Grapevine

EU consumer groups slam 'manipulative' video game spending tactics

European consumer groups on Thursday accused the world's biggest video game companies of "purposefully tricking" consumers, including children, to push them to spend more on in-game purchases.

Video games are wildly popular in Europe where more than half the population are players, according to industry figures published last month.

Europe's BEUC umbrella consumer rights group on Thursday filed a complaint with the European Commission, with support from member organizations in 17 European countries including France, Germany and Italy.

The groups said companies behind games such as Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24 and Minecraft are guilty of "manipulative spending tactics" involving in-game virtual currencies, which they said children "are even more vulnerable to".

The video game giants named were Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Mojang Studios, Roblox Corporation, Supercell and Ubisoft.