The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has clamped down on three mobile games suppliers over failures to properly disclose the inclusion of loot boxes in numerous titles.

Nexters Global, Kabam Games and Hutch Games were all hit by the advertising watchdog over “misleading” and insufficiently clear ads.

In the case of Nexters Global, which runs the Hero Wars: Alliance RPG game, a complaint was made by an academic researcher in game regulation.

The complainant noted that on the game’s App Store listing, text under the title read: “Free – Offers In-App Purchases”.

Further information on the listing included 10 items that could be bought in the game.

The complainant argued the app listing failed to properly disclose the in-app purchases could be made via loot boxes.

Nexters Global said it had followed industry practice for app stores in its original listing and has since updated the description to indicate the presence of loot boxes.

However, the ASA said the original lack of detail around loot boxes would have been “material to consumers’ decisions to download the game”.

“We concluded that the ad misleadingly omitted material information,” the watchdog added.

Kabam Games

For Kabam Games, which operates Marvel Contest of Champions, the complaint also came from an academic researcher in game regulation. 

The case was nigh-on identical to Nexters, with the original app listing omitting information around the presence of loot boxes.

Kabam said it had “overlooked the game description” and would “adjust it to disclose random-item purchases”.

Again, the ASA said such an omission would have impacted consumers’ decision to download the game.

Hutch Games

Hutch Games was subject to three complaints, again all lodged by an academic researcher in game regulation.

The firm’s F1 Clash game listing was alleged to be misleading due to information around loot boxes not being “sufficiently clear” and that it misleadingly implied customers had an equal chance of winning prizes.

The third complaint related to in-app content, with a spinning wheel available to purchase for $1.99.

The text next to the wheel read, “TRY NOW FOR UP TO X10 BETTER PRIZES”. The academic claimed it was not clear what the message related to.

On the first point, Hutch Games said extra information on the inclusion of loot boxes was noted in the game’s listing should a consumer expand the full description.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint, arguing the disclosure was not clear enough.

On the second point around misleading consumers, Hutch said its spinning wheel having 12 equal segments would not translate to equal chances to win prizes.

The firm added there was additional information available throughout the site on the probability of winning.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint, noting that consumers would expect equal spaces on a spinning wheel to offer an equivalent chance of winning.

The body also said the additional information, which as signposted via question mark signs, was not clear enough.

On the third point, the ASA did not uphold the complaint, as the purchasable spinning wheel was only made available to consumers after they had used a free spin.

All the companies were told to make clear their games included loot boxes and to rectify any issues as soon as possible.

The post ASA raps three mobile games suppliers over loot box disclosures first appeared on EGR Intel.