Commission’s Consumer Protection Plans Threaten the Games Industry
The EU Commission’s ongoing consultation on the Digital Fairness Act is heading in a worrying direction. With the Commission’s official proposal expected in autumn next year, the European Consumer Protection Network had already taken a strict stance on in-game currencies in its Spring 2025 Guidelines.
In-game currencies play a central role in free-to-play mobile games, which are the foundation of the success achieved by the European mobile games industry. Significant changes to the operational logic of in-game currencies would seriously weaken the performance of the European mobile games industry and jeopardise its future growth.
The European Games Developer Foundation shares the concerns expressed today in a blog post by Supercell’s CEO and founder, Ilkka Paananen. Regarding the future of the mobile games industry, Paananen said, “These aren’t distant concerns. The regulations are being decided now – creating uncertainty that threatens investment and innovation today.”
The disagreement is on the definition of in-game currencies. Consumer protection authorities and the Commission want to reinterpret them. Under new guidelines and in the draft of the act, in-game currencies are being redefined as digital representations of value, similar to virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. The game industry, however, has for years built its operations on the understanding that in-game currencies are digital content used within the game. Under the new interpretation, every time an in-game currency is used in the game, this would be considered a purchase and a contract, meaning a pop-up window would appear on the screen requiring the player to approve each purchase contract individually. For minors, parental consent would be required every time. The player’s game experience would be completely ruined and could introduce a worst-case scenario where a player could be misled into believing that they can earn money by playing the game.
For the industry, it remains unclear why such regulation is needed, since complaints received by game companies show no indication that players are unable to distinguish a virtual diamond from a real euro.
“When entrepreneurial drive and innovation meet strong consumer protection and safeguarded competitiveness in the EU, that brings success. However, regulation must be proportionate and based on real, tangible issues and tensions,“ says Hendrik Lesser, the president of the European Games Developer Federation
According to the European Media Industry Outlook from September 2025, the global market is dominated by mobile games (50% in 2024), which reaches a more diverse population than console or PC. The most commonly played games are mobile (62%) and online games via PC (27%), tied with console games (27%) and portable games (14%). Data also show that only 35% of players had spent money on video games in the last six months, and 50% exclusively playing free/freemium games.
The European Games Developer Federation e.f. (EGDF) unites 27 national trade associations representing game developer studios based in 23 European countries. Through its members, EGDF represents more than 2,500 game developer studios, most of them SMEs, employing more than 40,000 people.
Further information:
Jari-Pekka Kaleva
Managing Director
+358 40 716 3640
jari-pekka.kaleva@egdf.eu
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