A Nintendo Switch commercial aired during the Super Bowl last night, and people are theorising that it may have led to the Falcons’ spectacular downfall.
Also: This Guy’s Waiting in Line for a Month to Get the Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch ad had previously been posted to YouTube, though made its TV debut in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
The Falcons had established a seemingly insurmountable 28-3 lead, only to eventually lose 34 – 28 to the Patriots in what has been described as the most exciting Super Bowl of all time. However, as pointed out by a NeoGaf user, the Falcons’ decline began almost immediately after the Switch commercial aired five minutes into the fourth quarter.
As noted in the above graph from Pro Football Reference, the Falcons were given a 99.9% chance of victory prior to the Switch ad. Moments after the ad had aired, their probability began radically declining, concluding in an unexpected victory for the Patriots.
While it’s highly unlikely that the Switch commercial had any real impact on the outcome of the Super Bowl, it’s not exactly unprecedented for people to blame video games for a football team/player’s performance. For instance, the “Madden Curse” is a well-known term coined as a result of players featured on the front cover of EA’s Madden series routinely experiencing performance issues, typically as a result of injury. Though Nintendo doesn’t share the same unfortunate history with the sport, we’re sure that if a Nintendo commercial airs at the Super Bowl next year, superstitious supporters of the winning team will be quietly concerned.
(H/T GameRevolution)
