The UK’s promoting watchdog has banned cell recreation advertisements from King, Scopely, Darkish Struggle Survival writer Omnilojo and Vistrex for misleadingly representing their gameplay.
The Promoting Requirements Authority (ASA) printed 4 rulings in the present day as a part of a wider crackdown on deceptive gameplay in cell advertisements. All the advertisements had been seen on April 28, 2026.
“Cellular recreation advertisements should give folks an correct impression of the gameplay they’ll count on and mustn’t mislead them with eventualities or options that aren’t consultant of the particular recreation,” mentioned ASA senior investigations government Freddie Alcock.
Essentially the most severe ruling was in opposition to Singapore-based Omnilojo, which publishes zombie technique video games Darkish Struggle Survival and Final Z: Survival Shooter. Three Google advertisements for Darkish Struggle Survival confirmed looting, capturing zombies, driving and an armed survival prepare, all rendered in extremely produced graphics. The ASA discovered these had been non-interactive story sequences moderately than gameplay, and that the sport’s precise graphics “differed materially” from these within the advertisements.
One advert additionally featured laurel-style badges studying “2026 Recreation Inventive” and “2026 Survival Recreation”. Omnilojo mentioned these referred to the sport being featured on Google Play and the App Retailer, to not awards it had received, however the ASA dominated they had been deceptive.
Omnilojo accepted that its advertisements “might have executed extra” to separate story content material from the sport’s core interactive gameplay.
King’s Farm Heroes Saga had certainly one of its two Fb advertisements banned. It confirmed real match-three gameplay, however every match additionally introduced down nails holding up a hatch whereas a noticed descended on a cow, ending with the phrase “FAIL”. None of these components seems within the recreation.
The advert carried a disclaimer alternating between “Not in-game footage” and “Not precise gameplay”. King argued this made clear the advert was a artistic illustration, however the ASA mentioned the disclaimer was more likely to “contradict, moderately than make clear” how customers would perceive the sport.
Scopely additionally had certainly one of two Fb advertisements banned for Pixel Move, which it mentioned is developed and printed by Loom Video games. The advert opened with a pipe-rotating puzzle, operated by a hand cursor, that doesn’t exist within the recreation. In each the King and Scopely circumstances, the ASA cleared the second advert as a result of its opening sequence was clearly cinematic, with no cursor or interface components.
Lastly, Vistrex had each a Fb advert and its Google Play itemizing for Idle Zombie Miner: Gold Tycoon banned. They confirmed gamers instantly controlling an excavator throughout an open-world map. Whereas Vistrex pointed to a bonus stage with related mechanics, the ASA famous it lasts 60 seconds, seems solely after 4 of the sport’s 194 mines, and isn’t a part of the core gameplay.
Not one of the banned advertisements can seem once more of their present type.