Ad description
Two digital posters for the Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service providing access to a library of video games, seen on 13 December 2025:
a. The first ad featured large green text that stated “THIS IS HOW WE PLAY NOW […] XBOX GAME PASS”, and included an image of an individual on a skateboard, labelled “TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER 3 + 4”. Smaller text at the bottom of the poster read “Game library and benefits vary by region, plan, and over time. Xbox.com/gamepass”.
b. The second ad featured the same large green text as ad (a), and included an image from a video game labelled “CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 7”. Smaller text at the bottom of the poster read “Game library and benefits vary by region, plan, and over time. Xbox.com/gamepass Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 coming November 14, 2025”.
Issue
The complainant, an academic researcher in game regulation, who understood that the featured games contained in-game purchases, challenged whether the ads were misleading because they omitted material information.
Response
Microsoft Ltd said the ads were for the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, not for individual games. The strapline “this is how we play now” conveyed the reality that “playing” together with friends now often meant playing video games together, which could be done in new and unique ways with the Xbox Game Pass. The game imagery used in the ads was intended to accompany the strapline and depict how people played video games together. They stated the game titles featured were not the focus of the ads, which was demonstrated by the fact that there were no specific offers, prices or calls to action in relation to those individual games. Stills from gameplay had been used as generic, illustrative content.
Microsoft stated that, when assessing whether information was material to a consumer’s understanding, the specific transactional decision should be considered. In this case, they considered that the relevant transactional decision was whether a consumer decided to proceed with a purchase of the Xbox Game Pass, not whether they purchased any particular video game. They said the ads did not invite the consumer to purchase a specific game, but rather to consider purchasing the Xbox Game Pass service. There was no reference to the price of any individual game, or any reference to in-game content or mechanics; only a high-level representation of gameplay from a still image was used, with a mix of different images used across the campaign. They believed that, when viewing the ad, the consumer would not be in a position to make a decision about any specific title. That decision would arise separately through the digital storefront where the consumer could browse and select games. They therefore did not believe that information about in-game purchases in specific titles constituted material information when making the decision to purchase the Xbox Game Pass. They also highlighted that the complaint was made by an academic researcher, and that no consumers had reported being misled by the ads.
Microsoft stated that when a consumer was considering purchasing an individual game title, they provided clear disclosures regarding in-game purchases at multiple appropriate stages on the consumer journey. These included on UK digital storefront pages on the Xbox site, available prior to purchase of a game, and in ads for specific game titles that included in-game purchases. They stated they provided clear disclosures on the storefronts for the two game titles referenced in the ads. However, as the ads did not operate as storefronts, or invite or enable a purchase of any specific game, they did not consider that in-game purchase disclosures were required.
Microsoft referenced CAP’s guidance on advertising in-game purchases, and highlighted that it stated “general game content and mechanics, such as gameplay imagery” was out of the scope of the guidance. They believed the imagery used in the ads fell within this description; the imagery featured in the ads was illustrative of games people played with their friends. They therefore did not consider that CAP’s guidance required disclosure of in-game purchases in this context. However, they were willing to include in-game purchase disclosures on service level advertising in the future if that was required.
Assessment
Upheld
CAP guidance on advertising in-game purchases stated that for some consumers, particularly those with specific vulnerabilities, the presence of in-game purchasing may be material to their decision to purchase or download a game. As such, marketers should ensure that advertising for such games made clear that they contained in-game purchasing.
The ads featured imagery from the games Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The ASA understood that both those games included in-game purchases. That information was not disclosed in the ads. We acknowledged Microsoft’s view that the imagery was intended as generic, illustrative content, and their belief that such content fell outside of the scope of CAP’s guidance on advertising in-game purchases. However, we understood that whilst the guidance stated that “general game content and mechanics, such as gameplay imagery and whether or not in-game purchases are available” fell outside the scope of the guidance, this referenced content within the games themselves. Forms of advertising that contained gameplay imagery and were in the remit of the CAP Code, including “press, TV and billboard ads”, fell within the scope of the guidance. We also considered the ads went beyond showing general gameplay imagery by naming and highlighting specific, identifiable game titles.
The imagery in the ads was accompanied by the text “THIS IS HOW WE PLAY NOW […] XBOX GAME PASS”. We understood that the ads were for the Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service allowing users access to a library of video games, rather than for an individual game. However, we considered that a consumer’s decision to purchase the Game Pass was likely to be influenced by which games were available through the subscription. Because the ads drew attention to specific, named games, we considered viewers were likely to take account of those titles when making a decision about whether to purchase the subscription. The inclusion of those titles was likely to increase the appeal of purchasing the Xbox Game Pass subscription to consumers who already had an interest in playing those games. We therefore considered that information about the presence of in-game purchases within the featured games was material information, because it was likely to affect consumers’ understanding of any potential further spending when playing games through the subscription. That information should therefore have been included in the ads.
Because the ads did not make clear that the featured games contained in-game purchasing, which we considered was material to a consumer’s transactional decision to purchase the Xbox Game Pass, we concluded they omitted material information and were misleading.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Microsoft Ltd to ensure that ads for the Xbox Game Pass, which featured identifiable video games, disclosed the presence of in-game purchases.
