Majority of top-selling mobile games break UK advertising regulations

A BBC investigation found that “only two of the top 45 highest-grossing games on the Google Play Store” follow regulations set out by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) regarding disclosing the presence of loot boxes in games.

The report by the BBC outlines the ASA’s stance that any ads that do not make it clear when a game contains loot box mechanics will be removed and banned from appearing.

However, the BBC found that most ads did not comply with the ASA’s regulations.

“The BBC checked the adverts for the top 45 highest-grossing games on Google’s Play Store,” says the report. “Of those 45, 26 were labelled as including loot boxes – 22 of which were being actively advertised at the same time. However, only two of those titles spelt out the presence of the loot boxes in their ads.”

The British broadcaster found that Monopoly Go, the highest-grossing game on the Play Store to contain loot boxes in-game, was one of the offenders that failed to disclose the presence of loot boxes in their ads.

In a statement, the ASA said: “This is an ongoing area of our work, and we’re closely monitoring the sector to discover the scale of compliance and act accordingly.”

Dr Jane Rigbye, chief executive of Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust (Ygam), called the findings “deeply concerning”.

“In the absence of robust regulation in gaming, it is essential for games to provide clear and transparent information about their features, allowing both parents and gamers to make informed decisions,” she said.

“The ASA, although it has upheld some complaints, it takes so long to properly process all of these things – they will go to a company and say, ‘you should comply’, but they don’t comply,” said Leon Y Xiao, a video game regulation researcher at the IT University of Copenhagen.

“People are walking into a video game not knowing the potential risks, and this is assuming that people have even understood the risk of loot boxes to begin with.”

According to the BBC, its findings are in line with Mr Xiao’s, whose preliminary research determined that around 90% of games that include loot boxes do not disclose this in their advertising.

In recent times, Australia and Germany have joined the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria in taking action against loot boxes. Australian rules could see games being reclassified to an M rating, which is suggested for ages 15 and up only, whereas Germany is seeking to review regulations with the goal of protecting youngsters.

Featured image credit: Ideogram

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