Sadly, being a good video game is not always enough (Square Enix/Nintendo/Capcom)
GameCentral reminisces about the many video games that were hampered by ill thought-out marketing schemes… or were barely advertised at all.
In a perfect world, putting in the effort to create a top quality video game (or any kind of product) should guarantee success, but that’s sadly not the case.
Too often a video game’s sales performance hinges not on its quality, but how it’s advertised. Even terrible games can enjoy strong launches if the trailers and general hype are doing their job right.
Sometimes, publishers such as EA and Activision will put plenty of effort into marketing new games but focus on the wrong areas. They’ll try and broaden a game’s appeal in the advertising and instead completely misrepresent why people should play it.
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Other times, they’ll pull ridiculous marketing stunts that do little to inspire confidence in what they are selling or they simply won’t even bother with marketing if they think a game won’t do well, dooming such games to rely entirely on good word of mouth.
Today, we want to remember the video games that suffered from absent, misguided, or just plain bizarre marketing and whether they managed to thrive in spite of it.
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Yoshi And The Mysterious Book
The game that inspired this list, Yoshi And The Mysterious Book initially looked like it would be another overly simplistic platformer for kids and hardly a good justification for purchasing a Nintendo Switch 2.
Turns out Nintendo severely undersold it, because Yoshi And The Mysterious Book’s levels are delightful toy boxes full of unique gimmicks that could easily have been the focus of entire games; ones that lend themselves perfectly to fun puzzle solving.
Nintendo’s marketing completely ignored the game’s best qualities, to the point where they still haven’t shared any sales figures, which is unusual for them. Despite being one of the best games of the year, and coming out shorty after Yoshi played a starring role in the Super Mario Galaxy movie, It’s believed to have not even cracked a million sales.
If anything, it was more bizarre that there were no co-op options for a game about Marvel’s gang of galactic outcasts, as trailers focused too much on Star-Lord’s (admittedly fantastic) mixtape of nostalgic 80s tunes, making the whole thing seem like a desperate recreation of the movies.
So, imagine our surprise when the game turned out to have some real ambition, boasting consistently entertaining tactical combat and, amidst the jokes, a sincerely heartfelt story about grief and coping with loss.
Despite developer Eidos-Montréal’s best efforts, and strong word of mouth, Guardians Of The Galaxy was branded a flop by Square Enix and contributed to the company’s decision to avoid future Marvel games and sell off its Western studios.
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The only silver lining is that, quite unexpectedly, the game is getting re-released on Switch 2, after being announced during this month’s Nintendo Direct.
Onrush, Split/Second: Velocity, and Blur
We’re bundling these three together since they’re all British-made arcade racing games that suffered from poor marketing decisions, which contributed to their awful sales.
Onrush by Codemasters was enjoyably unique, as it was more of a hero shooter with cars than a standard racer, and all four of its gameplay modes worked wonderfully. Unfortunately, it was barely advertised and some trailers made it seem very generic.
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Black Rock Studio’s Split/Second: Velocity also saw little advertising, despite having a great hook where you could trigger destructible environments mid-race to interfere with opponents and change the layout of the track. It also made the mistake of launching in May 2010, the same month as Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Bizarre Creations and Activision fell into a similar trap with Blur, as they tried to position the game as an adult rival to Mario Kart, complete with a trailer clearly meant to mock Nintendo’s racer as a stupid baby game, without explaining why Blur was supposed to be better.
Titanfall 2
Titanfall 2 is still revered to this day as having one of the best first person shooter campaigns and deservedly so. Even if very few people played it at the time.
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Unfortunately, EA did it no favours by barely marketing the game and what marketing it did have didn’t do enough to emphasise that it had a proper campaign, compared to the first game’s multiplayer focus.
EA also made the baffling decision to launch Titanfall 2 between two other multiplayer shooters for far bigger franchises – EA’s own Battlefield 1 and the similarly sci-fi themed Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare – thus dooming it to lacklustre sales.
DmC Devil May Cry
Capcom’s decision to reboot Devil May Cry and try to make it more appealing to Western audiences, by using British developer Ninja Theory and turning protagonist Dante into an unlikable git, was a bad call – especially with stuff like this joke, that seemed tailor made to antagonise long time fans.
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And yet DmC Devil May Crywas a good game, with more complex combat than it’s given credit for, while fulfilling Capcom’s aim to be a more accessible entry point for the series.
Had Capcom not tried too hard in rebooting the world and characters, the game may not have generated such undeserved hate for developer Ninja Theory. To its credit, Capcom didn’t sweep the game under the carpet immediately and launched a fantastic next gen upgrade that added a number of new features and options.
Regardless, Capcom did end up reverting to the original continuity with the next game, Devil May Cry 5, and considering that’s now the series’ best-selling entry, it’s safe to say the reboot will remain a one-off.
The image of a scowling Kirby became somewhat memetic (Nintendo/MobyGames)
Kirby
We’re including the Kirby series as a blanket case and long-time fans already know exactly why that is. For years, Nintendo of America seemed to think the best way to market Kirby in the West was by, and we’re not exaggerating here, giving him angry eyes.
Look up any box art comparisons of Kirby games and you’ll see the pink puffball’s joyful smile on the Japanese covers replaced with a furrowed brow and steely determination on the US covers, clearly done to make Kirby seem more hardcore than cute.
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Maybe the tactic worked, because the game is bigger in the US than Europe, but nowadays the box art for Kirby games remains the same across regions, as Nintendo of America instead relies on nostalgia and leans into the cuteness.
We don’t think Sony will be using animal carcasses to advertise the God Of War remakes (Sony/MobyGames)
God Of War 2
Before God Of War was about the contemplations of fatherhood and Kratos overcoming his anger issues, to be a kinder and wiser person, the series was primarily sold on its ultra violence and its hero being an amoral tryhard.
As one of the poster children for the 2000s era of video games, where a lot of the industry sold itself on being offensively edgy, Sony wound up rocking the boat by inviting press to a God Of War 2 event that involved shoving your hand into a dead, headless goat’s carcass and eating its insides.
Sony did clarify that the goat’s insides were filled with normal Greek food, but the dead goat was real and caused enough outrage among the mass media and animal rights activists for Sony to apologise for the debacle.
They may have been convinced to go to such lengths because the original God Of War wasn’t a big hit in Europe, as it came at the height of the rivalry between Sony Computer Entertainment America and Europe. The latter put purposefully little effort into pushing the first game, back when they had a lot more autonomy than they do now.
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The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time has a lasting legacy as one of the best and most important video games ever made, but it has one small blight on that legacy and it’s an infamous UK ad that asked fans, ‘Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?’
Aside from being uncharacteristically antagonistic for the family friendly Nintendo, it fed into the stereotype that video games are only for boys. It felt like a weirdly old-fashioned form of sexism even at the time and seems even more unforgivable nowadays.
This did spark a small controversy and an attempt to have the ad removed, which didn’t work, but it didn’t hurt Ocarina Of Time’s launch and is now more of an odd curio, since the ads weren’t run in other countries.
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Dead Space 2/Dante’s Inferno
We should just put EA’s entire tenure during the Xbox 360 era on this list because the publisher was constantly guilty of relying on shock value and deliberately stirring up controversies to market its games.
For Dead Space 2, EA ran a Your Mum Hates Dead Space 2 campaign for the former, where it essentially put together a focus group of mothers and recorded their horrified and outraged reactions to some of Dead Space 2’s more violent moments.
Clearly, the goal was to make the game look cool and edgy to rebellious youths (EA even encouraged fans to post their own mums’ reactions on social media), but it was tasteless and lame even at the time and didn’t help the stereotype of video games being childish and exploitative. The strategy didn’t even work since, according to one of the game’s developers, EA branded Dead Space 2 a commercial failure.
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As for Dante’s Inferno, which was a God Of War clone based on The Divine Comedy, EA tried to capitalise on religious backlash to promote the game and staged a protest to make it look as if devout church goers found the game offensive.
The company later confessed the protest was fake and, much like Dead Space 2, EA’s efforts were for naught as Dante’s Inferno underperformed, prompting EA to cancel a planned sequel.
Acclaim seemed to love stirring up controversy when advertising games like Burnout 2 (Acclaim/MobyGames)
Burnout 2
Acclaim rose from the dead last year, to get back into video game publishing, and we hope for its sake that it doesn’t repeat the same marketing snafus it pulled before it closed its doors.
We could write a whole article about Acclaim’s ill-thought-out ideas to promote its games here in the UK, which only ever earned it controversy and a poor reputation.
For example, to advertise racing game Burnout 2, Acclaim offered to pay for peoples’ speeding tickets, which unsurprisingly made the UK government very angry, since it came across as Acclaim encouraging speeding.
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Acclaim filed for bankruptcy two years after it came out. EA, however, saw the potential in both the series and developer Criterion, as it acquired both and went on to release plenty more Burnout games.
Sadly, Burnout nowadays languishes in EA’s vaults (the last game was in 2018) and is unlikely to ever return now that Criterion has been reworked into a Battlefield 6 studio.
Acclaim’s self-described ‘deadvertising’ never caught on (Acclaim/MobyGames)
Shadow Man 2
Another infamous Acclaim promotion was for action adventure sequel Shadow Man 2… or Shadow Man: 2econd Coming to use its actual, much stupider name.
If you thought the speeding ticket scenario was bad, you’ll be amazed to learn that Acclaim’s marketing plans included buying advertising space on tombstones.
We don’t mean bespoke tombstones either. We mean Acclaim was offering families money to have Shadow Man 2 billboards placed on their dead relatives’ tombstones.
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Billed as ‘deadvertising,’ Acclaim argued that it fit the game’s dark and gory tone and even said the offer would ‘particularly interest poorer families,’ describing it as ‘a subsidy to burial costs to give their loved one a good send-off.’
As far as we can tell, nobody took Acclaim up on the offer and, much like Burnout 2, Shadow Man 2’s sales weren’t strong enough to save Acclaim from bankruptcy, proving that there is such a thing as bad publicity.
To our surprise, there is a new Shadow Man game in the works, though, called Shadowman: Darque Legacy from Australian developer Blowfish Studios. But it was only announced with a vague teaser trailer in 2023 and has seen no updates since.
The teaser for the next Shadow Man game only consists of dimly lit environments (Blowfish Studios)
The Trenchard Avenue project has been years in the making, and was pushed back several times after damage was caused by break-ins and blazes.
Last year it was revealed that asbestos had spread to all floors and as a result around 470 tonnes of asbestos had to be removed.
The Golden Eagle in Thornaby, which is being demolished (Image: PETER REIMANN)
Once the upper floors have been removed, the scaffolding will be removed and larger machinery will be brought in to demolish the ground and first floors.
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New drone pictures show how floor removal on the hotel, which remains surrounded in scaffolding on its upper floors, is now underway.
Piles of rubble can be seen on the roof beside the outer shell of what would have been supports for bedroom walls and the roof.
Meanwhile, work is also continuing nearby on a new £14m leisure facility connected to Thornaby Pavilion, featuring a five-lane swimming pool, gym, and a new 46-space car park.
The Golden Eagle in Thornaby, which is being demolished (Image: PETER REIMANN)
Town centre owner LCP Proudreed submitted plans to build 204.4m² and 167.2m² units on the land along with 40 parking spaces and some green landscaping.
However, the bid was refused by Stockton Borough Council over crime and anti-social behaviour concerns and fears it would “diminish the town centre’s cohesion”.
The Eagle has been shuttered for several years and is understood to have been run as a pub on the ground floor until the mid to late 2010s.
Before that, the site operated as a bar and hotel, the venue often hosted wedding receptions, birthday parties, and Christmas work parties over its decades-long run.
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The council took control of the hotel in October 2024.
Nightsleeper, which stars Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole, has been confirmed to be returning for a second season with a star-studded cast.
Sally Lindsey, who is best known for playing Shelley Barlow in Coronation Street, has been confirmed to be joining the show.
The second series of Nightsleeper is currently being filmed in Belfast and will involve six episodes that are set to be broadcast next year.
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Sally Lindsey joins cast of Nightsleeper
Sally is not the only new star being added to the cast with Rupert Penry-Jones, who has starred in shows like The Feud and Those About to Die, also joining the show.
Madeleine Mantock from Charmed and Casualty and Ian McElhinney, who is best known for playing Barristan Selmy in Game of Thrones and Joe McCool in Derry Girls, will also be starring in Nightsleeper.
While the first season took place on an overnight train from Glasgow to London, the new series will take place on a ferry in the Irish Sea.
The ferry and its crew are set to be thrown into chaos in a cyber-attack with the ship’s engineer, Johnny, who will be played by Christian Cooke, having to work with the National Cyber Security Centre to avoid disaster.
Nick Leather, the show’s writer, said: “It’s so much fun to be embarking on a second Nightsleeper journey – and on a route I know so well, with the Belfast-to-Liverpool ferry as our new box of tricks.
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“We’ve assembled a wonderful cast.
“I can’t wait to welcome the audience on board for a non-stop night to remember.”
The director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, has promised the second series will be “brilliantly gripping”.
She said: “Nick has delivered another brilliantly gripping story.
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“With danger lurking beneath the surface at every turn, viewers are in for a truly nail-biting journey.”
If you did not watch the first series of Nightsleeper, all six of the episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Will you be watching the second series of Nightsleeper when it is released? Let us know in the comments.
A matter of months after Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson ended their long relationship, she called it a day with Role Model and has now been linked to Machine Gun Kelly
Fans are speculating that Chris Martin may have sent a cryptic message to his ex Dakota Johnson after stepping out in a telling outfit with a three-word message.
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The Coldplay frontman has been spotted for the first time since his ex was seen out with Machine Gun Kelly. According to reports, the pair were spotted on a ‘secret date’ with the newly-single pair snapped exiting a black SUV before walking into Taylor’s Swift’s New York apartment.
Chris has kept a low profile ever since he and Dakota ended their eight-year relationship in June, but it appears she hasn’t taken too long to move on. She was snapped with Megan Fox’s ex, days after reports that she and singer Role Model had called it a day.
Fans are speculating about Dakota and MGK’s relationship with one X user writing: “This might be one of the most unexpected celebrity plot twists of the year.”
Rocker Chris’ choice of clothing may have given some clues to his feeling as he wore a “love” badge on his sweatshirt and a blue “life rolls on” cap. In pictures obtained by Daily Mail Chris flashed a beaming smile and semmed relaxed as he left a meeting in central London with his manager.
It is claimed she became unhappy longtime beau Chris was “dragging his feet” over their wedding date, sources have claimed. Dakota, 35, was “sick” a date hadn’t been set after the pair got engaged years after starting their on-off relationship in 2017, following Chris’ divorce with actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
An insider told Page Six: “She was sick of him dragging his feet on setting a date for the wedding.” Chris, 48, had been married to Gwyneth for 13 years and has two children with the actress.
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Dakota has never been married previously and she doesn’t have any children. “Dakota wanted this relationship to work, she not only loves Chris, but his two kids, and that loss feels incredibly painful,” a source told The Sun.
“The decision to end things was amicable, but Dakota is finding it hard. Over the past year, it became clear that their relationship had stalled and wasn’t moving forwards. Settling down, as in Chris properly taking his foot off the pedal, isn’t going to happen. And, ultimately, it was one of the many straws that broke the back of them.”
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When news of the couple’s split emerged recently, an insider told the press: “They just haven’t been able to figure out to make it official. Dakota held a flame for them to be together because she loved him so much and loved his kids so much.
In a rare interview speaking about how their lives were together, Dakota told ELLE magazine back in 2021: “We’ve been together for quite a while and we go out sometimes, but we both work so much that it’s nice to be at home and be cosy and private.
“Most of the partying takes place inside of my house”.
Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, was snapped by TMZ exiting a black SUV and walking into Taylor’s Tribeca pad on Sunday. Her previously opened up about about his whirlwind romance with Megan, saying that he didn’t believe in love until he met her.
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MGK was with actress Megan Fox for four and a half years. He welcomed a daughter, Saga, in March of last year with Megan. MGK and Megan, 40, had their baby girl just four months after their relationship reportedly ended following claims the actress discovered he had been communicating with other women.
Despite the breakup, a source revealed in late last year that Megan has been impressed by ‘how he’s stepped up for both her and the baby’.
The rapper discussed the impact the relationship with Transformers star Megan had on his 2020 album Tickets To My Downfall. “After I made the big chunk of the album, I did fall in love for the first time,” he said.
“That was my first experience with being open to love and stuff like that. I definitely wasn’t set up to believe that that’s something that could ever exist.”
Host Mariska Hargitay drew backlash online for her ‘cringe’ opening number at the 2026 Primetime Emmys.
As the Law and Order star sat on horseback, she sang a remixed rendition of ‘I Love Rock n’ Roll’ as she arrived to the Peacock theater surrounded by men dressed as televisions.
Fans rushed online to slam the star’s opening monologue, with one declaring: ‘#emmys the opening by Mariska, so cringe what,’ and another adding ‘It’s giving “your mom does stand up”.’
Earlier in the evening, stars are hit the red carpet as television’s biggest programs are honored.
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Zendaya graced the carpet in a floor length silver gown and donned her shortest haircut to date as comedian Meg Statler sent shockwaves through the crowd in a bizarre gold Emmys statue costume.
HBO Max’s The Pitt and Hacks are expected to sweep the evening’s biggest awards after seeing record-breaking nominations earlier in the year.
An emotional in memoriam segment will honor beloved stars who have passed this year including Dolly Parton, Catherine O’Hara and James Van Der Beek.
Follow the Daily Mail for the latest updates…
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The ceremony kicks off with musical number from host Mariska Hargitay… but some viewers weren’t so impressed
The Law & Order: SUV actress was joined by Knicks star Jalen Brunson for the performance, which saw her singing a parody of the classic song I Love Rock and Roll.
She then delivered a hilarious monologue during which she cracked a joke about not being able to pronounce the word ‘finale’ because her show ‘never had one’ and quoted Nicole Kidman’s famous AMC ad, which prompted an interruption from Kidman herself.
Some people weren’t entertained by the opening number, however, and took to X to bash it, branding it as ‘cringe.’
Rhea Seehorn earns the award for Outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her role in Pluribus
Allison Janney wins the award for Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in The Diplomat
She beat out fellow actresses Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa, Sepideh Moafi, Julianne Nicholson and Karolina Wydra.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast reunites on stage at 2026 Emmys
Former costars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz came on stage together to present an award 30 years after the show debuted, and boy, was it nostalgic.
Matthew Rhys snags the award for Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie
He won for his role in The Beast in Me.
Jean Smart wins the award for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her part in Hacks
It was the actress’s fifth consecutive Emmy for her role in Hacks. An impressive feat, if you ask us.
The first award goes to…
Kate O’Flynn from Widow’s Bay won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Zendaya smirks coyly after being called ‘Mrs. Holland’
Euphoria star Zendaya kept a straight face until a photographer shouted ‘Mrs. Holland’ at her on the Emmys red carpet this evening.
Although Zendaya and Tom Holland have not openly confirmed their nuptials, it was reported that the actors wed in secret back in August at Beaverbrook estate in Surrey, England, with Zendaya thought to have worn a lace Schiaparelli gown with a long-sleeved and high-neck design.
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Battle of the skinny stars at Emmys 2026 as Hollywood’s Ozempic obsession continues
The Emmys 2026 kicked off award season in style – but it was the parade of skinny stars on the red carpet that caused the biggest stir.
Zendaya, Amy Poehler and Sarah Michelle Gellar were among the biggest names to descend on the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Monday night.
Brooks Nader flaunts her toned figure in a tight dress dress that has a sultry cut-out in the chest area and a thigh-high slit
Calista Flockhart is pretty in pink as she walks the Emmys 2026 red carpet
The well-known car enthusiast, who lives near Abergavenny, shared this in a new DriveTribe video.
In the film, he reminisces about the vehicles that became part of his personal collection after years of filming around the world.
Mr Hammond said: “Some people bring home fridge magnets. I brought home the cars.”
He fondly described the cars as “battered, slightly ridiculous, and full of very good memories” from his two decades of motoring adventures with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
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(Image: DriveTribe / YouTube)
The video showcases Mr Hammond reflecting on some of the cars he retained after filming, and he also shares stories from the final days of The Grand Tour.
The presenter, who was brought up in North Yorkshire and attended Ripon Grammar School then Harrogate College of Art and Technology, has been in the spotlight for his vast vehicle collection and his connections to south-east Wales.
He runs the restoration business The Smallest Cog in Herefordshire and was recently reported to have dozens of cars registered at his home near Abergavenny.
His collection includes a variety of vehicles, from British classics and Land Rovers to American muscle cars and high-performance sports cars.
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Fans also recall his love for vehicles used in some of the trio’s most memorable TV specials.
The DriveTribe video follows the end of the original Grand Tour line-up, marking the closure of one of motoring television’s most popular partnerships.
The video, where Mr Hammond talks about the cars he couldn’t part with after filming, has sparked significant interest from fans.
While many cars used in the shows were sold, returned, or scrapped, a few special ones remain with him.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was long believed to be Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite of her four children, but one of the late monarch’s former colleagues has now cast doubt on the claim
Samantha Masters Content Editor
12:49, 14 Sep 2026Updated 12:51, 14 Sep 2026
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was “never the favourite” child of Queen Elizabeth II, according to the late monarch’s former press secretary. For many years, it has been widely reported that the former Prince, whose three siblings are King Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, held a particularly cherished place in his mother’s affections.
However, Dickie Arbiter, who served as the Queen’s press secretary from 1988 to 2000, has cast doubt on this long-held assumption.
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Speaking on the Royal Exclusive podcast, he claimed: “He was never the favourite, he was arrogant, he was bombastic, he always pushed himself in front to the detriment of everybody else.”
Dickie suggested that the Queen, who died away in 2022, actually “had more time for Edward”, attributing this to him “being quiet”. He continued: “He went about life quietly without pushing himself and he’s doing a tremendous job today.
“[He’s also had a] happy marriage to Sophie (the Duchess of Edinburgh) for over 25 years but Andrew was always up front, he was always the noisy one and he was always the noisy one as an adult until he was put back in his box,” Dickie added.
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The former royal press secretary’s assertion is supported by royal biographer Matthew Dennison, who has similarly suggested that Edward was the Queen’s favoured child.
In his extensive biography of the Queen, he wrote: “Prince Edward, seemingly a bit wet and a tad irritating to the rest of us, was always his parents’ favourite.
“That became apparent in 1987 when Edward, aged 22, opted out of the Royal Marines when he was just a third of the way through his 12-month basic training course,” he explained.
“To the surprise of some, Prince Philip (Captain-General of the Royal Marines) did not come down on his son like a ton of bricks. He accepted that the Marines ‘wasn’t right for Edward’ – and to this day Edward is grateful for that.”
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Ailsa Anderson, who served as the Queen’s press secretary from 2001 to 2013, stated she witnessed no favouritism regarding the Queen and her four children with Prince Philip.
“The media do say that he was the favourite son, but in my 12 years working for the late Queen I never saw her display any favouritism amongst any of her children so I can’t really say that’s true,” she told BBC News.
In October 2025, Andrew was stripped of his royal titles by the King following allegations against him and fresh revelations about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019.
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He has always denied any wrongdoing, though was later forced to leave his Windsor mansion, moving to the monarch’s private Sandringham estate in Norfolk earlier this year.
Organised by St Teresa’s Hospice in partnership with Darlington Borough Council and Darlington Rotary Club, the fundraiser will see numbered rubber ducks race along the River Skerne for the chance to win cash prizes.
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Participants can purchase a duck for £5, with every entry linked to a uniquely numbered ticket.
The owners of the first three ducks across the finish line will win prizes.
The event will raise money for St Teresa’s Hospice, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in December.
St Teresa’s Hospice provides palliative and end-of-life care for people with life-limiting illnesses and support for their families and carers.
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Ducks are available from Angel’s Cut, Charles Clinkard and Leggs, as well as online.
Sales through participating outlets close at midnight on September 20, but limited entries may still be available on race day.
Families and spectators are expected at the riverside, with visitors urged to explore the town centre’s colourful duck displays before the race.
The race is licensed as a Small Society Lottery and is open to people aged 16 and over.
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Only winners aged 16 or over can claim prize money.
Organisers have also issued a reminder about water safety, urging spectators to follow instructions from marshals and volunteers throughout the event.
Only authorised personnel will be allowed to enter the river.
Children must be supervised by a parent or responsible adult, and well-behaved dogs are welcome on leads.
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The event will raise money for vital hospice services while bringing families and the community together by the riverside.
Duck Trail Maps can be purchased from any shop displaying a duck in its window.
Tom Beattie, managing director at the production company behind the Mr Bean animated series, Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, added: “Having been a Beano Fan Club member as a kid, it’s a dream come true to work on this collaboration – it feels like the perfect partnership between two comedy greats.
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