Europe Is Coming for Fake Game Money, and It's About Time

Bout time somebody said it out loud: in-game currencies exist to hide what you're actually paying. That's it. That's the whole trick.

Now Europe's consumer protection authorities are saying it too, and they're naming names.

What the EU is actually doing

On September 30, 2026, the EU's Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, which is basically all the national consumer watchdogs working together with the European Commission, launched coordinated actions against nine game companies over how they use virtual currencies.

The companies: Crytek, InnoGames, King, Mojang, Plarium, PLR Worldwide Sales (the Playrix side), Riot Games, Supercell and Ubisoft. The games under the microscope are Hunt: Showdown 1896, Forge of Empires, Candy Crush Saga, Minecraft, Mech Arena, Gardenscapes, Valorant, Clash of Clans and For Honor.

Separately, there's an action against Activision Blizzard over Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. Italy's competition authority is leading that one with Norway and Denmark, and it targets Activision Blizzard UK and other Microsoft group companies. That one goes way past currency. The CPC says it's looking at how currencies are sold, how player data gets collected, whether the games have addictive design, default parental control settings, direct marketing to children, pre-purchase info and account blocking.

Yes, Diablo Immortal. Shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

The rules they want followed

This comes out of the CPC's "Key Principles on in-game virtual currencies." The Commission's list for these actions:

• Show the real-world price of items and the currency you need to buy.
• Don't obscure costs with multiple currencies or exchanges that make the real price unclear.
• Don't force unwanted currency purchases. Players shouldn't feel obliged to buy an excessive amount of currency to progress or enjoy the game.
• Give clear info before purchase.
• Respect the 14-day right to withdraw, including for unused virtual currency.
• Use fair, understandable terms.
• Protect vulnerable consumers, including kids.

The CPC tried talking with the industry in 2025 first. Per the Commission, that "did not bring satisfactory results."

How we got here

The Italian authority put it perfectly. In-game purchases "are often priced in currencies other than euros (such as platinum, globes or diamonds), but ultimately involve a payment in euros." It also called out selling currency in bundles, dark patterns, weak parental controls and no help when accounts get blocked.

That bundle thing is the oldest scam in gaming. Kotaku summed it up: you buy 3,000 coins, the skin costs 2,999, and you're stuck with leftovers forever. Or flip it around with made-up numbers: the skin costs 1,200, the packs come in 1,000 and 2,800, and suddenly you're buying the bigger pack "for value." Then you've got 1,600 coins sitting there begging you to top up again.

That isn't an accident. Nobody designs a store like that by mistake.

My take: microtransactions made games worse

I'll just say it. Microtransactions have turned a lot of video games into crap. Too many are now built around a store, and the game is what you play while the store loads.

Publishers care about profit first. Fine, they're companies. But the fake currency layer is the part I can't stand, because its only job is to make you stop doing math. Ten bucks feels like ten bucks. "1,000 Gems" feels like nothing. That's the point.

To be fair, some games keep it cosmetic-only, and plenty of players genuinely don't care and just want to support a game they like. That's your money, your call. But cosmetic-only doesn't fix the problem. Hiding the real price is the problem, and it's still there.

And the industry isn't rolling over. A YouTube breakdown of the fight reports that industry groups offered things like showing real-money prices next to the coin price and refunds on untouched currency, but argue the regulators' legal reading of virtual currency goes too far. Maybe they have a point on the legal fine print. Showing me a price in dollars is still not some impossible burden.

Credit where it's due: Kotaku reports Epic already announced players can spend exact amounts of V-Bucks on purchases starting this month. So it can be done.

What it means for Canadians

This is an EU action covering European players. These are investigations, not penalties. If concerns aren't fixed, national authorities can take enforcement measures.

Here in Canada, I couldn't find anything like it. There's no dedicated rule on in-game currencies that I could find. The Competition Bureau can go after misleading marketing in general, and a B.C. loot box class action against EA survived appeal and is headed to trial, but that's a lawsuit, not a regulator stepping in.

If Europe forces real prices and fairer bundles, maybe some of it spills over here. No guarantee.

Bottom line

Fake currency is a price tag with the numbers scratched off. Europe is finally calling it what it is, and I hope they don't back down.

Until then, do the math yourself, chat. Before you buy a coin pack, figure out what the thing you want actually costs in real dollars and what you'll have left over. If the answer is "I'll have to buy more later," that's the game working exactly as designed.

Sources

• European Commission press release IP/26/2018, "Consumer protection authorities ramp up action to protect gamers' rights" (Sept 30, 2026): ec.europa.eu
• European Commission, CPC coordinated actions on social media, online games and search engines: commission.europa.eu
• CPC Network Joint Statement on Stronger Consumer Protection in Video Games: commission.europa.eu
• AGCM (Italian Competition Authority) press release on the Microsoft group / Activision Blizzard action: en.agcm.it
• CCPC Ireland, "CCPC and EU consumer authorities launch joint actions into online gaming practices" (Oct 1, 2026): ccpc.ie
• Kotaku, "European Regulators Want To Crack Down On Gaming's Oldest Monetization Trick" (Oct 11, 2026): kotaku.com
• YouTube explainer on the EU vs. industry dispute: youtube.com
• Mondaq, "New Level Unlocked: Loot Box Class Action Survives Appeal" (B.C., EA): mondaq.com