The Office of Fair Trading is to investigate the prices charged for extras to play “free” web and phone games which are aimed at children.
Its watchdogs want to discover if these games put any “undue pressure” on children to pay for additional content.
Often it is possible to buy coins, gems or other virtual items to help speed a player’s progress through levels and parents have complained that they have been hit by unexpectedly high bills as their children play such games.
The investigation comes after schoolboy Danny Kitchen, five, from Bristol, incurred charges of £1,700 while playing the Zombies versus Ninjas game on his parents’ iPad. The money has since been refunded by Apple.
And only in January, regulator PhonePayPlus reported a 300% increase in complaints from consumers about the bills generated when they buy add-ons for games and other apps.
The OFT wants to determine:
- whether these games are “misleading, commercially aggressive or otherwise unfair” when they give people the chance to buy extras and wants to find out
- if children are being specifically targeted by such applications.
Cavendish Elithorn, the OFT’s senior director for goods and consumer, said: “We are concerned that children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually run up substantial costs.
“‘The OFT is not seeking to ban in-game purchases, but the games industry must ensure it is complying with the relevant regulations so that children are protected. We are speaking to the industry and will take enforcement action if necessary.”
He said the OFT wanted to be sure that games-makers were complying with relevant laws and asked for consumer groups or parents with evidence of games aggressively marketing in-game extras to contact the OFT.
View full OFT press release: OFT investigates free children’s web and app-based games