Hello Games Getting Legally Investigated for False Advertising

If you thought we were done with No Man's Sky just because the controversy surrounding it seems to have dipped off and people have moved on to find other things to be angry about, you are very, very wrong. You see, one of the major complaints of the game was how misleading it was in advertising: it offered spectacular space battles, endless unique planets to explore, a dozen different ways to play, and a shared universe where you could meet other people--which is perhaps the most outrageous lie, as Hello Games founder often would say that it was possible, although he would immediately add how unlikely such an event would be.

Either way, lies were made. And so many people have complained about it that ASA, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, has stepped in to investigate and perhaps even take legal action against Hello Games. The group, after receiving 'several complaints' about the game's adverting, has started investigating the game's Steam page (where it now suffers from a 'mostly negative' user review score), looking into claims the game has made that simply are not true in the final, finished game... as well as 'unrepresentative' videos and pictures that may be on the page.

According to Reddit, here are some of the things they're explicitly looking for, based on the complaints the ASA has gotten:

Videos:

• User interface design
• Ship flying behaviour (in formation; with a 'wingman'; flying close to the ground)
• Behaviour of animals (in herds; destroying scenery; in water; reacting to surroundings)
• Large-scale space combat
• Structures and buildings as pictured
• Flowing water
• Speed of galaxy warp/loading time
• Aiming systems

Screenshots:

• Size of creatures (9)
• Behaviour of ships and sentinels (4, 5 and 8)
• Structures and buildings as pictured (3)

Store Page in general:

• Quality of graphics
• References to: lack of loading screens, trade convoys between stars, factions vying over territory

If the ASA discovers anything like this, though, don't expect Hello Games to find themselves thrown in jail or even taken to court: at best, the ASA will likely just have them take down that particular piece of marketing.

So, things go from bad to worse for Hello Games. But, you know what they say about flying too close to the sun when your wings are made of wax...