Italy’s competition authority is leading a coordinated European inquiry into Activision Blizzard UK and other Microsoft-group companies over the way virtual currencies are sold and used inside video games.
The action brings together consumer regulators from Italy, Denmark and Norway under the European Union’s Consumer Protection Cooperation network. Their task is to determine whether the companies’ practices may amount to a “widespread infringement”—conduct capable of harming consumers in at least three countries covered by the network.
The inquiry centres on a familiar but legally difficult design choice. Players often buy digital items through currencies described as platinum, orbs or diamonds rather than in euros. Multiple conversion steps, currency sold in fixed bundles and interfaces designed to keep players spending can make the real price difficult to see, particularly for children and people vulnerable to compulsive play.
Italian regulators say the review will also consider parental controls and the assistance available when an account is blocked. The announcement does not establish a breach. It opens a coordinated enforcement process in which the companies will be able to respond before any finding or remedy is imposed.
Italy’s role builds on two national investigations opened in December into Microsoft-group businesses connected with Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. Those proceedings examine alleged misleading and aggressive commercial practices and possible deficiencies in contractual protections. The new cross-border action supplies a wider framework for conduct affecting users beyond Italy.
The case also shows how European consumer law is moving from broad warnings about game design to closer scrutiny of the mechanics through which money is spent. Price transparency is only one part of the question; regulators are examining whether the whole sequence—from currency bundles to prompts and parental controls—allows an informed choice.
No deadline for a decision has been announced, and no penalty has been imposed.
Read the Italian Competition Authority’s announcement.
