Evony
A medieval strategy game notorious for its misleading ads.
Evony, originally called Civony, is a browser-based massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game developed by Evony LLC and set in a medieval European setting. It became widely known not for its gameplay but for its controversial advertising campaign, which featured scantily clad women unrelated to the game itself.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Evony, LLC
- Released
- 6 May 2009
- Genre
- Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game
- Modes
- Multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Reception
A three-star review from Stuff noted that Evony looks and feels appealing, but its mechanics demand heavy time and investment, which may drive players away. The Guardian reported that the 2009 ad campaign used increasingly unclothed women unrelated to the game. That year, Gavin Mannion said one Evony ad pushed what Google would accept. Other ads used stock photos from pornographic DVD covers and were promoted through millions of spam comments; the company denied involvement. Evony’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist to blogger Bruce Everiss over claims of deceptive marketing, but dropped the case two days in. In April 2024, the British Advertising Standards Authority found several Evony ads misleading. They showed gameplay like shooting barrels or solving puzzles, but the ASA ruled these did not reflect the core game, breaching UK advertising rules. The game Those Games is based on fake mobile minigames similar to those in Evony’s ads.
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