Hypergryph Responds to Apple Search Ads Controversy: Official Claims 'Derogatory' Search Keywords Were Results of Automated Ad Strategy

Hypergryph recently issued an official statement addressing the controversy surrounding their Apple Search Ads (ASA) bidding keywords. The company claimed that the derogatory search terms that triggered the community backlash were not intentionally purchased, but rather generated as 'derivative keywords' by the ad platform's algorithm. They apologized for the inconvenience caused.

Despite the explanation, community skepticism persists. Players pointed out that even if the 'slurs' were algorithmically generated, it does not explain why the company targeted competitor game titles as bidding keywords. Critics argued that since the ad targeting occurred, dismissing the backlash as 'rumors' lacks credibility, especially since the bidding data was verified by third-party tracking tools.