dissolution in 2017, from whereon out the company's assets - including the rights to the Crazy Chicken franchise - became property of its long-time publishing partner, ak tronic Software & Services GmbH.[8]
Within the mainline series, the concept of which is derived from the Glorious Twelfth, the main objective of the game usually is to attain a high score by shooting the titular Crazy Chickens within the framework of the single-screen shooting gallery genre. Players usually have 90 seconds and infinite ammunition to do so. Starting with Crazy Chicken 2, each game also contained a variety of puzzles and hidden secrets activated by shooting certain objects on screen in a particular order and/or with certain timing (netting a far higher score than the regular Crazy Chickens), which encouraged more competition and discussion concerning the games. Later entries would also go on to add elements such as a wider variety of enemies, bonus games after a successful round, multiple levels, etc...
The Browser versions are based on the DS version, but make use of avatars and a 'bullet' feature that requires the player to either wait for or be gifted bullets by players registered as friends to continue playing.
A variety of collections and bundles containing the franchise's games have been released over the years. The following tables signify a full game's inclusion with a green checkmark, the inclusion of a demo version of a game with a yellow checkmark and a game not being included with a red cross.
The game's success spawned a great deal of merchandise, a comic book series, an animated TV series,[91] several motion picture scripts (although no movie was ever made) and a BMG-produced single (Gimme more Huhn by comedian Wigald Boning).[91]
The soundtrack for the game Crazy Chicken: Tiger & Chicken was composed by Jan Klose/Tilman Sillescu (Dynamedion), Helge Borgarts contributed some tracks. The soundtrack was played by the Staatskapelle Halle.[citation needed]
In 2001, a total of 26 one-minute animated shorts were produced, which were shown in commercial breaks of German TV stations. In these shorts, the Crazy Chicken character was voiced by Santiago Ziesmer, though it only made chicken noises.[92]
In September 2011, the production of a Moorhuhn feature film was announced by Phenomedia. The film was to be produced by Douglas Welbat and Nova Entertainment Cinema.[93] A year later, the script was funded with a grant of 45,000 euros from the public Filmfrderungsanstalt (FFA), at the time the highest funding of the Screenplay Commission.[94] Nothing more came of the project.
Despite mass interest in the franchise originally being caused by the distribution of its early titles as free software via the internet, it managed to retain some relevancy even after the so-called "Moorhuhn-Boom" period in the early 2000s. For example, as of 2013, paid video games using the "Moorhuhn" branding have accumulated over 15 million sold copies, while free demo versions have been downloaded approximately 80 million times from official sources alone.[95] At the same time, the series has struggled with proper monetisation of its games since its inception. For example, while the official PC release of Crazy Chicken 2 (retailing at a MSRP of 20 Mark) has sold over 300,000 copies,[96] on launch day, a free version was reportedly downloaded 180,000 times per hour; a rate high enough to completely crash some of Germany's main IXPs in Frankfurt and Hamburg.[8]
In terms of the original game's purpose as marketing for Johnnie Walker whisky, a 2003 study by the University of Mannheim found that test subjects who had already played the game perceived the Johnnie Walker brand as more modern and trendy. Despite coming to the conclusion that the game had no significant impact on general awareness of the brand or customer's purchasing intent, the study noted that the establishment of the Crazy Chicken as a new brand image was far quicker than similar efforts undertaken via traditional mass media.[97]
In early 2000, a Deutscher Tierschutzbund (lit.: German Animal Protection Union) representative claimed that the premise of the Original Crazy Chicken Hunt was emblematic of a general lack of respect towards animals, supposedly encouraging the killing of birds by desensitising players. Anticipating this, Johnnie Walker had the developers of the game tone its violence down multiple times. The end screen also shows a sad Crazy Chicken in a cast with crutches to both imply that the chickens are not killed as well as showing the consequences of violence.[98]
Several media outlets have complimented Crazy Chicken's accessibility, both in gameplay and hardware requirements, while retaining its graphical appeal. However, the quantity of games, especially during the 2000s, has led to some review outlets expressing concerns regarding the franchise's "monotony",[99] citing even minor changes such as the introduction of motion controls as making certain entries "a lot more fun than [their] predecessors".[100] While the games have been described as "simple but charming",[101] some retail releases have also drawn criticism for their perceived lack of content considering their price.[102]
The Crazy Chicken Kart spin-offs mostly received negative scores, with critics often unfavourably comparing them to the similar Mario Kart games in terms of scope, graphics and controls.[103][104]
Today, the Crazy Chicken series is seen as an early example of viral marketing,[109] as well as one of the first video game Internet phenomena in general.[110] The franchise's popularity even caused Germany's authoritative Duden dictionary to include the word "Moorhuhnjagd".[1][111] By the early 2000s, Crazy Chicken was found to be the most popular video game franchise with children in Germany; ahead of Pokmon, Tomb Raider and The Settlers.[112]
Art Department and its successor company Phenomedia were also notable for being one of the earliest publishers to embrace the internet as a means of encouraging fan interaction and fan labor. Examples of this include the purchase and continuation of the Moorhuhn World forums in 2001 by Phenomedia, as well using the franchise's official website for the collection and publication of high scores[113] and fan art[114] (for which there would also be contests with giveaways).[115] The company would also ask players to submit ideas for new games in the franchise. Furthermore, Phenomedia encouraged modding of their games by occasionally holding competitions, awarding things like high-end PC's or digital cameras to fans who submitted the best add-ins for certain Crazy Chicken games; these could be created via official add-in programs distributed by Phenomedia's partners.[116]
In Germany specifically, the games also sparked a debate about workplace culture, as it became a point of discussion whether or not playing video games during work hours and/or breaks could serve as a justification for firing.[117] In 2000, employees playing Crazy Chicken 2 in the workplace alone was estimated to cost German companies about 135 million Mark per year.[118]
c80f0f1006