ASA bans misleading mobile game ads from King, Scopely and others, in same-day rulings

ASA banned four mobile game ads for misrepresenting actual gameplay. King, Loom Games, Omnilojo and Vistrex all received rulings on the same day. Affected titles: Farm Heroes Saga, Pixel Flow, Dark War Survival, Idle Zombie Miner. None of the banned ads can run again in their current form.

ASA draws a bright line between cinematic ads and misleading overlays
"Mobile game ads must give people an accurate impression of the gameplay they can expect." - Freddie Alcock, ASA Senior Investigations Executive
King's alternating "Not in-game footage" disclaimer failed to clear its Farm Heroes Saga ad.
Scopely's second Pixel Flow ad cleared for being clearly cinematic, without cursor elements.
King's second Farm Heroes Saga ad passed the same clarity test.

Fabricated badges and cherry-picked clips inflate scope
Omnilojo's Dark War Survival ads presented non-interactive story sequences as core gameplay.
The game's actual graphics differed materially from those shown in the ads.
One ad used fake award badges reading "2026 Game Creative" and "2026 Survival Game."
Omnilojo admitted its ads could have done more to separate story from gameplay.

Minigames and 194-mine maps mask the real loop
Vistrex's Idle Zombie Miner ad showed players directly controlling an excavator across an open map.
That mechanic appears only in a 60-second bonus stage, after four of 194 mines.
ASA ruled the excerpt unrepresentative of the game's actual core loop.
Both the Facebook ad and the Google Play listing were banned.
What this means
For UA & Marketing: Budget for higher UK CPIs as gameplay-accurate creatives replace fake-hook variants.
For Investors & VC: Add ad-compliance rulings and creative-dependence on fake hooks to mobile diligence.
For Service Vendors: Pitch pre-flight creative and store-listing compliance audits to mobile UA teams targeting UK.