Evony: The King’s Return

The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad for the medieval mobile game Evony: The King’s Return that it said misrepresented the game’s “core playing experience.”

In a decision announced today, the ASA said the ad, which appeared on X (formerly Twitter), showed a character shooting at rolling barrels with the caption “Navigate obstacles, unleash devastating attacks.” (An X post matching the description of the “paid-for” X ad in the ASA’s press release appears above.)

But according to the ASA, such puzzles were a small part of the game. The “core gameplay,” or activity required to progress through the storyline, the ASA said, was city building. And players who did not “level up” were eventually locked out of puzzles such as the one depicted in the ad.

In response to the inquiry, the game’s U.S.-based developer, Top Games Inc. (which ran an ad during the Super Bowl seven years ago), argued that the ad “was indicative of the game’s puzzle solving aspect which was just as essential as the city-building and strategy to progress in the game.”

But the ad regulator didn’t see it that way.

The ASA said that the ad must not appear again in its current form and told Top Games to ensure that future ads reflect the game’s core playing experience.

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