Gameplay must be gameplay
Ads that show a game as something it is not are a recurring enforcement problem. The UK's ASA has banned mobile game ads built around mini-games that made up only a small part of the actual game, and ruled that a line saying not all images represented actual gameplay did not fix the misleading impression. Generated footage raises the stakes: a video model can produce convincing 'gameplay' of a game that does not play that way. Use captured footage for anything presented as gameplay, label pre-rendered and cinematic material honestly, and keep generation for key art, backgrounds, compositing and versions.
Ratings, descriptors and in-game purchases
Age ratings belong in the marketing, not only on the box. In Europe that means PEGI, which is legally enforced in the UK through the Games Rating Authority; in North America, ESRB, whose advertising principles require rating information in ads and allow 'Rating Pending' before a game is rated. Other markets have their own systems: USK in Germany, CERO in Japan, ClassInd in Brazil, the Classification Board in Australia, and IARC ratings on digital storefronts. Both PEGI and ESRB flag in-game purchases, including random items such as loot boxes. Localised trailers and end slates need the right rating icon and descriptors per territory, and ads for mature-rated games must be targeted away from young audiences.
Key art, capsules and store pages
The key art is the master everything else adapts from, and it has to survive an unusual number of crops. Steam alone asks for a header capsule at 920x430, a main capsule at 1232x706, a vertical capsule at 748x896 and a library capsule at 600x900, among others, and console stores and app stores have their own sets. The game's logo must stay legible at small capsule sizes, characters must stay on-model across every crop, and seasonal sale art multiplies the set again. Generation is well suited to extending backgrounds for new ratios and producing localised logo lock-ups, as long as characters come from the game's own approved art.
Launch localisation and the AI question
Global launches ship store pages, trailers, patch notes and social content in many languages on the same day, traditionally starting with English, French, Italian, German and Spanish and now routinely adding Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese. Synthetic White localises copy with terminology enforced, so ability names and item names match the in-game text, and dubs trailer voice-over with timing preserved. The harder question is audience sentiment. Players notice AI-made art and often object, especially where it appears to replace artists, and Steam asks developers to disclose AI-generated content in their games. Be deliberate about where generation is used, keep the core art human-made, and be ready to say how the marketing was made.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.