Electronic Arts, the video gaming giant, has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority for an ad that failed to make it clear a game contained loot boxes.
The paid-for Facebook ad for Golf Clash, which was seen on 20 March this year, featured footage of the game in action. Text at the bottom of the screen that read “Includes optional in-game purchases (includes random items)”, briefly appeared before disappearing.
While the ad contained in-game purchase information, it was displayed in a light grey font against a backdrop of colourful game footage. The clips were deemed by the ASA to distort and obfuscate the disclosure text, making it difficult to read. This was exacerbated by the small text size and its fleeting appearance.
The single complainant – an academic researcher, who specialises in gaming regulation – challenged that the ad was misleading as it failed to make it clear that Golf Clash featured random item purchasing, better known as loot boxes.
Electronic Arts argued that advertising guidance around promoting in-game purchases did not provide specific requirements and that the prominence of disclosures depended on a number of factors. It said the disclosure was clearly visible for two seconds at the beginning of the ad and used a font, spacing, colour and capitalisation that rendered it prominent.
The advertising watchdog said: “EA [confirmed] the product description for Golf Clash, linked to by the ad, also made clear that the ad contained random item purchases, and that consumers would therefore be aware of their existence in the game before they made a decision to download."
EA added that as a result of the complaint, it would review its marketing materials to ensure they abided by the Cap Code, and that similar disclosures would be more prominent and readable.
However, the ASA cited Cap guidance that in-game purchasing, in particular loot boxes, were material to someone's decision to buy and/or download a game. It said, therefore, that marketers are “required to ensure advertising for the game made clear that it contained in-game purchasing, and, if relevant, that it included loot boxes and that information needed to be easily accessible".
The watchdog added that because the "presentation of the text within the context of the ad overall was not presented clearly", it concluded that the ad was "likely to mislead consumers to the presence of loot boxes within the game”.
The ASA ruled, therefore, that the ad must not appear again in its current form and that EA should, in the future, ensure disclosures around loot boxes were more prominent and clear.
