New guidance on advertising in-game purchases

The Codes prevent advertisers from misleading customers by omitting or obscuring material information, including presenting marketing communications in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner (CAP Rule 3.3 and BCAP Rule 3.2). The Guidance recognises that a statement of the price of an item in virtual currency may not fulfil the 'material information' requirement and sets out the following practices for advertisers to follow to mitigate against obscuring the price of an in-game item:

• Where consumers can buy 'bundles' of virtual currency (i.e. where the price-per-unit varies according to the size and price of the bundle), claims such as 'best value' should only be used in a context that makes clear that this relates to the cost-per-unit price and not the overall cost of the bundle. 'Cheapest' should only relate to the overall price of a bundle and not the price-per-unit.
• The value of items available through a storefront that falls within the remit of the Codes should be clear. Consumers should be able to determine easily the equivalent real-world price for the item and/or whether they will have to spend real money on more virtual currency to obtain it. This practice will prevent consumers having to calculate manually the exchange rate for virtual currencies. The Guidance suggests that a clear statement of the virtual currency price, together with an easily accessible, clear or otherwise intuitive signpost to how much of the virtual currency the player currently holds and/or the storefront area where the virtual currency can be purchased, will fulfil the minimum requirement. Marketers should also take care not to imply that virtual currency or in-game items may only be acquired for real money if they can also be accessed by other means (e.g. through wait timers or free-to-play game mechanics);
• Odd-pricing occurs when the increments of currency bundles do not match the increments of the virtual currency price for items. This practice has attracted criticism as players must purchase more virtual currency than they need to spend on items (e.g. an item costs 100 virtual coins, but players cannot purchase 100 virtual coins for £1, rather players must purchase 500 virtual coins for £5). In advertisements outside a game, and where a virtual currency price is stated for an in-game item, if odd-pricing applies, then the advertiser should include sufficient information about the costs of the currency bundles. This will allow consumers to determine the real-world cost of the item when the virtual currency purchase is taken into account (e.g. by stating in a footnote the minimum virtual currency purchase price). This is in contrast to storefronts and product pages where customers have immediate access to information about the amount of virtual currency they already own, in which case it is likely to be sufficient to display prominently the costs of different currency bundles on the currency purchase page.
• Where a variety of items are sold as a bundle at a discount, advertisers should ensure that any statements around price savings are representative of the savings actually experienced by players and not inflate such claims by calculating them on the basis of the most expensive price-per-unit equivalent.

The marketing of in-game purchasing should be sensitive to contexts where the potential for being misled is higher and take account of players who may be vulnerable to time-limited or chance-based purchasing. In relation to in-game items (including virtual currencies) purchased for real money, or with virtual currencies that can only be purchased using real money, the Guidance sets out the following advice:

• For ads within gameplay, marketers should avoid the use of mechanics that may place undue pressure on players and prevent them from making an informed choice or mislead them, such as short countdown timers, implications that a purchase will lead to success, complex offers and significant sums of money.
• Where games include loot boxes or random-item purchasing, messaging for these items should not mislead customers about the chances of receiving a rare/specific item. It is unlikely to be acceptable to do any of the following: suggesting (directly or implicitly) that the next purchase will result in a rare/specific item; claiming or implying that the next purchase is more likely to obtain the rare/specific items (where the probability of receiving an item does not vary with multiple purchases); and suggesting that the player almost obtained a rare/specific item (where the outcome is based on chance rather than skill).
• If an offer is not genuinely time-limited (e.g. the item will later be made available again more generally), then marketers should take care not to imply that an item is only available for a specific time or through a specific purchase route.

The Guidance states that advertisers should make clear to consumers if the game includes in-game purchasing and (if applicable) random-item purchasing. This information should be easily accessible and straightforward to find. References to random-item purchasing should be immediately next to (or part of) information about in-game purchasing more generally and the use of PEGI labelling is likely to be considered an appropriate means of disclosing such information.

While not required to do so, advertisers are also encouraged to provide further information about the type of in-game purchasing that the game involves (e.g. whether purchasing is for cosmetic items, 'big ticket' purchases and/or functional (in-play) features).

In addition, where gaming ads give an overview of the whole game and include elements that are not immediately available to players (i.e. which require in-game purchases), advertisers should not imply that such items are included in the 'basic' game. When advertising features that consumers may 'unlock' through gameplay, advertisers should not give the impression that these items are available for free or easily, or can immediately be obtained through standard play. Content requiring purchase or a significant investment of game time should not be presented as easily or quickly obtainable through standard play (if such content is featured, it should be made clear that it is only available unlocked or if paid-for, including if it is only available through random-item purchase). Generally, advertisers should seek to ensure that the gameplay shown in the ad is representative of the game itself.