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Sega Europe has admitted that its trailers for controversial shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines were misleading for consumers.
In a statement from the Advertising Standards Agency, as received by Reddit user subpardave, Sega was said to have acknowledged that its trailers “did not accurately reflect the content of the game”.
As a result, disclaimers have been added to all of Sega’s relevant YouTube videos and to its website which state: “The trailer footage shown uses the in-game engine, and represents a work in progress”.
Sega said that although it understood objection raised to its advertisements, it wasn’t aware of the issues and the misleading nature of the trailers when they were produced, which in some cases was several months before release.
After receiving written assurance from Sega that it would make the disclaimers, the ASA said it had decidedly to informally uphold a consumer’s complaint, with basic information, including the advertisers’ name and where the ad appeared, being published on its official website.
No further action is expected to be taken.
Co-developed by Gearbox and TimeGate, Colonial Marines received a poor critical reception from the press, garnering an average rating of between 42 and 48 across all platforms.
