Fansided

Now hiring: Burger King wants gamers to order food on PlayStation

By Carly Regehr

Attendees walk past a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. booth displaying a PlayStation logo at the Tokyo Game Show 2015 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. There will be record attendance at this year's show with 473 vendors, including more than half from abroad, as of Sept. 1, according to organizers. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Attendees walk past a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. booth displaying a PlayStation logo at the Tokyo Game Show 2015 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. There will be record attendance at this year's show with 473 vendors, including more than half from abroad, as of Sept. 1, according to organizers. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images /
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The fast food chain wants to pair its delivery option with gamers on the PlayStation network.

Burger King is finally separating itself from the major game players of the fast food industry. The chain has formally announced that it will merge one of America’s classic institution, a fast food restaurant, with an emerging market, eSports. As a result of these two unrelated entities, Burger King’s so-called Burger Clan, the official name of the odd partnership, will have the responsibility of order taking through a PlayStation console (as illustrated below).

As promising as it may sound for Burger King, the new hires behind Burger Clan will have to wait until they, as employees, earn a profit.

Until then, it’s just Burger King’s obnoxious way to give McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and KFC the one-finger salute.

Aside from its new Fruit Loops shake, Burger King is trying too hard to fit in. It’s done a lot with their website, such as introducing a webcast to hear about quarterly earnings. In addition, the marketing staff at BK has also rebranded their product line by incorporating mac ‘n’ cheese-infused menu items. Now, with the Burger Clan in its portfolio, the Florida-based company wants to continue the New Age makeover.

The purpose behind the Burger Clan is quite elementary: if you have a PlayStation, you can log into a Burger King portal and help others order food. In terms of the strength of BK’s delivery system, it’s not very developed. Availability varies widely, and some stores only allow deliveries within a few miles of the restaurant. Seeing as it functions as a dine-in restaurant, there is some progress to be made. If Burger Clan prospers, then the demand for delivery drivers will go up.

Next: Is eSports Falling behind in the U.S.?

While this is a good direction for Burger King to move into, it’s unlikely to succeed. Simply put, BK isn’t the company it used to be. Tastes are changing and the company isn’t keeping pace. It’s just another gimmick to entice one of the most underrated target markets in modern marketing history. At the end of the day, the new “outreach program” initiated by BK could also end up as a whopper of a mistake.