EA, Miniclip, Jagex loot box ads broke UK advertising rules

20.03.2024 - 15:43 / gamesindustry.biz

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The UK's Advertising Standards Agency has warned Electronic Arts, Miniclip and Jagex not to violate rules around promoting titles with loot boxes after upholding complaints against three of their titles.

All three complaints were submitted by an academic research that specialises in game regulation, who challenged the ads because they knew the games includes in-game purchases — including loot boxes with randomised items — but this information was not included.

The complainant argued the ads were misleading because the omission of this disclosure influenced consumers' transactional decisions.

Upon further review, the ASA upheld all three complaints, citing guidance from the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) that states the presence of in-game purchasing — and particularly randomised mechanics such as loot boxes — should be made clear in any ads.

EA, Miniclip and Jagex were each instructed not to release these ads in the form that prompted the complaints, and to ensure that future ads disclosed the presence of in-game purchases, including loot boxes.

Each case serves as a different type of cautionary tale, so it's perhaps worth diving into them in a little more depth.

The complaint against EA referred to two paid-for Facebook ads promoting Playdemic's free-to-play mobile game Golf Clash.

The first was spotted by the complainant in August 2023 and centred around the launch of the game's web store, encouraging players to check out deals and log in for a daily login bonus quest, as well as a reward of virtual currency for anyone who signed up to the game's newsletter.

The second, published in September 2023, promoted a Tour Championship in-game event, with the message that any leftover balls after a player reaches 'Gold Prestige' would be converted into 'Generation Tokens.'

When contacted by the ASA, EA said the ads were published by mistake before the disclosure regarding in-game purchases had been added. The publisher told the organisation that it has an internal policy of ensuring all ads for relevant titles includes the text "Includes optional in-game purchases (including random times)."

EA emphasised that the omission of this disclosure was "a result of human error and was not representative of the standard policies and practices they had in place to ensure their ads were compliant," according to the ASA.

EA said the ads were removed and the error has been resolved.

In its comments, the ASA said that while it recognised advertising a web store makes it clear purchases are present in the game, the ad did not disclose the presence of loot boxes, meaning the information included in the ad was not sufficient to ensure consumers