European branch of publisher ‘fesses up
Following an upheld complaint with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, SEGA Europe has admitted that trailers forAliens: Colonial Marinesdo not reflect the game’s final (shoddy) content.
The complaint wasupheld by a Reddit user, who got a reply back from the ASA. The organization said it spoke with SEGA, and the company confessed its sins once under scrutiny.
“SEGA Europe acknowledged your objection that the trailers did not accurately reflect the final content of the game,” wrote the ASA. “They agreed to add a disclaimer, both on their website and in all relevant YouTube videos, which explains that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game. The disclaimer will be visible when each online trailer is played.”
A small victory, especially since demos aren’t supposed to lookbetterthan the finished product, but the ASA is satisfied SEGA won’t be “materially” misleading anybody with the disclaimer in place. It’s pretty sad that, only in April, only in Europe, and onlyafteran upheld complaint, will one wing of the publisher actually take a minor effort to stop sellingColonial Marinesunder false pretenses.
