Following a spate of complaints lodged against the developers of "No Man's Sky" for allegedly showing false advertising material particularly on Steam, the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has already commissioned a team to investigate Hello Games' trailer video. With this at hand, how much of the game will the developer lose if found guilty?
"No Man's Sky" developers are doomed to lose the survival game's public exposure after complaints of allegedly broadcasting on gaming platform Steam a video trailer accused of misleading viewers and potential consumers. Apart from the conduct of investigation, ASA has not commented further about the real score of the game with regard to how its developers will be sanctioned.
Among the discrepancies between the actual game and the ad that complainants want to discuss include behavior of ships and sentinels, size of creatures, quality of graphics, aiming systems and much more.
No More "No Man's Sky" Paid-For-Ads?
ASA, however, underscored on its website that "in most cases where we investigate and find an advertiser has broken the rules they will agree to withdraw or amend their ad." Hence, if Hello Games will be found guilty of misleading its prospect consumers through its "No Man's Sky" ad, ASA can mandate its removal. In the event that the game developers at Hello Games decline to take down the misleading ad, the advertising governing body "can request to search engines remove the offending advertiser's paid-for-ads," Forbes stated in a report.
"No Man's Sky" Losing Gains
Although there are no other statements from ASA regarding the monetary penalty that Hello Games may face, it is certain that the developer will lose a fortune from "No Man's Sky" in many ways. First, lack of advertising means lack of excitement for the potential clients, which in return might translate to losing gains and profit.
Previous cases of games sanctioned by ASA included "Dungeon Keeper" and "Kane and Lynch." In 2014, a "Dungeon Keeper" mobile ad was legally pronounced misleading, and in 2008 "Kane and Lynch" was forbidden to be sold and played owing to too much violence.
