EU Treats Game Coins as Euro Contracts Across 10 Studios

The EU’s consumer network opened files on 30 September 2026 against nine game publishers over in-game virtual currencies, with a tenth already running at Activision Blizzard UK. Italy’s Competition Authority said on 8 October it will lead the Microsoft-group case with Norway and Denmark. The leftover coin in a bundle is the grievance players know. The files treat those coins as euro sales.

That shift is the part the store screens still have not absorbed. If the network holds the line, every gem, diamond and gold bar has to carry a real-world price, and unused balances keep a way back for 14 days.

The CPC Moves From Talks to Named Files

The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, national enforcers working with the European Commission, published non-binding key principles on in-game virtual currencies on 21 March 2025. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets and the Norwegian Consumer Authority led that text. It says coins bought with real money, then spent on digital items, fall under EU consumer law “just like purchases with real-world currencies.”

Workshops with trade groups followed in June 2025 and September 2025. The network later said a high number of companies made no substantive changes. On 30 September 2026 it announced coordinated actions against nine video game companies and adopted a joint statement that counts 11 coordinated actions across 10 companies. A parallel Activision Blizzard UK file on Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile was already open.

The joint statement cited Video Games Europe figures putting the European market at €29.7 billion in 2025, with 279.6 million players in 2024 and 291.7 million expected by 2027. The legal hook is Regulation (EU) 2017/2394. A “widespread infringement” is conduct that can harm consumers in three or more Member States.

THE PATH FROM GUIDANCE TO NAMED FILES

1. 21 March 2025: The CPC Network publishes the Key Principles on In-game Virtual Currencies.
2. June 2025 and September 2025: The Commission hosts workshops with industry groups on how those principles should apply.
3. December 2025: Italy opens national probes into Microsoft-group titles Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty.
4. 30 September 2026: The network launches nine new publisher files, names nine games from a market check, and issues its joint statement.
5. 8 October 2026: The Italian Competition Authority says it will lead the Microsoft-group file with Norway and Denmark.

Epic Games had already added exact-amount V-Bucks buying on most platforms on 14 October 2025, with PlayStation left out at the start. That change is a year old. The studios in this wave still sell coins in fixed packs.

What the Key Principles Require in Stores

The March 2025 document is the template the new files try to enforce. Principle 1 says the real-world price of coins and of the items they buy must be clear. A mock shop in the paper prices a “Sword of Destiny” at 750 coins and €5, so the player can see both figures before tapping buy.

Principle 2 tells firms not to hide that cost behind several coin types or extra exchanges. Principle 3 is the leftover-pack rule players already hate: shops should not force a player to buy more coins than the chosen item costs. The paper says exploiting that bias, so people overspend or sit on unneeded coins, is likely to distort the buying decision.

The 30 September press list restates those points as live demands, then adds contract duties most store screens still skip.

WHAT THE 30 SEPTEMBER FILES ASK STORES TO DO

• Clear euro prices: Show the real-world price of in-game items and of the coins a player must buy to get them.
• No hidden conversions: Do not use several currencies or extra exchanges that make the real price hard to see.
• No forced leftovers: Players should not have to buy more coins than they need to progress or to enjoy the game.
• Facts before the tap: Give easy-to-read information before a player buys coins or items.
• A 14-day way back: Tell players about the right to withdraw within 14 days, including for unused virtual currency.
• Plain contract terms: Keep terms fair, clear and readable.
• Child safeguards: Build protections for children and other vulnerable players into the game.

The unused-balance rule is the sleeper. Under the Consumer Rights Directive, digital content can drop the 14-day cooling-off period only if the player gives express consent to start using it at once and accepts that the right is lost. The Key Principles say unused coins are not that kind of content. Denying a refund on a leftover stack is listed as a practice to avoid.

Putting a euro figure on every gem spend is messy when packs sell at different rates and some coins are earned in play. A 14-day right on unused coins can also sit on top of a purchase that already waived withdrawal once the content started. That double door is why publishers are fighting the legal class of the coins, not only the leftover pack.

Nine Games From the Market Check

After the talks stalled, the network ran a market check and picked titles with reach across devices and age ratings. Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission listed the nine games named after the market check beside the nine publishers in the new files.

GAMES IN THE 30 SEPTEMBER FILES

Minecraft in that grid is the shock for family living rooms. Candy Crush, Clash of Clans and Gardenscapes are the daily mobile taps. Valorant and For Honor sit with older competitive crowds. Hunt: Showdown 1896 is the odd shooter in a list built around live-service shops.

Mojang is part of Microsoft, so the group already appears in this nine-game wave through Minecraft. The separate Activision Blizzard UK file is the other Microsoft track, and it is wider than coin prices.

Italy Leads the Microsoft File With Norway and Denmark

Rome’s 8 October notice is the first national lead named in public. The Italian Competition Authority said Italy is leading the Microsoft-group action with the consumer authorities of Norway and Denmark. The test is whether a widespread infringement exists under Article 3(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2394.

That EU file wraps national probes Italy opened in December 2025 on Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty. The Commission’s own 30 September text names the titles as Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. The extra list on that Activision track goes past leftover coins: how virtual currencies are sold, how personal data are collected, whether the games use addictive design, default parental-control settings, direct marketing to children, pre-contract information, and the blocking of gaming accounts.

The Italian notice is blunt on the mix. In-game purchases such as cosmetic upgrades and weapon packs are often priced in platinum, globes or diamonds, it said, but they still take a payment in euros, directly or through several virtual currencies. Bundle sales, dark patterns, weak parental controls and poor help when accounts are blocked sit on top of that, it added, and those practices make it hard for minors and for people at risk of gaming addiction to track what they spend.

The joint statement also flags variable reward systems such as loot boxes, especially where children can use them, and “direct exhortation to children,” which EU consumer law already bans. Leftover gold and fake scarcity clocks are the practices players name first. Valve-style loot boxes are not in this named wave. Adult players will still see euro price tags even when they are not the protected class.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The set: Ten companies sit in the CPC wave, nine of them in new 30 September files and Activision Blizzard UK in a parallel case.
• The games: Nine titles from the market check, plus Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile on the Activision track.
• The lead: Italy, Norway and Denmark are running the Microsoft-group file under the widespread-infringement test.
• The template: The March 2025 Key Principles demand euro prices, no forced leftover packs, and a 14-day right on unused coins.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Fines and deadlines: No penalty figures or compliance dates have been published.
• Studio replies: Microsoft had no public comment on 8 October; Ubisoft, Riot, King and Supercell have not issued named responses in this round.
• Store changes: It is not yet clear which shops will add euro prices or exact-amount packs while the files run.

If the concerns stand, CPC authorities can move to national enforcement. That is the quiet next step, not a Brussels fine announced on day one.

Publishers Call the Coins Play Pieces, Not Money

Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation answered on the same day as the 30 September announcement. Their industry response on in-game currencies stresses that the Key Principles are not legally binding and that the fight is about legal class, not only pack math.

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.

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

Treating coins that way, they said, will make players less safe online and can spill into how games feel. The groups say they have asked since spring 2025 for the legal basis of the network’s position and still have not received it. They add that they are ready to put their own pricing and refund proposals in place if that uncertainty is fixed.

Those proposals, in papers the two bodies sent the network, include showing an indicative real-world cost for paid coins and keeping the player’s balance visible in the shop. The Commission, in a written answer on 11 September 2026, said price-transparency rules already apply when a game inserts coins as a middle step, and that a forthcoming Digital Fairness Act is examining whether prices should appear in both virtual and real currency.

So the publishers are not defending leftover change as a virtue. They are defending the idea that a gem is a play item, not a second wallet. The files only work if that idea fails.

Leftover Bundles Open a Wider Store Rewrite

Selling 3,000 coins for an item that costs 2,999 is the mechanic everyone can see. The Key Principles treat it as one unfair design among several. Euro prices on the item row, a 14-day path for unused coins, default parental locks, and a real help channel when an account dies would change the shop even if pack sizes stayed the same.

Account blocks are the hidden balance-sheet risk. A player who has spent years of pocket money on cosmetics has no goods to hold if the login dies and support goes quiet. The Activision track puts that help duty in the same folder as coin sales and child marketing. Candy Crush and Clash of Clans sit in the nine-game list because those shops run on the same coin logic, not because they copy Call of Duty’s gun pass.

National enforcers can still peel off and fine under their own statutes if the joint pressure stalls. Italy already has a year-old national file on two Microsoft titles. Norway helped write the 2025 principles and now sits on the Microsoft case. The network’s own consumer page says that if the concerns remain, authorities may take enforcement at national level.

The leftover coin is still sitting in the tray. The live question is whether the next store build shows €5 next to 750 gems, lets a parent freeze the tray, and gives unused coins a 14-day way home, or whether the files stall on the claim that a gem is only a toy.