As part of the Game Developer's Conference celebrations in San Francisco this week, publisher THQ decided to unleash a wave of balloons advertising its upcoming shooter, Homefront. Unfortunately, some S.F. natives were not particularly pleased about the stunt, especially once the balloons started landing in the San Francisco Bay.

CNET reports that many people upset about the balloons polluting the Bay (as pictured above) mistakenly aimed their anger at retailer GameStop, whose logo also appeared on the balloons. GameStop provided the following response:

"We understand the concerns consumers have regarding the impact balloons can have on the environment. However, the balloon drop stunt in San Francisco was created by THQ, the publisher of Homefront, and GameStop had no prior knowledge of it. THQ has since informed us that they released soy-based, biodegradable balloons."

Speaking to CNET, THQ vice president of corporate communications Julia MacMedan clarified:

"The balloons that were released are completely biodegradable. They start the process of biodegrading as soon as they're blown up with the helium. There should not be any environmental concerns."

MacMedan said the publisher "do[es] not expect there will be any danger to fish or wildlife." THQ also stated that they have a clean-up crew that will be removing balloons from the Bay.

[Full disclosure: GameStop is the parent company of Game Informer.]

[image via seedlingproject]