2K Games launched a contest in conjunction with the release of Major League Baseball 2K10: the first person to pitch a perfect game would win a million dollars. With a prize that big, you'd think pitching a perfect game was damn near impossible. At least, that's what the folks at 2K Games must have thought.
However, it would seem Wade McGilberry of Mobile, Ala., figured otherwise. CNBC reports that the 24-year-old purchased the game at midnight when it came out. Wade and his wife debated whether or not he should call in sick to work and get stuck into the game right away. In the end McGilberry went to work. The 401K record keeper got home at four in the afternoon and logged into his Xbox Live account, a necessary step to record the time of his perfect game. Another requirement was video verification so Wade set up his webcam in front of his television.
After five failed attempts, Mr. McGilberry was probably getting used to hitting the reset button. Then, on his sixth attempt, and in less than 90 minutes, Wade pitched a perfect game. He submitted the tape to 2K Games and called his wife and told her, "Honey, I'm done. I don't need to play anymore."
His wife was skeptical, positive that a college kid who hadn't had to go to work or class that day would have beaten him to the prize money. But no one had. 2K Games had to write a check for $1,000,000 less than 24 hours after the game went on sale, and according to CNBC, because insurance companies couldn't possibly come up with the odds of throwing a perfect game, 2K Games didn't take any insurance out.
Down $1 million, 2K Games says it was worth it and that the game sold better than last year's title. "We're very happy to give the money away," Jason Argent, vice president of marketing for 2K Sports told CNBC. "This was something innovative we dreamed up and we were really able to make some noise in the marketplace."
