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Sanofi Joins Pfizer in Drug-Based Video Game Business

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: September 25, 2008 / 4:34 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Sanofi-Aventis has become the latest drug company to get into the online video game business. This time, it's for its ubiquitous sleeping pill, Ambien CR. The game is called "Silence Your Rooster." The game is part of Sanofi's ad campaign for Ambien, which the Wall Street Journal decided was controversial a couple of weeks ago because it was unbranded. (Although given that drug companies have been running unbranded campaigns for years, most people in the business were left scratching their heads as to why the Journal thought this was still news.)

BNET regulars will remember that Sanofi is not the first company to conclude that the world needs a video game produced by a pharmaceutical company:

Pfizer already launched the "Viva Cruiser" driving game for Viagra.
And, more than a decade ago, Novo Nordisk produced "Captain Novolin" for the Super NES platform.

The one thing they all have in common? They're not exactly delivering the kinds of thrills you'll see in Metal Gear Solid 4. (Continued below, after gameplay screen capture.)

In "Silence Your Rooster," you play an insomniac lying awake in your bedroom. Your peaceful night's sleep is constantly interrupted by the sudden appearance of crowing roosters at the foot of the bed or in the closets and bedroom windows. By moving and clicking your mouse, you can throw pillows at the roosters to silence them.

As the game progresses, the roosters come faster and faster and the game becomes more difficult. In fact, several attempts at the game leave players with the impression that the final few seconds of each game are rigged -- no matter how fast you click you can't get enough pillows flying to kill the roosters.

The other drawback is that your final score is never displayed -- making it impossible to know how you did. At least with "Viva Cruiser" you knew how many points you'd won.

Sanofi declined to comment on the game except to say that it was launched in August along with the rest of the campaign.

Pfizer pulled its advergame after getting a rap on the knuckles from the FDA about an unrelated online video effort, also for Viagra. Sanofi, one presumes, feels that its game won't have the same fate.