Star Citizen, el Winter winds of video games, has recently been the subject of fire for misleading advertising practices, at least in the eyes of a British regulatory body. Eurogamer reports that the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told developer Cloud Imperium Games to clarify Star Citizenso-called “concept ships” are not yet technically available, even if players can earn very real money for them.
The advertising industry in the UK is partially self-regulated. While the legislation obviously has some authority, independent regulatory bodies also draft and enforce a code that dictates what ads can and cannot say. He TAN is the main agency. Think of it as a Federal Communications Commission that is not government-related (both in terms of funding and oversight), but still allows you to traverse an entire industry. (Although toothless, way ex post facto, which few advertisers take seriously – British Ed.)
First funded through Kickstarter in 2012, Star Citizen is a massively multiplayer online flight simulator developed for almost a decade. Although there is no full game yet, sponsors have been able to play parts of the game in chunks, including first-person shooter and ship combat modes. Its chief architect, Chris Roberts, of Wing Commander fame, he has no idea when the full game is over.
In July, Reddit user Matzy filed a complaint with the ASA on Cloud Imperium’s practice of selling concept ships for financing purposes Star Citizenlong and rocky development. (Eurogamer verified Matzy’s complaint.) The concept ships aren’t there yet Star Citizen“A game that.” has raised more than $ 350 million so far, but is scheduled to be included at some point. Of course, not all plans are guaranteed to come to fruition.
The offending ship in Matzy’s complaint is the Gatac Railen, a purple and silver beast that looks like what would happen if you froze Optimus Prime in the middle of an air squat. An advertising email offered a “last chance” to catch the Gatac Railen, urging players to “act quickly before he leaves.” He did not fully clarify that Gatac Railen may or may not ever get into the game.
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The ASA responded by issuing a warning, essentially a slap on the wrist that says, “Cut that shit.”
In today’s writing, the bottom of the Gatac Railen web listing—Saying that the ship is not currently for sale— includes an exemption from liability: “The Gatac Railen is offered for the first time as a limited vehicle concept commitment. This means that the vehicle is in development, but is not yet ready to show it in the Hangar or fly into it Star Citizen. It will be available as playable content in a later patch “.
In the meantime, players who committed will receive a “ceded vehicle” that is approximately the same size and functionality as the Railen.
Star Citizen, currently in alpha version, is scheduled to be released in 2014, 2016, etc.