Consumer organisations band together to combat in-game currencies
The European Consumer Organisation and 22 European consumer organisations, have filed a complaint against well-known game developers, such as EA, Minecraft and Epic Games and Roblox, over the use of in-game virtual currencies.
According to the consumer organisations, the developers manipulate players, causing them to spend unnecessarily within games.
Within those games, certain purchases are only possible with special digital coins, so-called premium in-game currency. Players must first purchase that virtual currency with real money. In the games, the developers do not state the prices of the merchandise in euro. As a result, it is not clear to players how expensive a purchase really is. Furthermore extra coins are often only available in bundles, which sometimes forces players to spend more money than necessary.
According to consumer groups, developers also violate players’ rights by revoking game features at any time, causing consumers to lose their in-game digital coins and adjusting the value of coins. In addition, consumers often do not get a guarantee on in-game purchases. Moreover, they are not allowed to cancel the purchase of digital coins. And they do not get a refund for unused coins.
In 2020, consumers worldwide spent more than $50 billion (€46 billion) on in-game purchases, amounting to about a quarter of revenue in the video game market. This sector thus derives more revenue from in-game purchases than the film and music industries combined.
Players have been able to earn digital coins to make in-game purchases for decades. By playing a game, passing levels or completing missions. But in recent years, game developers are increasingly basing their business model on in-game purchases with purchased digital coins. Of the 50 video games most played in 2023, 21 (42%) require premium currency for in-game purchases. Of these 21, 8 have an age rating of 12 or below.
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