The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints against EA, Jagex, and Miniclip for failing to disclose the presence of loot boxes in their adverts.
The complaints were filed to the ASA by researcher Leon Y. Xiao, who has previously conducted studies on the effectiveness of Belgium’s loot box ban and the consistency of loot box warnings on games.
Xiao’s complaints challenged ads by EA, Jagex and Miniclip for being “misleading because they omitted material information” – the presence of loot boxes – in paid promotions on Facebook. Current ASA guidance states advertising must make it clear if loot boxes exist in a game, with a notification on store pages at a minimum.
