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[Zabant]

The European Commission has indicated it wants to stop games calling themselves free if they rely on micrortansactions to make money.

Technially the terrm free-to-play is accurate: it doesn’t cost any money to play these games, but if you actually want to get anywhere in them or, you know, enjoy yourself then you’re going have to pay for in-app purchases and microtransactions.

But following a less than approving investigation by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading it seems as if Brussels is now also looking to tighten up regulations, especially when it comes to ‘misleading’ advertising.

As the European Comission points out there have been complaints from all over the EU, with German authorities already having banned advertising for some online games.

‘Misleading consumers is clearly the wrong business model and also goes against the spirit of EU rules on consumer protection’, said justice commissioner Viviane Reding.

‘The European Commission will expect very concrete answers from the app industry to the concerns raised by citizens and national consumer organisations.’

Ministers have already suggested that they will ban the term ‘free-to-play’ unless the game really is completely free, i.e. it makes its money from in-game advertising instead.

‘The use of the word ‘free’ (or similar unequivocal terms) as such, and without any appropriate qualifications, should only be allowed for games which are indeed free in their entirety, or in other words which contain no possibility of making in-app purchases, not even on an optional basis’, says a Commission statement.

As with the Office of Fair Trading the primary concern seems to be advertising to children, following numerous stories in the press of kids ‘accidentally’ spending hundreds of pounds on in-app purchases.

The Commissions other priorties are laid out as follows:

Games advertised as ‘free’ should not mislead consumers about the true costs involved.
Games should not contain direct exhortations to children to buy items in a game or to persuade an adult to buy items for them.
Consumers should be adequately informed about the payment arrangements and purchases should not be debited through default settings without consumers’ explicit consent.
Traders should provide an email address so that consumers can contact them in case of queries or complaints.

Via Metro (delete if old)

 

[Killer]

so only Dota not getting banned.

 

[AzureSkies]

so only Dota not getting banned.

pretty much.

I imagine nothing is going to be labeled as free to play anymore though, but still be exactly the same.

 

[Nyoro SF]

GOOD. Keep the ball rolling EU.

 

[davepoobond]

Banning Terminology doesn't help kill the trend

 

[legend166]

micrortansactions

Accurate typo.

 

[Hazaro]

And thus, everything will be called Freemium™

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I hope this does something good.

I get the feeling it's only going to affect mobile games though.

 

[Magwik]

Games should not contain direct exhortations to children to buy items in a game or to persuade an adult to buy items for them.

RIP the entire App Store

 

[Zabant]

Accurate typo.

Also the "terrm" typo, dat metro proofread is top notch.

 

[Nokterian]

LoL is fucked!

 

[dmr87]

EU, my man.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Good job.
Keep it up.

 

[lord]

They are not actually banning any game, they want to stop games from calling themselves free if their business model has iap

 

[Shinta]

Sounds good to me. It is false advertising, and it always has been.

 

[Soulflarz]

Yeah i dont think itll help changing the name :/

Although i hate F2Play when its not free so yeah!

 

[Minsc]

"the primary concern seems to be advertising to children, following numerous stories in the press of kids ‘accidentally’ spending hundreds of pounds on in-app purchases."

I never thought I'd see the European Commission become a bigger 'nanny-state' than the US.

 

[Arkanius]

Meanwhile, Valve is releasing Free to Play - The Movie.
I'm laughing

 

[Intheflorsh]

But what about the free market and stuff.

 

[Otakumegane]

Why is EU so good at protecting consumer.

 

[Hyun Sai]

so only Dota not getting banned.

Not really :

The use of the word ‘free’ (or similar unequivocal terms) as such, and without any appropriate qualifications, should only be allowed for games which are indeed free in their entirety, or in other words which contain no possibility of making in-app purchases, not even on an optional basis’, says a Commission statement.

 

[McDougles]

Banning Terminology doesn't help kill the trend

No, but it will make parents, grandparents and guardians better aware.

 

[Savitar]

EU and that consumer protection.

 

[Dire]

Meanwhile, Valve is releasing Free to Play - The Movie.
I'm laughing

Which is about one of the few free to play games that is actually free.

 

[Zabant]

They are not actually banning any game, they want to stop games from calling themselves free if their business model has iap

It's a step in the right direction though, the more the EU regulators make it clear you can't use misleading terms to sell games the less incentivised F2P games will be made.

It might put an end to the split between fake worthless in-game money and the actual in-game currency as now it will have to be made clear which is which.

 

[Haunted]

Excellent!

‘Misleading consumers is clearly the wrong business model and also goes against the spirit of EU rules on consumer protection’, said justice commissioner Viviane Reding.

‘The European Commission will expect very concrete answers from the app industry to the concerns raised by citizens and national consumer organisations.’

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Mr_Appleby]

Also the "terrm" typo, dat metro proofread is top notch.

F2P = Free-To-Proofread?

 

[Principate]

Good at least some organisation is willing to fight back against something that in some cases is blatant gambling, and feeds on consumer addictions..

 

[Paracelsus]

Magnificent.

 

[AtomicShroom]

I wholly endorse this! Die F2P model! Die!

 

[Azzurri]

So basically all F2P mmo's.

 

[Nokterian]

"the primary concern seems to be advertising to children, following numerous stories in the press of kids ‘accidentally’ spending hundreds of pounds on in-app purchases."

I never thought I'd see the European Commission become a bigger 'nanny-state' than the US.

Nanny state? This is preventing children doing this when there parents getting over 1000 euro's of bills just from these false 'free to play' games.

Not really :

Yeah really Dota 2 is free to play all the way only thing you can if you want and it is not mandatory are cosmetics nothing more,nothing less.

 

[MikeJAMoran]

Good idea, but should be done by sovereign governments, not the useless, unelected EU Commission.

 

[Minsc]

I wholly endorse this! Die F2P model! Die!

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself.

Nanny state? This is preventing children doing this when there parents getting over 1000 euro's of bills just from these false 'free to play' games.

Or, the parents could simply password protect their devices' ability to make purchases (or disable them entirely).

 

[Principate]

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself.



Or, the parents could simply password protect their devices.

The name means a lot though. The word free carries a lot of connotations.

 

[Easy_D]

If the games cost a miniscule amount of money, can they still continue? F2P apps to become 0.99 apps, I guess?

 

[Nokterian]

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself.



Or, the parents could simply password protect their devices' ability to make purchases (or disable them entirely).

Well it is the parents who are responsible but a las these days there not doing that really and this is EU doing what they do..consumer protection.

 

[Shinta]

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself.

It changes how they're allowed to advertise, which is a positive change. I can't even see a single downside.

 

[StayDead]

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself

but that's a good thing, it's near impossible to say a mod is free now without people thinking you're talking microtransactions, it's kinda sad really.

Like Renegade X just came out and when trying to explain that it was free to play (no cost at all and no in application purchases) I found it incredibly difficult hah.

 

[xk0sm0sx]

Agree, "Free to Play" kind of leaves a bad taste when it's not really free. Get a better name for it.

 

[Syf]

I like it. The model will still exist but it's good that those games can't be called free anymore.

 

[Principate]

It should be changed to M2P Micro-transactions to play.

 

[Minsc]

It changes how they're allowed to advertise, which is a positive change. I can't even see a single downside.

There's not really downsides I agree, but instead of being in a section of free apps, they will just be in a section of apps that cost $0 to download (and not be labeled as free).

 

[Zabant]

This actually won't change a thing... just the name itself.



Or, the parents could simply password protect their devices' ability to make purchases (or disable them entirely).

You expect too much of people, they don't care until they see the bill, then they cause a massive stink and tell the media who in turn eats this shit up with their anti-gaming click bait articles.

This puts an end to the "WHY YOU SHOULDN'T LET YOUR KIDS PLAY GAMES" articles in the daily mail which have some unattentive parent playing the victim card because their kid spent a ton of money playing a shitty "free" game on his ipad.

 

[McLovin]

Good, free to play is usually a free demo that is annoying to play unless you pay money. Some games do it right, but not enough. I want more games like dota, league, blacklight, warfare, plantside.

 

[Principate]

There's not really downsides I agree, but instead of being in a section of free apps, they will just be in a section of apps that cost $0 to download (and not be labeled as free).

They'll also be forced to detail their micro-transactions which is a equally big blow.

 

[Hsieh]

Reading the opening post and the guidelines listed, Dota 2 would not pass under the definition of free-to-play specified. The EU's proposed guidelines do not allow any microtransactions at all in a free-to-play game. It does not distinguish between pay2win and cosmetic purchases, any purchases at all will disqualify a game from being free-to-play.

 

[keisuke999]

Good on them. Any business model that relies on tricking people should be stopped.

 

[Ranger X]

That is GREAT news.
I always thought that this name (free to play) was misleading and just there as a very bad marketing term sounding like its only there to trick people.

I don't have a problem with this business model but please be clear with people, call it what it is. Something like "pay to play" or "pay to win".

 

[demosthenes]

We'll be seeing all F2P PC games start charging for $2 per account?