Current Events > It's amazing how mobile game ads are allowed to straight-up lie...

(+) Yeah! (+)

...About their gameplay. Like, the ad will present the game as playing as one way, when it fact the actual game plays nothing like it.

Through the Google DeFit app I have, I've seen any ads for this game called Hero Wars: Alliance, and in each one, it presents the gameplay as if you have to move the hero to a space that's lower than the power level he has, and when he beats the monster in that space, that monster's power level rating is added to his own, and the presumed goal is to keep powering him up to fight stronger enemies via this method. Of course, the "player" within a few moves always pits him against a monster that far outranks him and ends up getting killed by it, and then challenges the viewer to do better.

But the actual game, from what I gathered, is just an idle RPG dungeon-crawler, and the screens I've seen look nothing like the gameplay in the ads.

It seems pretty scummy (imagine if the ads for Buldur's Gate 3 depicted it as a Devil May Cry-like action game), but they're seemingly so ubiquitous with the platform that there's a whole active subreddit dedicated to showing off these terrible ads.

Agreed and I know the exact game ad you are talking about. The saddest thing is some of them have such appealing gameplay had they actually made it like what they show probably a lot more people would play it.

It probably does break laws, but who the fuck is enforcing this shit?

archizzy posted...

Agreed and I know the exact game ad you are talking about. The saddest thing is some of them have such appealing gameplay had they actually made it like what they show probably a lot more people would play it.

Agreed. The gameplay in the ads are so simple and boring (a lot of it is just simple math; there's no way you can lose unless you actually try to) that I can't imagine how they would even appeal to anyone.

Error1355 posted...

It probably does break laws, but who the fuck is enforcing this shit?

Google and Apple really should crack down on those, but I guess as long as they get their cut, they couldn't give less of a shit. Plus, I'd imagine that a lot of these games are made by companies outside of the jurisdiction of US law (China, for example).

Solar_Crimson posted...

it presents the gameplay as if you have to move the hero to a space that's lower than the power level he has, and when he beats the monster in that space, that monster's power level rating is added to his own, and the presumed goal is to keep powering him up to fight stronger enemies via this method. Of course, the "player" within a few moves always pits him against a monster that far outranks him and ends up getting killed by it, and then challenges the viewer to do better.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2348100/?snr=1_5_9__205

Puglia77 posted...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2348100/?snr=1_5_9__205

Damn, this is genius lol

Solar_Crimson posted...

Agreed. The gameplay in the ads are so simple and boring (a lot of it is just simple math; there's no way you can lose unless you actually try to) that I can't imagine how they would even appeal to anyone.

The goal is for the people to take the bait and download the game to do better than the person on the ad.

Homescapes and Gardenscapes both do this. They're both pretty decent Candy Crush rip-offs, but for years they advertised themselves as "pull the pin" games (for no reason whatsoever)

The one where it's a bunch of soldiers running backwards while shooting stampede of zombies looks fun.

I remember trying Evony: The King's Return. In it's ads it looks like a simple puzzle game, where you guide an adventurer around obstacles to obtain treasure. Even in the pictures on the Playstore, that's all it shows.

In the actual game, that's just a minor minigame with a few resources as rewards, and the actual game is one of those Clash of Clans-style base-building idle games.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Google and Apple really should crack down on those, but I guess as long as they get their cut, they couldn't give less of a shit. Plus, I'd imagine that a lot of these games are made by companies outside of the jurisdiction of US law (China, for example).

Mauritius, Belarus and Cyprus are also hubs for these "businesses".

I noticed the recent ads of that game got kind of sexual.

So many of those games involve a chick finding her husband cheating, then she leaves and moves into a freezing crack house that she has to repair.

I dont get it.

Puglia77 posted...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2348100/?snr=1_5_9__205

I added this to my wishlist a while ago, as soon as I saw it lol

The absolute worst. And it works on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf29dgWL50U

Not just mobile games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7uwtFpC4iI

I always check reviews. It's funny how a game can be rated like 4.6/5 and the first 10 comments are "So many ads. I've been playing for six days and I just beat level 1," or "It's okay but the ad is a total lie," and my favorite, "I paid 20 bucks for no ads and I'm still getting ads!"

Yeah, I get the game you are talking about. I was intrigued to try it out but I read the reviews and decided against it. I hate how they advertise something good and addictive but once you try it out its mostly something else

Aitz posted...

Yeah, I get the game you are talking about. I was intrigued to try it out but I read the reviews and decided against it. I hate how they advertise something good and addictive but once you try it out its mostly something else

You can kinda tell though. The actions are too free flowing

Funny thing is that Hero Wars had a survey some months ago, and one of the questions was What do you want in the game?
One of the options was I want the stuff shown in the ads.

The mobile market is the only thing sleazier than AAA.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Google and Apple really should crack down on those, but I guess as long as they get their cut, they couldn't give less of a shit. Plus, I'd imagine that a lot of these games are made by companies outside of the jurisdiction of US law (China, for example).

They're still marketed and distributed by US companies.

VeggetaX posted...

Not just mobile games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7uwtFpC4iI

why use xiii when you coulda use anything regarding xv's development from versus xiii

0Renegade posted...

why use xiii when you coulda use anything regarding xv's development from versus xiii

Uhh...isn't that comparing 2 separate games?

KeeperOfShadows posted...

I remember trying Evony: The King's Return. In it's ads it looks like a simple puzzle game, where you guide an adventurer around obstacles to obtain treasure. Even in the pictures on the Playstore, that's all it shows.

In the actual game, that's just a minor minigame with a few resources as rewards, and the actual game is one of those Clash of Clans-style base-building idle games.

They had to add it in as a mini game so that they could say they weren't lying.

Those games have ads littered across Tiktok. Funniest part is when they hire a bunch of shills to pretend like they are playing the game and say something stupid along the lines of "guys this game isnt fake im playing it right now, omgl itz so great".

You also get the self aware ones saying "Don't you hate it when the ad is fake and the gameplay is so different? Try our totally 100% legit and accurate game." But of course those are fake too.

Slayer_22 posted...

Uhh...isn't that comparing 2 separate games?

Ok sure, but there are still things in early trailers that never came about for xv like the way the leviathan plays out in trailer vs how it ended up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtEg1VOVag

0Renegade posted...

Ok sure, but there are still things in early trailers that never came about for xv like the way the leviathan plays out in trailer vs how it ended up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtEg1VOVag

A trailer that came out 3 years before release? I don't think it's that big a deal compared to straight up false advertisement.

MrFingers07 posted...

The goal is for the people to take the bait and download the game to do better than the person on the ad.

You can't "do better than the person on the ad" because the game the person on the ad is playing doesn't fucking exist. When you download the game it's a completely different thing entirely.

0Renegade posted...

Ok sure, but there are still things in early trailers that never came about for xv like the way the leviathan plays out in trailer vs how it ended up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtEg1VOVag

I mean, they still had years of development left, much can change in that time...

Foppe posted...

I mean, they still had years of development left, much can change in that time...

To compare, 3 years ago ffxvi had the awakening trailer which is still in the game now, exactly the same stuff.

Tabata took over ffxv around the time the tgs trailer came out and so many things changed where trailer stuff doesnt even appear in game anywhere.

I just got an ad for this game called Marvel Strike Force and surprisingly, it was a proper ad. I don't know if the clip of them fighting is actually from the game, but it actually properly described the premise of the game (make a 5-person team of Marvel heroes and villains and have them fight against other teams).

Then again, I guess when you have a big, lucrative property like Marvel with its infamous IP holder breathing down your neck, you have to be honest.