No Man's Sky investigated over 'misleading' adverts

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No Man's SkyImage source, Hello Games

Video game No Man's Sky is being investigated by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority after complaints from gamers.

They say that promotional material does not reflect the finished product.

Some of it dates as far back as 2014, but is still being used to promote the game.

The complaints are specifically about the game's Steam page, where players can download the game for their PC.

"We are investigating whether the content of the Steam store page (comprising trailers, screenshots and written statements) includes claims that specific features will be included in the No Man's Sky game that were not present in the final release," an ASA spokesman tells Newsbeat.

The original gameplay trailer shows a planet teeming with creatures interacting with each other.

Image source, Hello Games
Image caption,
Where were these guys in the finished game?

Players say that the finished product just isn't like that.

Warning: Third party content may contain adverts

Here's the more isolated experience players found in the game that was released.

Warning: Third party content may contain adverts

"Complainants believe it is misleading," the ASA spokesman says.

The ASA will publish their findings "in due course".

Players have complained about the lack of space combat, structures and buildings, flowing water, animal behaviour and issues piloting spacecraft in the game - all of which can be seen in the 2014 trailer.

It's not just gamers having a go.

The president of Sony's Worldwide Studios has criticised it too - which is unexpected because you can play it on Sony's PlayStation 4.

Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer that it sounded like developers were "promising more features in the game from day one".

No Man's Sky became the biggest launch on Steam history in August of this year, with 212,620 people playing simultaneously on its day of release.

But two weeks later, this number had dropped to just 25,689.

Image source, Hello Games
Image caption,
Website VentureBeat shared these stats from the makers of the game.

Drop-off is common in all new releases, but this is a bigger decrease than is usually seen.

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