The European Consumer Protection Cooperation Network has published a list of Key Principles on In-Game Virtual Currencies (the “Principles”) for traders in the gaming sector. Designed to promote transparency and fairness, the Principles apply to in-game purchases of in-game digital services or content within a video game, which are bought with real money.

In the Principles traders are encouraged to:

1. Clearly display the real money price for in-game purchases;
2. Avoid obscuring the cost of in-game content by offering multiple in-game currencies or requiring exchanges of currency to make a purchase;
3. Prevent forced purchases of unwanted content and avoid offering virtual currencies in bundles that don’t match the cost of in-game content;
4. Provide consumers with pre contractual information including the main characteristics of the purchase, trader’s details, real money price, consumer’s legal rights and details of payment and delivery methods;
5. Inform the consumer of their right of withdrawal and allow them to exercise that right within 14 days of the in-game purchase;
6. Ensure contract terms are fair, clear, do not disadvantage or deny consumers of their legal rights;
7. Protect vulnerable consumers from unfair practices. Vulnerable consumers include, but are not limited to, children, people with a mental or physical debilitations and people with problematic spending behaviour.

The Principles themselves are not legally binding but they are derived from EU consumer law, namely, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (given effect domestically in the Consumer Protection Act 2007 and the Consumer Rights Act 2022 and enforced in Ireland by the CCPC).

In its Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fairness last year, the European Commission recognised the need to provide greater transparency and protections around in-game virtual currencies, noting that their use is associated with misleading commercial practices such as deceptive patterns and addictive designs, which cause consumers to be confused about the real price of virtual items. As discussed in our recent briefing; Recent EU Digital Fairness Fitness Check Shines Light on Deceptive Patterns, a new EU Digital Fairness Act is proposed to address these problematic practices. A public consultation on the initiative is due to take place in late spring 2025.

The authors would like to thank Emily Birchall for her contribution to this briefing.