The United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned the advertisement of mobile games by King, Scopely, Omnilojo, and Vistrex in the country. However, this ban is specific not to the promotion of the titles as a whole but to the distribution of several particular ad creatives.
Farm Heroes Saga
As explained by the authority, the publishers misled UK users by showcasing footage in the ads that did not match the actual gameplay of the games.
The ban affected the following games:
- Farm Heroes Saga — two creatives on Facebook* were targeted;
- Dark War Survival — three ad materials on Google Play were blocked;
- Pixel Flow! — one creative on Facebook* was restricted;
- Idle Zombie Miner: Gold — the creative on Facebook* and ad materials on Google Play were prohibited.
The ASA emphasized that publishers will not be able to reinstate the banned ads in their current form. If they wish to redistribute these creatives, they must make modifications and eliminate the misleading content.
*Owned by Meta, which is banned in Russia and recognized as an extremist organization.