The European Commission revealed today the results of its investigation into in-app purchase practices in Free2Play games.
The investigation concluded that sterner regulations are needed to protect the consumers. More precisely, the Commission has communicated the following rules to Apple, Google, and other app store owners:
- Games advertised as "free" should not mislead consumers about the true costs involved
- Games should not contain direct exhortation 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 for purchases and 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
Google has embraced the Commission's recommendations and is currently making the necessary changes to its Google Play Store that it would be 100% compliant by the end of September 2014.
On the other hand, "no concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorization."