Aliens: Colonial Marines may have been one of the worst received games of the year, but why? The trailers for the game were pretty impressive, weren’t they? Unfortunately, those had nothing to do with the final product. And Sega is finally owning up to their bait-and-switch tactics.
The trailers were, apparently, made using a demo version of the game, not the final product. As such, they do not accurately convey the gameplay experience.
A Redditor named subpardave noticed this and decided to file an official complaint with the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency. As a result, Sega will now be posting a disclaimer before their Colonial Marines trailers. The disclaimer will make it clear that the footage shown in the trailer does not reflect actual gameplay.
“The games industry – like any other – needs to be held accountable for blatantly deceiving the consumer. And doubly so when a wall of silence is the only response to resounding criticism for shipping a shoddy product, having shown off one with all the bells and whistles” said Subpardave.
“Our role in cases such as this is to ensure that marketing material isn’t likely to materially mislead the public,” the ASA remarked in their official statement. “We consider that with this disclaimer in place, customers are unlikely to get the impression that the trailer shows the finished product, and the ads are therefore unlikely to mislead.”
Source: VG247