The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken action against Hutch Games Ltd (F1 Clash), Kabam Games Inc (Marvel Contest of Champions) and Nexters Global Ltd’s (Hero Wars: Alliance RPG) products for misleading disclosures over lootboxes.
The three rulings contained multiple detailed explanations of the council’s decisions, accompanied by stern warnings for the trident of mobile game providers for publishing statements such as “Free – Offers In-App Purchases,” without further detail.
Three mobile companies cautioned for disclosures over lootboxes
The ASA is the self-regulated arm that upholds advertising standards and compliance in the United Kingdom. As we reported, the watchdog has dished out penalties and warnings to leading names such as PokerStars for “trivialising gambling.”
Now the regulator has ruled on three game providers for the leading mobile titles F1 Clash, Marvel Contest of Champions, and Hero Wars: Alliance RPG.
Nexters Global were the first to face the ASA’s scrutiny as the spotlight was shone on Hero Wars: Alliance RPG by an academic games researcher. The investigation found that the game listing “omitted material information.”
The games company stated in response that the title’s description was updated to “indicate the presence of loot boxes and provide information on the probability of obtaining particular items from loot boxes.”
Academic researcher flags lootbox issues
F1 clash had been listed as containing a warning “PLEASE NOTE! […] Some in-game items can also be purchased for real money. F1 Clash includes loot boxes that drop the available items in randomised order”.
Again, an academic researcher was the reporting party who raised the issue with the ASA regarding the game’s listing.
The individual challenged that the attention given to lootboxes was not sufficiently clear, “misleadingly implied consumers had an equal chance of winning each prize,” and the advertisement reading “TRY NOW FOR UP TO X10 BETTER PRIZES” did not have sufficient explanation regarding this promotion.
Marvel Contest of Champions owner Kabam Games Inc. faced similar scrutiny and a similar reporting body, an academic games researcher.
It is not known whether this is the same person involved in the Nexters and Hutch Games complaints, but all three share a similar theme: an intellectual reporter.
All three games were seen to have misleading advertising, and the ASA ruled that the providers must now “ensure their ads made clear that games contained random item purchasing (loot boxes).”
Featured image: Kablam Games Inc. via Steam
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