EU Opens a 14-Day Fight Over Unused Game Gold

National consumer authorities opened coordinated EU actions on 30 September 2026 against nine video games companies over how they sell in-game virtual currencies. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, coordinated by the European Commission, said talks with the industry had not produced satisfactory changes.

The live fight is narrower than a general loot-box scare. Authorities want leftover coin packs priced in euros, and a 14-day right to undo unused virtual currency. Studios have offered a shorter unused-pack refund and still refuse to treat those coins as money.

Nine Studios Face Coordinated Actions After Talks Stall

The Brussels press release names Crytek GmbH, InnoGames GmbH, King.com Operations (Malta) Limited, Mojang AB, Plarium Europe S.à.r.l., PLR Worldwide Sales Limited, Riot Games Limited, Supercell Oy, and Ubisoft EMEA SAS. A joint statement issued the same day counts 11 coordinated actions across 10 companies, because a parallel file on Activision Blizzard UK Limited already covers two extra games.

Michael McGrath, the EU commissioner for consumer protection, tied the file to the size of the audience.

Roughly half of Europeans play video games, making gaming a major part of our digital economy and everyday lives. With that reach comes responsibility. The industry must ensure that its games do not expose players, especially children, to harmful or unfair practices. 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.

Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection, 30 September 2026

The network’s joint statement cites Video Games Europe and the European Game Developers Federation for the player share behind that line: 51% of Europeans played video games in 2025, and 46% of those players were women. The same trade figures put the European market at €29.7 billion in 2025. A separate European media industry outlook cited in the statement puts the world market at €169.6 billion in 2024, with €190.3 billion projected by 2027.

THE SCALE THE NETWORK CITES

• The launch: Nine companies were named on 30 September 2026, with Activision Blizzard UK already in a parallel file.
• The full docket: Eleven actions, 10 companies, and 11 games once Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile are counted.
• The audience: 51% of Europeans played in 2025, according to the trade bodies the network quotes.
• The money: €29.7 billion in European game revenue in 2025, on those same trade figures.

The principles themselves are not a new law. They were published on 21 March 2025 as the network’s reading of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, and the digital content rules. Two workshops followed in June and September 2025, then written exchanges. The joint statement says a high number of companies made no substantive changes after that public guidance or those talks.

A Sword Priced at 750 Coins and €5

The document that now sits under the investigations walks through a shop that will look familiar to anyone who has bought gems, gold, or diamonds. A sample item, the Sword of Destiny, is listed at 750 coins and €5. The coin shop beside it sells six packs, and none of them is 750.

THE EXAMPLE SHOP IN THE 2025 GUIDANCE

Buy the 660 pack and you are 90 coins short of the sword. Buy the 1500 pack, spend 750 on the sword, and 750 coins sit in the wallet. Principle 3 of the real-world price of in-game items guidance says traders should not design shops that force players to spend more real-world money than they need for the selected item. Principle 4 lists, among practices to avoid, bundles that mismatch the value of what is on sale, and shops that refuse a specific amount.

That leftover is the commercial engine, not a rounding error. A second currency layered on top of the first makes the euro cost harder to read, which is why Principle 2 tells companies not to mix several paid currencies or to require several exchanges before a purchase. The guidance is explicit that a price in real money must still be shown when the player pays with coins, and that the figure should be the full cost without quantity discounts.

Players arguing the case in public keep returning to that pile of leftover gold, not to the legal label the network uses. The complaint is that the pack never matches the item, so the next purchase is already queued. Adult accounts get hit by the same pack math as child accounts, which is why a child-safety default that freezes spending will be felt by more than parents.

What a 14-Day Refund Would Change in the Shop

Principle 5 is the clause that turns a display rule into a cash rule. The network says the Consumer Rights Directive’s 14-day withdrawal right applies to unused virtual currency. Traders should not exempt coin purchases from that right on the theory that coins are digital content, and they should not refuse a withdrawal for coins that remain unused.

For actual digital content, the 14-day right can be lost only if the player gives express consent to start using it at once and acknowledges the loss, in a click separate from the buy button, with confirmation after. Apply that logic to a gem wallet and a studio may have to keep unused balances reversible for a fortnight, or obtain a clean waiver every time. Apply it again when those gems are spent on an item, and the industry’s fear is a second withdrawal point on a spend that never left the game.

The same paper wants the euro price, the trader’s identity, the main characteristics of the coins or the item, the withdrawal right, and the legal guarantee shown before the purchase. Terms must be fair and in plain language. Principle 7 adds that coins “psychologically disconnect” spending from real money, that children are more open to that effect, and that any game not limited to adults should expect a large share of players under 18. Direct exhortations to children to buy, or to nag an adult to buy, are already banned. The network also wants working parental controls whose default, unless the game is adults-only, is that real-world spending is switched off.

Cryptocurrencies and similar encrypted payment tokens are carved out in a footnote, as are virtual currencies in the sense of the EU’s 2018 anti-money-laundering rules. Coins that can be earned only by playing, and never bought, sit outside the paper too. The file is about premium gold, not Bitcoin and not purely earned tokens.

Industry Offers 48 Hours and Calls Coins Non-Money

Video Games Europe and the European Game Developers Federation answered on 30 September 2026. They say they have been constructive on price transparency, refunds, bundles, and withdrawal, and that they want the cash moment to stay where the player actually pays. They also say the legal fight has not moved since spring 2025.

These are not digital representations of value as the CPC Network argues. They are not bitcoin or cryptocurrency, nor should they be defined as such. Doing so will only make video game players less safe online and could have unintended consequences also on player experience.

Video Games Europe and the European Game Developers Federation, 30 September 2026 statement

The trade bodies write that in-game currencies are not bitcoin or cryptocurrency, and that they have asked since spring 2025 for the legal basis of the network’s position and have not received it. They say they will implement their own list only if that uncertainty is addressed.

Their proposals PDF is the counter-offer. Paid coins could show an indicative euro cost, tied to an average, a highest pack, or a unit price from the smallest relevant bundle, with the balance always visible. Future games would not add a paid currency whose only job is to buy another currency. Shops would add a tailored top-up, or a very small pack, so a player is not forced past the item price. Refunds would cover bundles that remain wholly unused within 48 hours, even where the player has waived withdrawal, if the developer runs the transaction and can see that the coins were not spent. Content removals would get at least 30 days’ notice. Child accounts would keep spending at zero by default on many platforms, and a purchase made by a minor without explicit parental consent would be reimbursed.

THE SIX INDUSTRY COUNTERS

• Indicative euros: Show an average, highest, or unit-pack cost for paid coins, and keep the balance on screen.
• No proxy coins: Do not add a paid currency that exists only to buy another currency.
• Small top-up: Offer a tailored amount, or a very small pack, so leftovers are not built in.
• 48-hour unused refund: Return a wholly unused bundle inside 48 hours even after a waiver, where the studio can verify it.
• Notice and appeals: Give 30 days before removing purchased content, and a way to contest bans.
• Child spend locks: Default child spending at zero, and repay a minor’s purchase made without parental consent.

That 48-hour unused refund is not the 14-day right. It is shorter, it applies after a waiver, and it covers a whole unused bundle rather than a leftover balance. The legal disagreement underneath is larger. The trade bodies say the network is reading a recital in the Digital Content Directive in a novel way, and they point to EU court case C-472/24 on RuneScape, a tax case, as confirmation that in-game currency is not to be treated as a currency because it has no monetary value, cannot be cashed out, and exists only inside play.

They also warn that treating every coin spend as a consumer contract would mean a consent click on every exchange, which they compare to cookie fatigue, would pull minors into contracts during play, and would push some studios to pull games from the EU rather than rebuild shops. The network’s position is the opposite: if coins are just a way to pay, the euro rules already apply.

Which Games the Market Check Put on the List

After the talks stalled, the network ran a market check and named nine titles for further assessment, chosen, the joint statement says, for broad reach, play on several devices, and a spread of age ratings.

THE NINE TITLES FROM THE MARKET CHECK

The list mixes a children’s building game, a match-three staple, a tactical shooter, a builder, and a live-service hunter. The joint statement says some games still “directly exhort children to make purchases, despite an explicit prohibition in EU consumer protection law,” and that players should be able to play “without being tricked into spending more money or time on video games than they want.” Variable rewards such as loot boxes, misleading countdown timers, unfounded scarcity claims, and other dark patterns sit in the same text, even though the principles document is written around coins.

Self-regulation through PEGI, the statement adds, has brought some changes but often fails to reach the core of the practices. The call at the end is not limited to the nine names. Every company in the sector is told to review its shops against the principles and against the common positions that will follow.

Activision Faces a Wider File on Data and Design

The Activision Blizzard UK Limited action is already running, and it is broader than the coin principles. It covers Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in a 1 October 2026 note, said that company is part of the Microsoft group.

WHAT THE ACTIVISION FILE ADDS

• Coin sales: How in-game virtual currencies are sold, in line with the rest of the docket.
• Data: How personal data from players is collected.
• Design: Whether the games use addictive designs.
• Defaults: Standard settings for parental control, direct marketing to children, pre-contract information, and account blocking.

Geoffrey Gray, a commission member at the CCPC, said millions of European players, many of them children, should be able to play without being misled on costs, pressured into purchases, or left unclear about their rights. No fine, deadline, or finding has been published for any of the 10 companies. Under the CPC regulation, national authorities can still move to enforcement in their own courts if the common position is ignored.

A 11 September 2026 Commission answer to the European Parliament, signed for the college by McGrath, said the planned Digital Fairness Act will look at remaining gaps, including whether price transparency rules need a clearer line when virtual currencies are used, such as showing the price in both virtual and real currency. That bill is a separate track. The September actions rest on law that is already in force.

The 2025 Star Stable File Came First

The coin paper did not arrive alone. On 21 March 2025, the same day the principles were published, the network opened a coordinated action against Star Stable Entertainment AB over Star Stable Online, after a complaint from the Swedish Consumers’ Association. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and the Norwegian Consumer Authority had led the drafting of the principles. Sweden and Norway led the Star Stable file.

FROM GUIDANCE TO ENFORCEMENT

1. 21 March 2025: The CPC Network publishes the Key Principles on in-game virtual currencies and opens the Star Stable Online action, giving the company one month to reply and propose remedies.
2. 3 June 2025: The Commission hosts a workshop with companies, federations, consumer groups, and academics on how to apply those principles.
3. September 2025: A second workshop is held, then written exchanges on industry proposals.
4. Early 2026: The Activision Blizzard UK action on Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile is already under way.
5. 30 September 2026: Eleven coordinated actions are on the table, nine new company files are opened, and the network issues its joint statement on stronger protection in video games.

The Star Stable common position listed direct appeals to children to buy or to have an adult buy, time-limited pressure to purchase, a lack of clear information on virtual currency, and influencer promotions that did not clearly disclose commercial content. That file is the template the nine new actions now widen. The network says video games are cross-border products, so the enforcement has to be EU-wide if the outcome is to be the same in every shop.

Studios still say they will move on indicative prices, small top-ups, and a 48-hour unused refund if the legal label is dropped. The authorities have already left the workshop room and opened the files. Unused coins are the test of which offer survives.