Europe Told the Biggest Game Publishers to Clean Up Their Virtual Currencies. It Didn’t Name a Single Penalty.

On September 30, the European Union’s Consumer Protection Cooperation Network — the coordinating body that links national consumer authorities with the European Commission — announced a joint action against ten of the largest names in gaming over the way they sell, and obscure, in-game virtual currencies. The list reads like a who’s who of monetization: Activision Blizzard, King, Mojang, Riot Games, Supercell, Ubisoft, Crytek, InnoGames, Plarium, and PLR Worldwide Sales.

The games under assessment are the ones you’d expect: Candy Crush Saga, Minecraft, Clash of Clans, Valorant, For Honor, Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty Mobile, Forge of Empires, Gardenscapes, Mech Arena, and Hunt: Showdown 1896. Between them they represent a meaningful share of the hours and the wallets of European players, and a very large share of the premium-currency economics the industry has spent fifteen years perfecting.

The regulators’ complaint is specific, and it is hard to argue with on the merits. The CPC Network flagged a familiar toolkit: virtual currencies that stop players from seeing the real-world cost of what they’re buying; “bundles” that force you to purchase more gems or coins than any item actually costs, leaving a stranded balance; countdown timers and false-scarcity prompts engineered to rush a decision; loot boxes; thin pre-contractual information; and weak protection of the 14-day withdrawal right EU consumers are legally owed. The authorities singled out the effect on “vulnerable” users — which, in practice, means children.

“The game must be fair, and the rules must be respected. National authorities, with the support of the Commission, will make sure they are enforced,” said Michael McGrath, the EU’s Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection.

A real problem, documented for years

The diagnosis is correct, and it is not new. The premium-currency sleight of hand — convert cash into an abstract token, price everything in the token, and the player loses the thread of what a euro buys — is the oldest trick in free-to-play design precisely because it works. European consumer group BEUC filed formal complaints along these lines back in September 2024. In March 2025 the Commission opened a dedicated probe into the children’s game Star Stable Online and issued a set of “Key Principles” telling publishers to show real-money prices, stop forcing over-purchase of currency, and respect withdrawal rights. This week’s action is, in large part, the enforcement arm checking whether anyone listened.

By the network’s own account, a “high number” of companies made no substantive changes after that earlier guidance. That is the uncomfortable subtext of Wednesday’s announcement: the EU already told the industry what to fix, and the industry largely didn’t.

The part that’s missing: teeth

Which is why the strongest word in the coverage is “notice.” For all the firmness of McGrath’s framing, the September 30 action did not come with a fine, a defined penalty, or even a public deadline. Publishers are being asked to bring their practices into line with the Key Principles, and the network says it “will continue to take joint enforcement actions, where appropriate.” That is the language of escalation held in reserve, not escalation delivered.

The CPC mechanism can, in theory, bite — national authorities retain the power to impose penalties, and coordinated cross-border action is genuinely harder for a multinational to ignore than a single regulator’s letter. Naming ten companies and a dozen specific games at once is not nothing; it converts a diffuse complaint into a documented, shared enforcement posture. But the history here is of guidance issued and guidance ignored, and a second round of guidance — however sternly worded — is not obviously different from the first.

The real test arrives separately. The EU’s Digital Fairness Act, expected to firm up in the back half of 2026, is where the vague “unfair practice” standards could harden into enforceable, currency-specific rules with statutory penalties attached. Until then, the publishers have a well-rehearsed playbook: promise to review, make cosmetic adjustments, and keep the gem economy running. Europe has told the industry, again, that the game must be fair. Whether this time the rules actually get respected is a question Wednesday’s announcement pointedly did not answer.

Sources

• PocketGamer.biz: Europe's CPC targets King, Supercell, Mojang and others
• TheJournal.ie: Minecraft, Candy Crush and Clash of Clans face EU probes
• The Peninsula / AFP: EU probes video game firms over virtual currencies (Sept. 30, 2026)
• Euronews: Commission targets in-game currency in children's games (2025)