Australian media publication Mumbrella is reporting that a PR stunt for the just released video game Watch_Dogs inadvertently triggered the evacuation of the NineMSN offices on George St in Sydney yesterday, due to a perceived bomb scare.

Front desk staff reportedly received a black safe with a pincode lock, and a letter informing a reporter to check their voice mail, but the reporter in question had no such mail and the safe was beeping. Police forced the device open to find Watch_Dogs promotional paraphernalia inside.

“We did check with other newsrooms to see if they had received a similar package as we thought it was a PR stunt, but no-one else had. We weren’t panicked at any point, but given there was no note explaining what it was, we had to take sensible precautions.”

Ubisoft has not responded to Mumbrella’s repeated requests for comment today, and it is unclear whether the package was sent by the internal PR team, or an agency acting on their behalf.

AusGamers actually received this same press kit featuring the game and can say with certainty, it didn't look or sound as menacing as is being touted by the above. These sorts of press kits are also pretty commonplace, making it unusual that this one would cause so much panic.