We were wondering when we were going to hear about the outcome of this. Back in September, it was revealed that the UK's Advertising Standards Authority was looking into No Man's Sky following complaints that the game's marketing and pre-release media didn't represent the finished product. Since then, developer Hello Games has released a pretty huge patch for the title, which you can read about through here.
Anyway, as it turns out, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that No Man's Sky did not mislead customers. Apparently, Hello Games defended its creation quite fervently, obviously making a case that it wasn't trying to lie to potential players.
The Advertising Standards Authority summarises its findings: "The summary description of the game made clear that it was procedurally generated, that the game universe was essentially infinite, and that the core premise was exploration." The statement continues: "As such, we considered consumers would understand the images and videos to be representative of the type of content they would encounter during gameplay, but would not generally expect to see those specific creatures, landscapes, battles and structures." You can read the entire report, which is mostly based on the game's Steam page, through here.
So, what do you make of this? What are your thoughts on No Man's Sky these days? Generate some thoughts in the comments section below.
[source asa.org.uk, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 47
"The summary description of the game made clear that it was procedurally generated, that the game universe was essentially infinite, and that the core premise was exploration." The statement continues: "As such, we considered consumers would understand the images and videos to be representative of the type of content they would encounter during gameplay, but would not generally expect to see those specific creatures, landscapes, battles and structures."
But the whole issue was that they promised multiplayer many times and even described it in detail then never added it. Nobody ever complained that the animals and landscapes were different to the advertisements????
I haven't played it and still plan on buying it so I'm not talking down on the game. But it seems like they investigated this from the complete wrong angle.
@PorllM Said single player on the box though, didn't it? Stuff changes during development. FF15 isn't the game that I was shown in trailers in 2007. Ah well.
Good news for Hello Games this week, and along with the foundation update I hope this is the start of a happier chapter for them and the people who bought the game - everyone deserves it!
@kyleforrester87 You are right about that but we're talking about promises made a month or two before launch, not years before like with FFXV. At that point they would have had a very good idea what the finished game would contain and chose not to tell the truth. I guess it's not false advertising as the box said single player like you said, but it's certainly not something you should be able to get away with.
@PorllM I wouldn't say they 'got away with it', exactly. Maybe financially but their reputation is in tatters right now. How much do you reckon this saga has damaged their relationship with Sony for instance? Quite a bit I'd wager. Not to mention the sleepless nights, death threats and likely insane shifts the team had to do to get the game back in track with the Foundation update.
@SegaBlueSky Very good point. Of course I don't advocate any of that stuff especially death threats. For such a small, newish team, the game they created is actually incredible and I'm glad they are having a chance to fix it in the eyes of the public. Just wish Sean could have held back his over excited claims haha but it's understandable really I guess, especially when you're working on something that hasn't been done before.
Ideally trading standards would have made them make an apology and explain why multiplayer wasn't included, instead of internet mobs threatening to kill them and forcing them into hiding. But that's the internet these days I suppose lol.
@PorllM Yeah.. as @SegaBlueSky said, I don't imagine this is what Hello Games wanted. I expect the missing stuff will be put into the game over the next year, and it was probably always the intention to include this stuff, but would people really have accepted a 2017-2018 release date?
Take that haters!
I bought No Man's Sky Day 1 & didn't feel mislead in any way- I knew what I was buying. Over time things change, you have to adapt & that was the case with NMS. NMS was sold as a game with multiplayer components (which it had with uploading & naming species, planets & plants), Murray has stated prior to the launch that if you're looking for a multiplayer experience this isn't the game for you.
My only issue with this game was that the 'ending' sucked & that there was little else to do once you got the platinum.
I will be waiting until they fix more of the game before I start. The game can still be what they envisioned, they did so much with the foundation update, but having only spent enough time to jump to another solar system, I will hold on to it until the game looks somewhat closer to our initial expectations.
@kyleforrester87 They will update it a lot and make the game much better than it is now, of that I have no doubt, and I can't wait for it. They will want to make people happy with this because if they don't, they won't sell another game.
But is multiplayer even physically possible? The entire traversal system would need to be changed for you to be able to find your friends, it would have to allow for people building bases on their own planets and make them show up the same way to other players, and if they add the multiplayer in the form they originally promised it would be going from a small indie game by 12 developers, to the largest multiplayer game of all time. They would pretty much have to start again on the whole structure of the game.
Please don't take this as hate because there's enough of that on the internet, and as I said before I do plan on buying and enjoying this game. But multiplayer in the form they originally promised, I can't see happening.
"We werent trying to lie to potential customers"
Very disingenuous.
To use an extreme example that would be like someone getting drunk to the point they pass out, someone having sex with them and claiming that they "werent trying to rape them" and didnt because they didnt say no.
Whether the intent to lie was there or not doesnt change that fact at all.
There are numerous issues surrounding their PR.
I think what people need to bear in mind is that this investigation was largely based on the Steam store page, as Ramsey stated in the article, so the accusations of lies regarding multiplayer didn't really come into this.
For the record, I never expected any kind of multiplayer in the traditional sense, and I watched and read as much as I could prior to No Man's Sky's release.
I'd suggest that people read through Eurogamer's breakdown of ASA's report (linked above), as it's easier to digest than the report itself while still providing a decent overview of their findings.
@PorllM Hmm, well I don't see why you wouldn't be able to load into your friends instance of a given system via a fast travel way point beacon on the galaxy map, the same way Don't Starve became Don't Starve Together.
The bigger issue as far as I am concerned is what would you actually do in multiplayer? Once you've run around a bit the novelty would wear off. They need to address that before adding the feature - hopefully they will! Competitive could be cool, raiding others bases etc.
@kyleforrester87 I haven't played Don't Starve much but I think I get what you're saying. A cool way to do it would be if you had to build some kind of transport system in your solar system like a mass effect drive haha. Then you activate it and it shows "systems that can be travelled to" which would actually be your friends list? That would be pretty great.
The way they originally described it was you and a friend could just go to the same place and see each other. But it would be very close to impossible to find where somebody is and go there especially if they are a long distance from you, so that system wouldn't work.
Unless they create a completely new galaxy map and travel system where you can look at any star at the map and just instantly jump there? The possibilities boggle the mind, I wonder if figuring out how to do it was what stopped them.
And yes I agree competitive would be absolutely necessary! I want to to hang with my friend, show each other our worlds, then go invade some random persons world and destroy their ships and take resources from them lol! If it doesn't have the ability to do stuff like that, and you instead just "view" other players without really interacting with them, I think that would just annoy people even more.
Not at all surprised...the only surprising thing about all this was that things went as far as they did, ridiculous really.
@PorllM If your friend is on your friends list and playing online it could easily just recognise when you are entering a system that they are already in and load you into the same instance. But yeah, in terms of just seeing randomers flying around..I don't think so.
While I do think that Hello Games and Sony should be held accountable for the absurd level of hype that came with No Man's Sky, the consumer also has to be reasonable. It should be obvious from how Sean Murray spoke that traditional multiplayer was never on the cards, certainly from any interview I saw with him. And games use bullshots all the time in their promotional campaigns. Yes, they said some things that never came to pass, but that can be said of many games - things change in development. Devs overpromise. Just ask Peter Molyneaux.
While I do think both Sony and Hello Games should have handled this much, much better, there wouldn't be as many annoyed people right now if people learned to stop buying into the pre-release media hype cycle. It's ridiculous, and you're part of the problem.
Moral of the story? If you don't want to get burned, stop pre-ordering games. Vote with your wallets.
Funnily enough, the one feature I desperately hope they never, ever introduce...is multiplayer. The lack of it was one of the features that appealed to me the most! I do hope we see some more elabourate creatures and AI behaviours like those seen in the early trailers, though.
Sounds like they went easy on Hello Games...just cause it was procedurally generated doesn't mean that core features of the game are random as well. By that logic you could pitch someone on Doom and deliver to them Shovel Knight, because 'it's all random man!'.
I don't know all the details of the investigation but I am disappointed by this and the ruling was clearly made by people that don't know the games industry. The game just wasn't what was talked up for months. Still, if only an investigation into the steam page, I can see why it didn't get that much further. Shame though.
Simple fix. Stop pre ordering stuff ffs!
And this is why we wait for reviews before buying/pre-ordering
I am glad the advertising standards agency came to this decision its the right one.
I think people misunderstood what this was investigating, it was about the Steam store page misrepresenting the game, nothing to do with anything said before release. Only the stuff that directly advertises the game to sell it will be under scrutiny and all those promises Murray made at press conferences and so forth are not viable to be put forward as false advertising (whether they should be is another topic for discussion).
I'm a bit disappointed by this, I think they should have got a reprimand for their actions. The case mainly hinged on screenshots/videos on the store page that depicted things that were not in the game such as certain biomes and that giant worm creature. In the UK we usually see adverts running with disclaimers for anything that doesn't wholly represent the product on sale, such as 'Not in game footage'. It goes to extreme lengths that if a pack of biscuits has a picture of the biscuits on a plate there is a message saying 'serving suggestion' so people don't complain they didn't get a plate (yes, it has come to this). The fact they didn't do this and got away with it makes the law pretty pointless if it is different for each company.
For those who didn't know all that would have happened if they were found guilty is that they would have had to remove the offending material from the store page (which they might have already anyway) and Steam, being the seller, would have gotten a warning. Of course it would have been interesting to see how Steam went about responding to the red mark against their name in relation to Hello Games.
It should have just been a Steam early access title, since thats the state it was released in. Then ported to console after full release. Then no one could have complained about missing features as they would have paid about £10-20 for it.
Though saying that, how long before the early access model invades console territory? Theres a sobering thought
It says one player on the box and they said you don't need PS Plus to play. Responsible consumers vs snowflakes.
Glad to see many more people getting excited about playing it again since the update!
@FaultyDroid Early access is fine as long as you're not silly about it. There are some real gems you can get and have input into how they're developed. Any big game you buy at release these days is effectively early access anyway - you get a huge patch to apply straight away and then usually have to wait a month or two for the game to (hopefully) be fully fixed.
Early access probably won't happen on consoles though just because every update would have to go through a certification process that would take weeks to finish, by which time the game will be on its next build. Apart from slowing the process down, I'm guessing the complaints as to why the PC version has feature X while the consoles are still waiting would be enough of a deterrent away from consoles for any developer who decides they need to follow the early access model to release a game.
Chances are very slim you will ever see another player was said every time because of the sheer size of the game. Its a shared universe you can see other players names on discoveries and you can call that alone multiplayer. anyway that long list of lies has been tossed out.
We all saw the videos no multiplayer in them. The game was sold early and streamed online start to finish weeks before launch. Refund mongers saw this as a easy way to get a FREE game play it then return it. Some after 50 freaking hours of play time. That Nightmare is over and done now.
Hello Game didn't give in or give up they have been working hard to make No Mans Sky even better. NOT taking the money and running as said by the Refunders. 15 programmers and once again did amazing job on the amount of content they added in 3 months! I supported this game from day one playing it almost daily and will continue to do so on my third trip to the center of a new galaxy.
They joys of Pre-order and hype culture and why it has to stop.
Love the drama. From my perspective HG have definitely been naughty here. But if they keep giving big game updates with lots of content for free as a goodwill gesture then I'm willing to be persuaded that torches and pitchforks at dawn is unnecessary.
Hopefully both they and many of the preorder-ers (that a word?) have learnt valuable lessons and we can move on soon.
@Dichotomy
"Any big game you buy at release these days is effectively early access anyway"
Your right, and this is what worries me. Instead of buying a AAA-title thats 80% complete with the rest being patched, how long before its 50%..? Its slowly spiralling out of control on Steam with hundreds of throw-away projects that have two or three man teams working part time that despite having bags of potential.. will clearly never be finished. Given the way this scenario turned out I honestly think NMS would have benefitted from it though (£49.99 for an indie title..?!) & there wouldnt have been such backlash, but hey no one could have predicted how it'd end.
I hope your right about it never coming to consoles too..!
I bought a PS4 because of this game I love this game I love the foundation update I wish people would stop bellyaching and just play the game it's fun. different strokes for different folks!
Who cares, Hello Games is basically finished as it is now, and Murray will be forever that "silly little weirdly laughing cheating turd"
@FaultyDroid The (sensible) mantra for early access is pretty much the same as for 'full' release games - only buy it if you think you would be happy with the state it is in when you pay for it, treat anything extra after that as a bonus. As I said, early access should only be a problem to anyone if they're silly about the way they approach it. Given two of my current go to games are early access releases, I feel the downsides of the method are outweighed by the fact it gives good indie developers a chance to make games they otherwise may have not been able to.
As for early access on consoles, I wouldn't say never for sure, it would require policy changes on the console manufacturers side, but if ever there was enough of a call for those games it would happen. I also think Microsoft were at least trialing early access on a few games last time I looked (wasn't Elite Dangerous one?)
@BowTiesAreCool "It says one player on the box and they said you don't need PS Plus to play" push square did an article about this.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2016/07/you_wont_need_playstation_plus_to_play_ps4s_no_mans_sky_online
@Dichotomy "It goes to extreme lengths that if a pack of biscuits has a picture of the biscuits on a plate there is a message saying 'serving suggestion' so people don't complain they didn't get a plate" so true utter madness.
I really dont get all the fuzz!
Politicians are lying the heck out of twitter - nobody cares.
Gamecompany makes false PR - internet breakdown.
WTF?
@PorllM They changed it to singleplayer i did read a few articles about it.
@JohnKarnes
So how does one go on to explain that two people on the EXACT SAME PLANET, in the EXACT SAME LOCATION, were unable to see each other as was told to us?
This point is well documented, they absolutely DID market it with multiplayer capability, of which it has none.
@Furtin Haha yeah, true. But I was going to use my £50 to cure cancer
This is why, 9 times out of 10, I won't preorder Western games (I'll gladly make an exception for WayForward, as they have never burned me). At least you know what to expect with Japanese games that are localized later because they are vetted by Japanese gamers and importers before they ever come over.
Let's see if the haters will take there ball and move onto another game to hate because reasons.
@ToOgoodofaplaya They never specifically said Multiplayer they said that you could come across other players but the chances were incredibly unlikely. And those streamers tried it at a time when the servers were either down or not working properly. Whether if anyone has tried it since remains to be seen.
Lemme just roll around on the floor and scream like a vile child.
@adf86 yeah youre right, they didnt.
I personally enjoy the game, but I take issue with the way it was marketed.
And HG did say yes you would be able to come accross another player, but the chances are slim, which of course was proven to be untrue.
Lets all be honest here, they handled the PR extremely poorly, and made promises they werent planning on, or were unable to, keep.
Whether other companies do it is irrelevant, and does not make it acceptable.
@ToOGoodOfAPlaya I agree that they should have handled PR better. It's the amount of hate and vitriol that the developers get that just leaves a black mark on everyone.
Glad I didn't get tricked by spore 2, my condolences to those who did.
Well, I'm glad they didn't go down for anything. I think it's punishment enough that they've torpedoed any chance of selling something like this again. It doesn't matter what they do at this point, they will never have that trust back.
Storm in a teacup.
@ToOGoodOfAPlaya
#1 You confuse paid marketing with a visit to a late night talk show done with humor.
#2 That is over and has been ruled on.
#3 Hello games is making No Mans Sky a better game with added content.
#4 90% of game hype comes from Gamers and click bait internet titles.
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