If you’ve ever used Instagram or Facebook, you may have encountered ads for mobile games like Gardenscapes and Homescapes. They follow a fairly typical formula: a logic challenge coupled with a prompt like, “You’ll never be able to solve this.” In the UK, regulators are now cracking down on these advertisements, arguing they misrepresent the games on offer.
Many online game ads don’t contain actual gameplay and instead advertise more complex (and sometimes completely different) gameplay. Playrix is the latest developer to come under fire for this technique, with the UK Advertising Standards Authority banning ads for Gardenscapes and Homescapes for using the classic ‘pin-pulling’ ad format instead of the game’s standard match-three gameplay.
In response to the ASA’s complaint, Playrix reportedly argued their advertisements shared “thematic similarities”…
