UPDATED 17:15 EDT / NOVEMBER 05 2015

NEWS

Valve chastised by U.K. authority for misleading GTA V Steam sale ads

Earlier this year, Rockstar Games received a fair amount of criticism after Grand Theft Auto 5 was included in the Steam Summer Sale despite the fact that it was not actually discounted, but now it seems that Steam owner Valve Corp is the one taking the blame, at least in the U.K.

During this year’s Steam Summer Sale, GTA V was listed as being 25 percent off when in reality it was still being sold at its base price. What was actually being discounted were bundles that included Shark Cash Cards, which could be redeemed for in-game currency.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator, has ruled that the Summer Sale ads for GTA V were misleading to consumers.

“We noted the claims for the game stated that consumers could make a saving of 25 percent on the previous price of £51.98, which we considered would be understood to represent a genuine saving against the usual selling price of the product at the time the ad appeared,” the ASA said in its ruling. “However, we understood that was not the case and it had instead been sold by Steam at £39.99, rather than £51.98, since the date of its launch. Because a 25 percent saving was not available on the usual selling price of the product at the time the ad appeared, as claimed, we concluded that it was misleading.”

While the ASA has found Valve at fault for the misleading ads, the game company does not seem to be facing any real consequences from the organization’s decision. Instead, the ASA seems only to have warned Valve not to repeat its mistake.

“The ad must not appear again in its current form,” the ASA said. “We told Steam to ensure their future savings claims did not mislead about the benefits available.”

Of course, Valve can’t discount games without the permission of their publishers, and it is unclear how much of the blame for the misleading ads really should belong to Rockstar. Since there seems to be no legal action against Valve over the ads, it is unlikely that we will find out.

Image credit: Rockstar Games Inc

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