The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned mobile ads from developers such as King and Scopely for misleading consumers with non-representative gameplay.
The regulator also banned ads from Singapore-based Omnilojo and Cyprus-based Vistrex, also known as Royal Ark Games.
“Mobile game ads must give people an accurate impression of the gameplay they can expect and mustn’t mislead them with scenarios or features that aren’t representative of the actual game,” said ASA senior investigative officer Freddie Alcock.
“It’s important that people are able to make informed decisions about the games they choose to buy or download, so we’ll continue to take action in this area where we see ads breaking the rules.”
The ASA banned a Facebook ad from King for Farm Heroes Saga that showed a match-three puzzle where clearing icons caused nails to fall and a saw to move toward a cow.
The ASA found these elements did not exist in the game and presented an unattainable gameplay scenario for players.
King stated these were fictional additions to convey urgency and referenced disclaimers (“Not actual gameplay”), but the ASA determined the disclaimer contradicted rather than clarified the ad’s impression.
An ad for Loom Games’ Pixel Flow was also banned for featuring elements not present in gameplay. Scopely acquired a majority stake in Loom Games earlier this year.
Three Google ads for Omnilojo’s Dark War Survival were found to show non-interactive, cinematic story sequences instead of gameplay, and included graphics that “differed materially” from those in the game.
One ad also included badges implying award wins, such as “2026 Game Creative” and “2026 Survival Game,” which were untrue. The developer claimed these badges referred to the game being featured on Google Play and the App Store, but the ASA ruled they were misleading.
As for Vistrex, the ASA banned an ad for Idle Zombie Miner: Gold Tycoon, which appeared on Facebook and Google Play, for misrepresenting gameplay by showcasing elements from a 60-second minigame rather than the full game.