Star Citizen Reportedly Got in Trouble with UK Advertising Authority

Star Citizen reportedly got in trouble with the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, due to an alleged failure to disclose the concept/ephemeral nature of upcoming ships.


Published: September 1, 2021 3:07 PM /

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Star Citizen A2 Hercules cover

A Redditor has apparently reported Star Citizen to the UK Advertising Standards Authority due to one of its most recent e-mails allegedly violating advertising guidelines in that country.

Although Star Citizen has a fair amount of content in the game, it's still very much in development. One of the many ways Roberts Space Industries and Cloud Imperium raise funds is by selling ships to players that have not yet been released. Unfortunately, it appears that this practice got the game's developers in a bit of hot water.

Star Citizen A2 Hercules slice

Redditor Explains Why He Reported Star Citizen to UK's ASA

Redditor /u/mazty reports that he was "fed up" with Cloud Imperium Games' "constant lies" and decided to do something about it — he says he filed a report against the company with the UK Advertising Standards Agency.

The ASA is the UK's independent regulator of advertising in all media and is responsible for applying the Advertising Codes to any ads shown in the country. It seems that Star Citizen fell afoul of these codes due to selling ships that haven't quite been finished yet.

"Fed up of CIG and the constant lies, I reported their Gatac Railen ship email as being misleading to consumers to the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) as there is no mention that the ship does not exist and might never exist," /u/mazty said on Reddit.

"A few weeks later, the ASA [confirmed that] the CIG email does go against the Advertising Code of Practice and informed CIG who now have added a disclaimer to all their concept ships for sale via email."

/u/mazty also shared a recent e-mail from the company that includes the following disclaimer:

* Disclaimer: The Crusader Ares (Inferno and Ion), A2 Hercules, Genesis Starliner, are being offered here as a limited vehicle concept pledge. This means that the vehicle is in development but is not yet ready to display in your Hangar or fly in Star Citizen. It will be available as playable content in a later patch. In the future, the vehicle price may increase and Lifetime Insurance or any extras may not be available. If you pledge towards a Crusader Ares (Inferno and Ion), A2 Hercules, Genesis Starliner, you will receive a loaner vehicle for use in Star Citizen until such time as the Crusader Ares (Inferno and Ion), A2 Hercules, Genesis Starliner, is included in-game. This loaner vehicle will be a currently playable vehicle of similar approximate size and/or function to the concept ship pledged. We offer pledge ships to help fund Star Citizen’s development. The funding received from vehicles such as this allows us to include deeper features in the Star Citizen world. These vehicles will be available for in-game credits and/or will be otherwise earnable through play in the final universe. They are not required to start or succeed at the game.

/u/mazty also shared an e-mail he says is from the UK's ASA. This e-mail explains that the organization believes it is "likely" that the lack of a disclaimer broke the nation's advertising rules and that it advised Cloud Imperium Games to make some changes, likely resulting in the disclaimer you see today.

What do you think of Star Citizen selling ships that haven't yet finished development? When do you think we'll see the game reach completion? Let us know in the comments below!

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