Fake Mobile Ads Become More Fake

Mobile ads are getting progressively more illegal and you're doing nothing about it.

What are fake ads?

By fake ads I refer to video clips that are used by delivery services like UnityAds that are placed in mobile games, appearing forcibly after a certain amount of time or in exchange for "free rewards" like in-game benefits and currency.

These differ from artistic depictions by being completely misleading. While there's some subjectivity, any normal person can tell the difference between a cinematic teaser and a blatant lie that tries to pass as gameplay footage. Such moments include:

• Fake interface: Many ads demonstrate GUI elements that are not in the game, like menus, status bars, HUD with currency, or even the cursor. These features are trying to make the video appear authentic.
• Fake incompetence: Many ads show a demo footage of someone acting like a complete moron and quickly failing. This is a provocative reverse psychology, many people may find it so frustrating they'll try to prove they can do better.
• Fake glory: Many ads show characters with exaggerated abilities or progression. Very commonly, in just 30 seconds the alleged player can go from a noob to a "level 99 pro". For gacha games, the footage would show the character getting the best equipment on only their second try. Not only this makes it look like success in the game is easy to achieve when getting anywhere can take over a year of grinding, it may not even show how level progression is actually like.
• Fake genre: Many ads try to obfuscate that many of them are idle PVP strategy games by showing footage that would fit more into RPG or even FPS genre, to make them appealing to a wider audience.
• Fake socialization: Many ads show characters behave competitively towards each other and "pro" players mocking the POV character, in games that lack online features at all outside of perhaps a leaderboard.
• Fake assets: Many ads use default Unity/Blender models or AI-generated artwork to look much better than how the game actually looks. The quality can vary from obvious default assets to cinematic films, but the game is usually much worse.
• Fake generosity: Many ads mention starter packs or noob perks, like unique skins or thousands of free gacha pulls. These freebies are very calculated and hide from the player how quickly they run out and how much the in-game currency is really worth.
• Fake urgency: Ads can showcase limited time offers or seasonal events. Their main purpose is to bait players into thinking they'll miss out if they hesitate.
• Fake reviews: Developers heavily moderate store comments and official subreddits to hide deception, and may also use bots to leave positive reviews for themselves.
• Fake reviews: Developers heavily moderate store comments and official subreddits to hide deception, and may also use bots to leave positive reviews for themselves.
• Fake actors: Many ads have started to utilize paid people who play the game and overhype its quality, while presenting footage on the other side of the screen that doesn't actually exist. Even more egregiously, the actors will shamelessly say how they are tired of fake ads but this one is genuine.
• SEO poisoning: Developers may rely on automatically generated websites and aggregators to pollute Google search results with false information.
• Plagiarism loop: Many ads just copy-paste the structure of other adds, creating a cycle where ad companies feel they should imitate each other to be successful.

Who's doing it?

Nowadays, practically everyone who promotes their games with ads. For several years as of late, it'd rather be surprising to find an add that shows actual game footage. While fake ads come and go, several games have been very persistent and became notable:

• Mafia City: War of Underworld (2017, Phantix): Presents a goon becoming a crime lord after doing just a couple of actions in a choose-your-adventure style minigames. In reality, it's just a PVP idle builder.
• Guns of Glory: Lost Island (2017, FunPlus) Often presents itself as a 3D tower defense where soldiers run back and forth a castle/ship and shoot canons at invaders. It's another idle strategy.
• Homescapes (2017, Playrix) Passes as a puzzle game where the player needs to pull pins in a specific order to avoid the character getting killed by lava. In reality, it's an isometric home designer.
• Puzzles & Survival (2020, 37GAMES):Tries to pass as a stationary shooter where the character goes left and right hitting barrels and zombies. In reality, it's another generic idle builder that uses Match 3 minigames.
• Gold & Goblins (2020, Redcell Games):Shows a 3D game where the player operates 3D vehicles. In reality is a 2D idle game.
• Mob Control (2021, QubicGames, Voodoo): Interestingly, mixes and matches real footage of a canon spawning units that have to go through gates with multipliers, to nonsensical levels where the player has access to x999 gates but isn't using them. Some degree of honesty is probably how they got to Nintendo Switch.
• Kingdom Guard: Tower Defense TD (2021, tap4fun):Often showcases a footage of a character shooting at a segmented dragon snake and collecting weapons. While it shows action, in reality it's yet another online idle builder. It does have a tower defense mode, but it's just one level with different skins.
• Puzzles & Chaos: Frozen Castle (2022, 37Games)Keeps showing a 3D open-world RPG. In reality another idle strategy.

When did that happen?

Modern mobile gaming has begun in 2008 and it hasn't been predatory back then due to word of mouth spreading quickly, though a lot of popular games have utilized freemium models and "energy" limits to pressure players into paying. From 2010, the market becomes more dominated with casual puzzle games that appeal to plays who need a quick distraction. From 2012, games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga became commercial and cultural successes, spawning a lot of imitators. Since 2017, a lot of companies have noticed that enforcement of ad quality control is pretty much non-existent, so even today, they do everything in their power to attract more users.

Is that a problem?

In case you wonder "I don't fall for those, so why should I care", well that's really up to you, but I'd like you to consider the following:

• Legally it falls under a definition of scam. Despite some satisfied userbase, these companies are potentially violating FTC and other enforceable guidelines, and get rich from deceiving gullible players who believe there's a better gameplay if they give it a chance. It makes ethical sense to push against such practices.
• These games live in an ecosystem and use ads that promote each other for mutual profit. This creates a monopoly and if you're a mobile gamedev and not with them, then they'll see you as against them.
• These companies always steal the top rankings in app store, not allowing indie developers to promote their own games that are better made. People are reluctant to develop games for mobile at all as it's impossible to get attention without shady sponsorship.
• Poor reception of those games reflect poorly on the industry overall. This scams are so expected, it's commonly believed Android doesn't have good games. It used to be better on iOS system due to higher standards, but the practice has spread there as well. This creates a loop where potential developers assume mobile gaming is already dead and isn't worth investing into due to distrust in the platform.

Why is it still happening?

It's been almost a decade and the situation is only getting worse. Despite how obvious the problem is, nobody is solving it. There are many potential reasons why:

• Lack of lawsuits: To many, these scams aren't worth a court action. Either they didn't fall for them or they gave the money away willingly. It's hard to argue that a game has scammed you unless you can prove you've lost a lot of money by deception, as consumer protection laws require proving harm. Seeking legal action is also expensive on its own. There also aren't enough laws that can be used as arguments that the lack of marketing authenticity would count as a crime.
• Artistic defense: Companies may claim that the ads are only a representation, and are neither supposed to nor expected to be accurate.
• Inclusion loophole: In case someone will complain that the footage doesn't match the game, it may be revealed that there is in fact a minigame looking like that in some obscure place, even if the ad implies this is the main game.
• Outsourcing: Developers can ask an outsider company to make ads for them, with or without explaining what are they actually promoting.
• Extraterritoriality: Many ad companies are located in East Asia instead of US, making it difficult to pursue legal action.
• Name whitewashing: Even if a company's reputation tanks, they can simply register under a different name and continue.
• Users' complacency: Regular players are so used to fake ads that they don't bother doing anything about them. Some may even find entertainment in discussing how off-base they are.
• Platform's complacency: Unlike Steam and other platforms where reputation is crucial and transparency is strictly curated to increase customer satisfaction, Play/App Store couldn't care less. The market has a low barrier of entry, so Google and Apple may not want to spend resources to curate apps, relying on a report button that sends complaints to nobody. Apple used to manually curate new apps, but the enforcement became lax and ads find loophole with promotional footage rules. Additionally, they get their share of revenue from games, so the profits from downloads may make them want to look the other way.
• Still engaging: Even if the game looks nothing like the ad, many users may be satisfied with how the game really is on its own merits, or try to get as much as possible for review purposes, unwittingly validating the game.
• It works: Let's be fair, companies wouldn't do this if it wasn't consistently proving to be profitable. Even if only 0.1% of players are willing to throw away money to see later levels, they add up a lot when the playerbase reaches millions.

What can we do?

While the situation keeps getting worse, it's not entirely hopeless. If you want to help in any way, here's what you can do:

• Leave reviews: Keep pointing out game misrepresentation in places where people can see. If the developer buries negative comments in the store, you can still try to influence forums dedicated to mobile gaming and social media.
• Appeal to developer: You can try to negotiate and provide constructive criticism, how the ads have affected you or if developer's earnings could be spent to make a better game. Almost always you'll be replied by an automated message, but there's a chance the dev will consider doing better if it'll improve their reviews.
• Spread awareness: Keep discussing the topic of fake ads publicly so less people would fall for them and would be inclined to take action as well.
• Pursue response from the platform: App stores and ad delivery services may be ignorant or complicit with the problem because it doesn't affect them. If a large crowd of people keep asking them questions, they may be more inclined to address them.
• Seek legal advancements: The problem persists because it's technically allowed. If the negative effects of mobile ads makes into congress through senate representatives, news media or other methods, law enforcement against these practices may be put on a table. Since there are a lot of cyclic debates about media censorship, a well-presented research on ethics and potential harm of mobile games could be something they'd find easy to discuss.

Interestingly, in 2023 there was released a game called "Yeah! You Want Those Games, Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them!" by Monkey Craft which parodies such practices while also providing players with puzzles that look exactly how ads are trying to look. It has received a sequel in 2024. This implies that some degree of awareness and frustration is growing, but it's still on a level of mockery instead of highlighting problems.

In conclusion, this industry needs to stop as it pollutes mobile devices with slop nobody asked for at increasing rate. This is not something that can be solved by just complaining about it, it requires a major social shift so developers and ad companies would face backlash. If deceptive ads go away, we may see the return of indie developers who may want to practice with mobile platforms. Mobile gamedev is getting easier, software like Godot can even export a desktop project to .apk file with no additional setup, but getting published remains nearly impossible do to systematic problems.

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