Mobile game ads that promise a different game from the one you download are under scrutiny in the UK. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned ads from King, Scopely, Omnilojo and Vistrex for misrepresenting gameplay, mobilegamer.biz reported on November 4, 2026. The four rulings are part of a wider crackdown, and none of the banned ads may run again in their current form.
The banned ads
- Dark War Survival (Omnilojo): three Google ads showed looting, shooting zombies, driving and an armed train with highly produced graphics. They were non-interactive story sequences, and the real game looks materially different. Badges reading “2026 Game Creative” and “2026 Survival Game” were also ruled misleading
- Farm Heroes Saga (King): one Facebook ad showed real match-three play but added nails, a saw descending on a cow and the word “FAIL”, none of which are in the game
- Pixel Flow (Scopely): one Facebook ad opened with a pipe-rotating puzzle controlled by a hand cursor that does not exist in the game
- Idle Zombie Miner: Gold Tycoon (Vistrex): a Facebook ad and the Google Play listing showed players driving an excavator across an open map, a bonus stage that lasts 60 seconds and is not part of the core game
Disclaimers are not enough
King argued that its ad alternated between “Not in-game footage” and “Not actual gameplay”. The ASA said that disclaimer was more likely to contradict than clarify what players would understand. One ad each from King and Scopely was cleared because it opened in a clearly cinematic way, with no cursor or interface. Omnilojo accepted it could have done more to separate story content from gameplay.
This article was written with AI assistance from the sources linked above.
