Advertising of Playrix games was banned in the UK for inconsistency with the main gameplay

The British Advertising Standards Committee (ASA) banned the display of ads for Homescapes and Gardenscapes games that did not match the main gameplay. At the same time, Playrix stated that the puzzles shown in the promo are somehow present in the company’s projects.What kind of advertising is banned?

we are talking about two paid posts on Facebook that promoted Playrix projects.

• The publications are dated March and April of this year;Homescapes and Gardenscapes commercials show simple puzzles and action-provoking messages like “Only 5% of players can solve this problem” and “Do you think you can do better?”;
• in reality, the gameplay of Playrix projects is built around the arrangement of a house or garden, and users get resources for buying new items using Match-3 puzzles;
• at the same time, at the beginning of each video there is a warning at the bottom of the screen: “Not all images reflect the real gameplay.”
• examples of similar ads from Playrix

Decision of the Advertising Standards Committee

on the one hand, thanks to the warning text, users can guess that there will be no elements presented in the video in the game.

• On the other hand, the audience can still expect to see similar puzzles in the advertised projects;that is why the Advertising Standards Committee considered such advertising a mislide;
• “Since the commercials do not reflect the essence of the games in which they were supposed to be presented, we came to the conclusion that they mislead users,” the ASA said in its ruling.;
• As a result, the Committee ordered Playrix to show only those ads that reflect the real gameplay of their games.
• Playrix position

the company assures that the content shown in the advertisement is present in their games.

• For example, in Homescapes there are about 10 similar mini-games that appear once every 20 levels;Playrix claims that simply not all users reach these puzzles, as they are presented at later stages of the game.
• According to the company, as of April, there were 4,160 levels in Homescapes, but only 0.03% of players went that far;the developers believe that “advertising appeals to the logic and problem-solving skills that are necessary to win their games.”
• Also in the videos shown there are the same characters as in the projects listed above;The ASA text states that after the April advertisement, Playrix allegedly made changes to the projects and moved these mini-games closer to the beginning of the game;
• thus, the company does not consider such advertising to be misliding.
• According to Playrix, the presence of warning text in the videos and screenshots in the stores is enough for users to form an opinion about the game before installation.Such advertising is used today to promote a variety of mobile projects.

However, according to game analyst Matthew Bailey, this practice is reminiscent of advertising games from the 90s, when developers masked poor graphics or gameplay behind beautiful covers and commercials.

He believes that modern devices and technologies allow users to fully show the real gameplay. That is why the ASA’s decision may in the future affect other companies using similar videos to advertise their projects.

Also on the topic:

• Mislid in mobile game advertising: how it happens and why it is usedIgor Bukhman:
• “We are thinking about the possibility of a merger with someone or an IPO”Playrix: “More than 11 million people play Gardenscapes every day”
• Is there any news?