The UK's Advertising Standard Authority is investigating whether Hello Games misled customers with online screenshots, videos, and descriptions of No Man's Sky that allegedly don't match with the final product.

The ongoing investigation was confirmed by Eurogamer after being publicized in a Reddit thread discussing the ASA's response to a number of consumer complaints. According to that response, the investigation is reportedly focused on a number of game features highlighted on the game's Steam page but allegedly not present in the same form in the final game. These include complaints about ship and animal behavior, gameplay scale, interface changes, load times, and even overall graphical quality. Both Hello Games and Valve have reportedly been asked to respond to a number of questions surrounding that online marketing.

The Advertising Standards Authority is empowered by the UK government to force the removal of advertising it finds misleading and impose sanctions on company's that don't apply. Usually, though, the group says it relies on "bad publicity" to effect compliance with its rulings; "an advertiser’s reputation can be badly damaged if it is seen to be flouting the rules designed to protect consumers."

After its release, No Man's Sky faced heavy criticism in many corners for failing to live up to the promise of years of often vague hype. Some of that criticism was deserved, but it seems like a lot of that hype was brought on by rabid fans and journalists , who read their own "perfect game" desires into's universe-sized canvas. In prerelease interviews and demos, Hello Games' Sean Murray was relatively restrained when talking about what features would actually be included in the game.

If the ASA finds against Hello Games, it wouldn't be the first time the group has taken action against misleading game advertising. In 2014, the ASA said it was misleading to call the mobile Dungeon Keeper remake "free-to-play" because the game functionally required many in-app purchases to be playable . In 2013, Sega was forced to admit that early trailers forwere noticeably sharper than the final product. And back in 2006, the group went after misleading Call of Duty advertisements