technology

• Opera GX is a “browser for gamers” with several features that appeal to gamers and enthusiasts.
• As part of a marketing campaign, Opera GX inserted a loud splashscreen that jump-scared users.
• While the splashscreen was present for a day only, users could not turn off the feature without manually deleting the splashscreen file or force-updating the browser.

Earlier this week, Opera GX ran a marketing campaign with comedian Eric André centered around burying your boring browsers. The campaign video is loud and chaotic, but I guess they were aiming for it, so I wouldn’t fault them so far. However, as part of the campaign, the folks at Opera GX also inserted a VERY LOUD Eric yelling “OPERA GX” into the browser’s splashscreen. Needless to say, users who had no clue about the marketing campaign were jump-scared and definitely not amused.

What made the jump scare worse was that the loud splashscreen would trigger every time you started the browser. You’d think the “feature” would be one-time or even optional. But no, you couldn’t even turn off the behavior. You’d need to force an update to the browser or manually delete the splashscreen executable. Even worse, the splashscreen caused the browser to open slower since it would play out this longer splashscreen.