Sega admits Aliens: Colonial Marines ads did not represent final game

The ASA will not take formal action against Sega regarding its video advertisements for February release Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The publisher has, however, admitted that its ads did not accurately reflect the game.

Sega and developer Gearbox attracted heavy criticism following the release of the game. This was partly because after the best part of a decade in development, the final product was savaged by critics.

But another big complaint was that the final release was graphically vastly inferior to what had been shown to the press, what was playable in the demo and compared to what was seen in some of Sega’s marketing for the game.

Written assurances on future ads led to the dropping of any potential formal action, although an official note of the informal settlement has been registered on the ASA’s website.

Sega Europe understood the objections raised about the quality of the game in relation to the trailers, but explained that they weren’t aware of these issues when the trailers were produced, in some cases several months before release,” an ASA letter in reply to the original complainant read.

Sega Europe acknowledged your objection that the trailers did not accurately reflect the final content of the game. They agreed to add a disclaimer, both on their website and in all relevant YouTube videos, which explains that the trailers depict footage of the demo versions of the game.”