Fans usually delight in finding easter eggs in their favorite games. When developers go the extra mile to hide these little tidbits in their titles, it can feel like those companies really care about their community. Insomniac Games extended its hand to a fan who reached out earlier in the year about wanting to propose to his then-girlfriend in the upcoming Spider-Man game. The developer was only too happy to oblige, and it inserted the proposal in the form of text on a marquee board outside a theatre. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy ending for this Spider-Man easter egg; the couple broke up before the game released.
Polygon has reported that the newly-single fan, Tyler Schultz, considers the easter egg relating to his proposal the “saddest Easter egg” in history. It appears that Schultz’s then-girlfriend left him for his brother, and commented that his method of proposing to her was not what she may have envisioned. The couple had allegedly been dating for over 5 years, and Schultz had mentioned that specifically when corresponding with the devs over Twitter about this.
The response so far from Insomniac Games was rapid and sympathetic, with offers from the team to edit out the proposal when the title’s next patch was due to come around. However, it appears that Schultz is happy for the proposal text to be left up on the off-chance that someone else can benefit from it. He also noted that seeing the actual text in-game, while it may not have reflected his romantic situation at the time, helped him through what must have been an admittedly tough break-up.
The original video posted by Schultz on Youtube explaining the easter egg’s significance as well as the reasons behind the relationship disintegrating has since been removed after its initial upload. That may be for the best; it looks like Schultz has gone through a trying time.