Reviewing game content before a brand placement

Before booking, inspect the game and the proposed ad location, then compare what a player could encounter with the brand’s written suitability rules. Classification and store descriptions help direct the review, but neither shows every scene around an ad. Record the inspection and decision so another person can apply the same approval scope.

Identify the game and placement

Record the exact title, developer, platform, app or store identifier, market and version where available. Games with similar names, or editions on different platforms, may present different experiences.

Identify the ad format and precisely where it can appear, including the relevant game scene or surface. If the seller cannot identify the game or placement closely enough to assess it, request more information before approving it.

Check Australian Classification at classification.gov.au, including the pages ‘What are the ratings?’ and ‘What we classify’. Record any classification and consumer advice, and name the Australian Classification Board in the record; a missing result should prompt further checking, not be treated as a rating.

Inspect the context around the ad

Request access or a normal-play capture of the proposed placement. Examine the moments before, during and after the ad, checking for relevant combat, chat, user-generated material, reward prompts and adjacent promotions. Record which are present, absent or not assessed, and note which elements are fixed and which can change during the booking.

A screenshot documents one scene. It cannot show alternative routes, rotating content, live chat or the effect of a later update.

Where the environment changes, limit approval to named scenes or surfaces if the seller can honour and report that restriction. This review concerns content and context; it does not establish viewability or prove how ads will be delivered.

Record a usable decision

Approve, approve with stated conditions or decline. Define conditions that someone else can apply. For instance, an exclusion for graphic violence should specify the content and ad context it covers, as well as how affected placements can be identified.

Copyable record fields: game title; developer; platform; app or store identifier; market; version; ad format and location; written suitability rules used; dated capture; classification and consumer-advice check; content observed; fixed or changeable elements; decision owner; decision; conditions; approved scope. Mark anything not checked as ‘not assessed’, not ‘absent’.

Keep the game identifier, available version information, dated capture, classification check, decision owner and approved scope together.

Reopen the review after a material game change, a new user-generated feature or a move to another ad surface. Approval of one presentation does not automatically extend to future versions or scenes.