Niantic and Pokemon Go’s Misleading Advertising Led to Breaking the UK ASA Guidance

It was a blissful and a wonderful day until the UK fans of the biggest mobile game saw the cost of entry for the Safari Zone event happening in Liverpool.

It was said by Niantic that the “general admission tickets will be priced at £12 ($16), and early access tickets will be £18 ($24)”. But, when the buyers were directed to the checkout, a £3/£4.20 charge for ($4/$6) “tax” and a separate £3 ($4) charge for “fees” were added, literally out of the blue.

The laws in the UK state that the cost of products and the services must be shown with the tax included. This led many of the fans to believe that the advertisement was illegal. Many of them threaten to contact the UK’s ASA (Advertising Standards Authority).

Liverpool Tickets are illegally adding on Tax from r/TheSilphRoad

Their guidance (ASA) states that the prices must be shown with the tax included, with the only exception to the rule being for costs to taxpayers who recover VAT. The rule states the following:

“Rule 3.18 of the CAP Code states that ‘quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees, and charges that apply to all or most buyers’.”

According to Eurogamer, “The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has confirmed  it has so far received more than 180 complaints about Pokémon Go’s Liverpool event pricing since tickets went on sale at 8 am this morning.”

Niantic and Pokemon Go acknowledged their mistake and updated the pricing list.

Previous advertising for Pokémon GO Safari Zone Liverpool tickets didn’t include the service fee and VAT costs. We’re updating all ticket listings today. We apologize for the error. https://t.co/XZNg4K5PjA

— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) February 14, 2020

The Safari Zone event in Liverpool will begin on April 17 and will end on April 19. There will be a lot of cool bonuses during this event, so make sure to get a ticket and catch ’em all!