No Man's Sky Under Investigation Over Claims of Misleading Advertising

[Lizzy Finnegan]

No Man's Sky Under Investigation Over Claims of Misleading Advertising

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"Several complaints" have prompted the UK's Advertising Standards Authority to launch an investigation into potentially misleading advertising for No Man's Sky.

A representative for the UK's Advertising Standards Authority has confirmed to Steam page [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-09-28-advertising-standards-launches-investigation-into-no-mans-sky] for No Man's Sky. The ASA declined to comment further than the confirmation that an investigation is taking place and that both Hello Games and Valve have been contacted.

Over on Reddit yesterday [https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/54n5yz/official_asa_response_valve_and_hello_games_have/] one poster claimed to have received a response from the ASA, which include complaints around videos and screenshots. According to the poster, the complaints include videos and screenshots, with specifics ranging from ship flying behavior and combat to the size and behavior of animals and creatures, along with the quality of graphics.

You can check out the list of complaints, as provided, below:

Videos:
User interface design
Ship flying behaviour (in formation; with a 'wingman'; flying close to the ground)
Behaviour of animals (in herds; destroying scenery; in water; reacting to surroundings)
Large-scale space combat
Structures and buildings as pictured
Flowing water
Speed of galaxy warp/loading time
Aiming systems

Screenshots:
Size of creatures (9)
Behaviour of ships and sentinels (4, 5 and 8)
Structures and buildings as pictured (3)

Store Page in general:
Quality of graphics
References to: lack of loading screens, trade convoys between stars, factions vying over territory

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As of the time of this posting, No Man's Sky has "Mostly Negative" overall reviews on Steam, and "Overwhelmingly Negative" recent reviews.

We will update this post with any new information.

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[RaikuFA]

A part of me is happy about this. Mainly cause it'll teach Sean Murray to think before he opens his mouth again.

 

[Saltyk]

This would have to be pretty blatant to make me feel that the claim is valid. I've played games that didn't have things that I saw in screenshots. I've watched movies that cut scenes that were in previews. I'm like 90% certain I've seen things on the back of boxes that weren't in the finished product.

To claim this as false advertising, you'd have to prove that they made claims that were outright false. And No Man's Sky is found to have misled with its advertising, Fable should have had such claims investigated as well.

 

[Ukomba]

Shouldn't be a long investigation. Look at the video on the Steam Store page, play the game for 10 minutes. Done.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

"Several complaints" usually means 'barely anyone'.

I don't think it'll go anywhere, but the fact that the issue's formally raised should be a reminder to the industry in general that it should really stop bullshitting with its marketing. Showing off slightly fancier visuals doesn't really matter, but when gameplay features aren't in what's been already shown? Sometimes changes are understandable, sure, but the PR machines need to be more careful when features in an interactive piece of entertainment aren't in the final product.

Also, y'know, as has been said a thousand and one times; people like Murray need to just shut their traps to avoid digging themselves, their company, and their own IP's into PR [black-]holes they can't extract themselves from.

 

[Imre Csete]

Murray should have sticked with the time tested Artistic Integrity defense, instead of silence.

 

[CaitSeith]

This will be interesting to follow. How will the ASA investigate these complains about the game content when the game content is randomly generated? Will they have the source code analyzed? Will they even bother to try that?

 

[Nurb]

You just don't lie to Colbert and get away with it!

 

[fallte]

Oh come on, man, this is ridiculous. Yes, they lied, but everyone with half a brain should have been able to see this from miles away. There is a very easy solution to this kind of situation. Never pre-order (what's the point of pre-ordering digital games anyway?!). Just have patience for one week and see the user reviews. It's so simple.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I hope they get nailed for it, as that would open the flood gates for a class action suit that could really serve as a warning the rest of the industry has been in desperate need of.

But, as usual, probably won't go anywhere. Tis a shame that it all feels so futile these days.

 

[wulfy42]

Considering the huge number of refunds they already gave on the game, this is going to be hard for them to defend. They only avoided a huge outcry (louder then it already was), because so many refunds where given without any hassle.

Sony would give a digital refund instantly for instance, within minutes. Steam even gave some outside of the normal 2 hour restriction, and stores like Best buy allowed returns even after the game was opened.

I'm sure the returns have settled down now, but in the first month it was happening constantly. Those who didn't bother to return the game, or played only a few hours a week and took longer to be dissatisfied are probably the ones left complaining now.

To many it wasn't false advertising that was the problem, but that they released a broken game. It wasn't broken for everyone, but many could not even play it due to constant crashing, and worse, initially those crashes could corrupt the save file. You could play just fine for 10-30 hours and then while warping suddenly your game was gone. Things like that should be discovered and fixed before release OR customers deserve to get a refund for being sold such a defective product. Some errors, bugs etc might be hard to find, but when you have over 20% of your customer base constantly crashing, there is no way that could not have been found and fixed before release.

 

[Bindal]

This will be interesting to follow. How will the ASA investigate these complains about the game content when the game content is randomly generated? Will they have the source code analyzed? Will they even bother to try that?

Even a game with randomly generated content has some set things that never change - or have you ever played a game that was a singleplayer fantasy RPG the first time, then restarted and then had a steampunk cart racer that requires 3 players to even get something going?

Here, for example, the general behaviour of NPCs or the supposed equipment can be still controlled. The only point that I don't think needs to be tested would be the UI - that thing can change very late and very easily in a game compared to the previews.

 

[Vinsin]

There is a god...

& Yeah, it's blatant false advertising. I heard nothing of the game prior to the store page 3-4 days before release, day 1 - 1 hour before release I caved and bought it because the TRAILER on the store page was convincing, figured if it looked like that; if space combat was that fluid /ect ect rant rant - - I'd love it. Yeah... no.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

Wasn't Sony responsible for the game's advertising?

Why aren't they getting any of the blame for this? They certainly deserve their fair share.

 

[The Enquirer]

Oh come on, man, this is ridiculous. Yes, they lied, but everyone with half a brain should have been able to see this from miles away. There is a very easy solution to this kind of situation. Never pre-order (what's the point of pre-ordering digital games anyway?!). Just have patience for one week and see the user reviews. It's so simple.

Or the a-holes trying to get away with this sort of thing should actually have some sort of consequences on their shoulders. Not everything falls squarely on the consumer.

Also for the record I did not purchase the game so I've got no personal vestment in seeing Sean Murray and Hello Games burn, regardless how satisfying that may be.

 

[The Enquirer]

Wasn't Sony responsible for the game's advertising?

Why aren't they getting any of the blame for this? They certainly deserve their fair share.

Because they weren't the ones going on talk shows saying thay certain features will be in the game or even supplying the videos that were advertised.

That's just my guess.

 

[Callate]

I ended up not getting the game (let alone pre-ordering it), so perhaps I'm just not feeling the appropriate level of chest-thumping indignation. But I don't really feel that crucifying Hello Games is going to do a lot of good. Yes, the game was apparently overhyped versus the features the final product ended up actually providing, but I think the commercial and critical shellacking they're taking over it is probably punishment enough. I'd much rather that they spent the next few months working on patches that tried to bring the game closer to its promise, rather than fighting another lawsuit.

This isn't EA or Activision or Ubisoft. If this case is successful, it's not going to teach those guys a thing, but it may teach a lot of smaller independent developers not to dream big. And even if it's unsuccessful, the defense may well drain resources they can't afford.

As I said, as I'm not out $60, maybe I'm just not as angry as I should be. I just don't see that laying waste to a studio with a whopping fifteen employees for the sake of sheer retribution is the best move, here.

 

[fallte]

People are blowing this "issue" waaay out of proportion. It's a stupid video game. You got duped, get over it and be more careful in the future. There are way worse things happening in the world all the time that nobody gives a shit about.

 

[Erttheking]

People are blowing this "issue" waaay out of proportion. It's a stupid video game. You got duped, get over it and be more careful in the future. There are way worse things happening in the world all the time that nobody gives a shit about.

Hm....no.

The existance of worse problems doesn't change the fact that Hello Games pulled the wool over the eyes of its consumers.

 

[Saelune]

This would have to be pretty blatant to make me feel that the claim is valid. I've played games that didn't have things that I saw in screenshots. I've watched movies that cut scenes that were in previews. I'm like 90% certain I've seen things on the back of boxes that weren't in the finished product.

To claim this as false advertising, you'd have to prove that they made claims that were outright false. And No Man's Sky is found to have misled with its advertising, Fable should have had such claims investigated as well.

Lots of things should have false-advertising claims made against it. Id wager more than half of commercials are BSing you about something.

If it were up to me, false-advertising laws would be rather strict.