2007 E-Games advertisement complaint by Level Up!
In 2007, Philippine live service game publisher IP E-Game, operator of E-Games, authorized print advertisements which includes a third-party survey that showed the publisher's dominance in the country's live service gaming market. The claims in the advertisement were legally challenged by competing publisher Level Up! Inc., the operator of Level Up!.
Background
In late 2007, E-Games authorized the prints of an advertisement entitled "E-Games: Growing, Evolving, Expanding, Not Stopping". The ad lists, among others, the following claims:
- Voted best gaming company in 2007
- Pioneered "Free-to-play" and "Item-based billing"[note 1]
- RAN Online is officially recognized as #1 MMORPG in the country
- O2Jam is recognized as #1 casual game in the Philippines
- E-Games' online games ranked 1st, 2nd and 4th most popular games played by internet gamers
Included in the ad was a survey conducted by Digital Filipino dated June 26, 2007 which supposedly backs up the last three claims. In the survey, E-Games' RAN Online, O2Jam and Audition Dance Battle took 40%, 24%, and 14.3% respectively while Level Up!'s Ragnarok Online and FlyFF took 18% and 9% respectively. Amped's MMORPG Tantra took 8%. For non-live service multiplayer games, the WarCraft III mod DotA-Allstars and the FPS Counter-Strike took 13.9% and 12% respectively.
A full-page article expanding on the advertisement was published in the November 26, 2007 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Level Up! complaint
Competing live service game publisher Level Up! filed a complaint to the Advertising Board of the Philippines. In a post-screening session held on December 7, 2007, the Adboard screening panel ruled that the ad of E-Games was in direct violation of Section 1.1 (Presentation) and Section 6.1/a, 6.2/a and 6.2/b (No. 1 Claim or Leadership Claim), Article IV of the Code of Ethics of Advertising.
E-Games was ordered by the Advertising Content Regulation Committee to stop using the print ad. In response, IPVG Corp. chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez stated that "IP E-Games fully recognizes the rules and regulations of the AdBoard. However, we would like to emphasize that our 'No. 1' position is based on a third-party survey. We are willing to back up our claim that RAN Online is the No. 1 MMORPG in terms of sales and concurrent users." He also added that the company will openly challenge Level Up! to also "open themselves to a third-party audit."[1]
Note
- Now referred to by the gaming industry as "microtransactions".
Reference
- (UPDATED) Level Up! claims ACRC ordered IP e-Games print ad pullout. February 6, 2008 6:22 PM (PHT). Erwin Oliva. Hackenslash. Retrieved on 2023-03-09.