Playtrix also admitted the mini-games were merely a tool to move the storyline along and were not core gameplay, which was to restore and decorate the player’s house or garden through different mechanics. In addition, Homescapes featured only one mini-game every 20 levels. The Homescapes and Gardenscapes games each had thousands of levels but the mini-games featured in the ads could only be found in more distant levels despite the fact that “only a very small percentage of players reached those levels.” According to Playtrix, only about 0.03% of users reached the advanced levels containing the mini-games. Playtrix argued that the content seen in the ads was actually included in the games and was meant to show consumers the logic and problem-solving skills needed to advance in the games. At the start of each video, on-screen text at the bottom of the screen states “Not all images represent actual gameplay.” The ASA received seven complaints from users who had downloaded the games and felt as though the ads did not represent the actual Homescapes or Gardenscapes gameplay. The second ad showed another mini-game in which the user has to solve a puzzle to keep a man from drowning in a tower filling with lava. The first of these ads showed a mini-game in which the player has to solve a puzzle to unite a man and woman without meeting the burglar. The judgment contains important lessons for game developers who stray from “core gameplay” when promoting their gaming apps.Īccording to the ASA, Playtrix published two paid-for Facebook posts which were not representative of the games they advertised. The Advertising Standards Authority (the “ASA”), the UK's independent advertising regulator, banned two misleading ads for the Homescapes and Gardenscapes games, developed by PLR Worldwide Sales Ltd t/a Playtrix (“Playtrix”) for deceptive video ads which misrepresented the games’ actual gameplay.
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