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The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned another Electronic Arts (EA) advert for failing to adequately disclose that its game contained the ability to purchase loot boxes.
The US-based video game giant is a key member of the technical working group for loot box industry self-regulation assembled by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).
In a decision published on July 10, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that EA’s advert for Golf Clash, a mobile app game, seen on March 20, 2024, must not appear again and that future adverts for the game must make it “sufficiently clear” it contains loot boxes and it is “presented prominently and clearly”.
Leon Xiao, PhD fellow from the Center for Digital Play at the IT University of Copenhagen, revealed to Vixio GamblingCompliance that he was behind the complaint, as well as one made against a different EA advert earlier in the year.
Xiao said: “I want to emphasise that EA has been used as a test case here to set a precedent about how prominent the loot box presence disclosure ought to be made because the company is one of the few that are attempting to comply with the ASA requirement to disclose loot box presence in video game advertising.
“Companies should take note that not only must loot box presence be disclosed in any video game advertising, but this disclosure, unsurprisingly, must also be visually prominent so that consumers can see it and obtain the relevant information,” he said.
Self-regulatory rules in the UK surrounding loot boxes in video games will change again soon.
The UK Interactive Entertainment’s (Ukie) deadline for complying with 11 industry principles, as recommended by the DCMS technical working group, is July 18, 2024.
The latest banned advert included text at the bottom of the screen stating, “Includes optional in-game purchases (includes random items)”, which disappeared after just a few seconds.
EA argued that the ad disclosed it contained loot boxes and that the advertising guidance on advertising in-game purchases “does not provide specific requirements when disclosing such information and that the prominence of the messaging would depend on a number of factors”, according to the ASA ruling.
EA said the disclosure was visible for two seconds at the start of the ad, making it easily accessible and straightforward for consumers to find.
“This was consistent with EA’s best practice guidance on disclosure and use of disclaimers in 2022, when the ad had been created, and which had been updated. They therefore believed that the ad made clear the game contained random item purchases,” the ruling stated.
However, the ASA determined that the text was not presented clearly, concluding that the ad was “likely to mislead consumers to the presence of loot boxes within the game, which we considered to be material information”.
In March 2024, the ASA banned three separate social media ads for games that failed to disclose that they included loot boxes, including one from EA.
However, Xiao warned that there are “hundreds” more non-compliant loot box ads.
The challenge to regulate loot box ads is not unique to the UK, as authorities worldwide have struggled to enforce rules relating to in-game purchases.
