{"id":93239,"date":"2024-09-13T04:38:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T08:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/?p=93239"},"modified":"2024-09-13T04:38:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T08:38:55","slug":"consumer-protection-calls-eu-in-game-currencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/consumer-protection-calls-eu-in-game-currencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Protection Calls for EU Action on In-game Currencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The European Commission<\/a> has received a complaint from European consumer protection organizations regarding the video game industry's marketing and use of in-game digital currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Consumer
Consumer Protection Calls for EU Action on In-game Currencies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On September 12, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and 22 member organizations from 17 countries urged the European Commission and the European Network of Consumer Authorities (CPC-Network) to implement more stringent enforcement measures against video game companies<\/a> that optimize consumer spending through the use of in-game currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The watchdogs' report observed the expansion of in-game purchases utilizing in-game digital currencies, particularly in free-to-play games and those played by children. They asserted that this practice now generates substantial revenues for game companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the European Union, the consumer protection group is apprehensive about the legal uncertainty that these currencies generate due to their dual status as digital content and payment methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cFollowing our analysis, we have reasons to believe that consumers fall prey to many deceptive practices when buying premium in-game currencies in video games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“We have reason to believe that consumers are susceptible to numerous deceptive practices when purchasing premium in-game currencies in video games in light of our analysis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to certain industry assertions, the organizations contended that consumer rights should apply to purchases made with in-game currencies. It cited research indicating that certain consumers find these currencies perplexing and potentially misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was observed that games frequently display prices exclusively in their in-game digital currency without explicit conversion to real money, which could potentially violate EU consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report did not explicitly address cryptocurrencies; however, numerous Web3 games operate similarly, utilizing tokens for in-game purchases<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEUC also asserted that in-game currencies have the potential to distort consumers' economic behavior by reducing the tangible nature of actual prices and reducing the “pain-of-paying” effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Overview of the unit price of some in-game currencies. Source: BEUC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The game companies noted include Activision Blizzard\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/g>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/clipPath>\r\n <\/defs><\/svg><\/span><\/a>, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Mojang Studios, Roblox Corporation, Supercell, and Ubisoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report asserted that Fortnite, the flagship game of Epic Games, has the potential to generate up to $2 million per day in in-game purchases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the average monthly expenditure of children on in-game purchases increased by approximately 18%, from nearly $36 in 2020 to $43 in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To resolve these challenges within the gambling industry, the organizations advocated for enhanced enforcement and more explicit regulatory guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCP Games, the developer of Eve Online, disclosed its forthcoming massively multiplayer online survival game, Eve Frontier, on September 12. The game will enable participants to establish their self-contained economies by utilizing cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Commission has received a complaint from European consumer protection organizations regarding the video game industry’s marketing and use of in-game digital currencies. On September 12, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and 22 member organizations from 17 countries urged the European Commission and the European Network of Consumer Authorities (CPC-Network) to implement more stringent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":93253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[21817,1332],"class_list":["post-93239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-consumer-protection","tag-eu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IGG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}