Video games are among the most profitable applications in the world- at least, in part, because of how they manipulate people into spending cash on credits to buy digital knick-knacks, for a yearly worldwide excess of $50 billion. But a major consumer advocacy group in Europe believes game publishers are "knowingly deceiving consumers," particularly children, and it is leveling up to call for a ban on in-game purchases as they exist today.

The European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, filed complaints on Thursday, representing consumer groups in 17 countries, against "unfair practices" and breaches of consumer protection on games that offer in-app purchases or in-game purchases. Popular video games played on mobile and other devices are targeted in this complaint: Epic Games' Fortnight, Supercell's Clash of Clans, Microsoft's Minecraft, and EA Sports FC 24.

The BEUC states that "consumers overpay" in games due to the fact that the real costs are not viewed clearly enough, and the situation is only worse with the under-18 group of gamers, who spend an average of €39 per month on in-game purchases. Here you can read the full complaint issued by BEUC.

The European regulators were presented with a string of recommendations from the BEUC, the biggest of which are:

An outright ban on the use of in-game and in-app paid currencies, based on the conclusions of the Digital Fairness Fitness Check last updated in August. Ensuring that in-app purchases are included in game age ratings, restricting their availability to users under 18, greater transparency around charges for different services offered in games, and clearer guardrails to explain what players are paying for when they pay extra.
"The online world brings new challenges for consumer protection, and it shouldn't be a place where companies bend the rules to increase profits," said Agustín Reyna, director general of BEUC, in a statement. "BEUC's members have identified numerous cases where gamers are misled into spending money. Regulators must act, making it clear that even though the gaming world is virtual, it still needs to abide by real-world rules.".

Gamers shouldn't have to rely on a calculator every time they want to make a well-informed decision about how much they are willing to spend. Their money spent should be in real money and deceptive practices need to be stopped. Today, premium in-game currencies are intentionally deceiving the consumers and are taking a significant toll on the children. Companies are very aware of children's vulnerability and use tricks to draw younger consumers into spending more.

Microsoft, Supercell, and Epic Games haven't responded to requests for comment. Video Games Europe, a lobby group that represents the region's major video games, also defended itself. In a statement, it said:

In-game currency purchases are an established practice, and well understood by the players. Our members respect European consumer laws regarding such proposals at all times. The games offered by our industry provide players with vast access to genres and exciting new experiences that span multiple services. Players are able to play entire games, with no upfront cost or obligation, providing a way to try games on little to no upfront cost. Video Games Europe and its members believe in fair and transparent rules guiding purchases of in-game content, including in-game currency. Under the PEGI Code of Conduct, developers are supposed to ensure that at the time of in-game currency purchase, the actual real-world cost is transparent and not ambiguous.

84% of 11- to 14-year-olds play video games in Europe
The BEUC's complaint had also been partly fueled by the point that in-app and in-game purchases are an extremely popular mechanism-they generate more revenues than in-app revenues from the cinema and music industries combined, it said.

A report conducted in 2023 by the European Parliament found that more than half of all EU consumers regularly play video games and children more than adults. Even more, 84% of consumers aged 11 to 14 play games on mobile or other devices. And since kids typically have lower financial literacy (and typically less money of their own), this poses a major issue.

This is not the first time BEUC has taken aim at in-app currencies, but this is its first focus on games. In 2021, it filed a complaint against TikTok over virtual currency. In turn, the ByteDance-owned app committed to making changes, like clearly marking what purchases worked out to in real money. The BEUC is still unhappy with the changes and appears to still be fighting against them.

That may mean more attention paid to the wider target of all video games, and thus more ammunition for BEUC in the TikTok case, too.