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Games can no longer use virtual currencies to disguise the price of in-game purchases in the European Union (ec.europa.eu)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 3 weeks ago (18 children)

In-game purchases should display the exact cost in the local currency. In-game currency should be completely banned.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 weeks ago (13 children)

There are many many examples of predatory uses of in game currencies, but here are some big reasons devs use them besides being scummy.

Giving currency for free: giving people real money isn't something any dev wants to deal with, so giving in game currency allows this to happen. This also applies to games where you can convert free currency to premium currency.
Local currencies: currency packages can be set to local prices without having to localize the in-game economy itself. This simplifies development a lot.
Weak promotion support on distributor platforms: believe it or not, iOS and android have incredibly weak promotion and sale support. By giving in-game currency, it gets around that failing of the platforms because the game can do whatever it wants with the in-game currency.

Transparency is good, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Give store credit for free. Easy. Let them turn ingame currencies into store credit.
That might be difficult, i give you that, but given the amount of work companies put into their monetization schemes, i am sure a converter can be worked out. Or use dollar/euro/ruble/yuan equivalents, depending on the largest market near a smaller currency.
See 1. Give away store credit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Even 2 isn't difficult. If they can set a price on the currency itself then they can set it on each item trivially.

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