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The Legal Troubles of No Man’s Sky

The Legal Troubles of No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky has turned into quite the controversial game. Ahead of launch, Hello Games made all sorts of promises about their project. We saw these incredible screenshots and videos. We heard about gameplay elements, animal and ship designs, and other functions that never came to be. It was discouraging, but we chalked it up to misplaced hype and the overpromises of an indie developer who didn’t realize what they were capable of. Now a United Kingdom watchdog group has stepped in to add another chapter to this saga, which means things got real.

To summarize, here’s what’s going on. In the UK, there’s an Advertising Standards Authority watchdog group that acts as a self-regulatory organization for the region’s advertising industry. People can go to this agency if they believe there’s a case of false advertising. The ASA will then investigate the case and, if the claim is legitimate, have the advertising removed and sanctions imposed. People went to the ASA about No Man’s Sky, the organization has decided these reports have merit, and it is now investigating Hello Games, Valve, and the assets on the game’s Steam product listing .

If the ASA decides the images and footage are misleading, it can move to have them withdrawn completely from Steam, the PlayStation Store, and other places where Hello Games is trying to use the images to advertise No Man’s Sky (in the UK, at least). Should Hello Games disregard the ASA’s ruling and continue to use these images and videos that aren’t representative of the final product, it could start asking for ads that use those misleading items to be removed. It’s a pretty big deal, since it can stop promotional endeavors and keep people from seeing things about the game.

And you know what? The ASA is absolutely justified in doing these things. This is action that Hello Games should have taken the moment the developer realized No Man’s Sky’ s preliminary footage didn’t match the game they were going to be releasing. Many of the screenshots and videos available on Steam, the official PlayStation website , and other places online are still from earlier builds and not the one we’re all actually playing. Say what you want about the missing features and gameplay, but a company absolutely shouldn’t keep using non-representative images to promote that work. It’s wrong.

Any other company or retailer would face much stronger punishments, were they in Hello Games’ place with No Man’s Sky. With stores, false advertising can cost the retailer money. If an ad has a misleading and lower price, shoppers get the item for that amount. If other companies have a product that doesn’t match the one seen in the ads, consumers can request refunds. It seems only fair that a game like No Man’s Sky and developer like Hello Games be held accountable. It isn’t as though the final appearance and feel of No Man’s Sky was as much a surprise to the developer as it was to us. They saw where it was going. They should have compensated accordingly.

The Legal Troubles of No Man’s Sky

Such a sanction would also benefit the industry in general. What Hello Games did with No Man’s Sky isn’t uncommon. Games often look different in development than they do after launch. But, most companies are good about updating assets accordingly, so we aren’t seeing these preliminary build images once they’re outdated. The ASA investigation and possible censures would send a message. It would warn companies to keep misleading in-progress images of games off of product pages and advertisements. Which would mean a greater level of trust with consumers.

Some of what Hello Games’ leadership did with No Man’s Sky may have been tied to innocent mistakes. It’s very likely that they got carried away in their own hype. Once they realized it went off the rails, though, they should have made immediate changes to keep gamers informed with the most accurate information. They should have pulled all misleading images and video from product pages at launch. They didn’t and definitely deserve to face some sort of repercussions from the ASA as a result.

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