Her Story dev says Tesla approached him to put the game into their cars for “exposure” only

Immortality developer Sam Barlow has spoken about being contacted by electric car manufacturer Tesla for the opportunity to put interactive movie Her Story into their vehicles for no compensation other than “exposure”. Barlow’s comments emerged on Twitter in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, specifically, the suggestion that Twitter users may soon have to pay for blue tick verified status.

“Tesla once reached out to ask to put her story in a car. I asked how much they would pay for the license and to cover the engineering work,” Barlow tweeted. “They suggested zero, that I consider the exposure I would get.” The dev followed up with another tweet that described Tesla’s suggestion as “one of the sillier ideas I’ve heard”. Comments ranged from the expected and pretty valid criticism of rich people not spending their money to others who’d actually discovered games such as Stardew Valley through their Tesla.

Musk Motors removed the ability to play games while cars were in motion – dubbed Passenger Play – just at the end of 2021. The feature had been active for a year by that point, and was intended for passengers only, but it was possible for a driver to bypass precautions and play. I can’t imagine why anyone would think it was okay to drive and game at the same time, but plenty of people still text and drive for some reason. I can see people careening off the road while trying to play Forza Horizon 5.

Adam (RPS in peace) awarded Barlow’s game an RPS Recommended in our Her Story review back in 2015. “Her Story recognizes that we have a habit of slowing down and craning our necks when we pass an accident, but it also trusts us to temper that urge with empathy,” he said. “Maybe if we were separated from these events by a window and a motorway lane rather than a screen and impassable years, we’d slow down enough to pull someone out of harm’s way.” Not making this up, the man’s just psychic.

Her Story is £7/$10/€8 on Steam other GOG. Driving under the digital influence is six points on your license and a £200 fine.