Safety yes, but oddly it does not cover loot boxes.
The European Commission adopted the KIDS proposal on 17 September. It needs approval from both Parliament and member states, currently it is in early stages.
The age restrictions are unique, no social media under the age of 13, parental consent under 15, apply to social networks and video-sharing platforms. However, games are covered by a different set of obligations.
What would apply to games
Providers must ensure excessive use by minors isn't pushed.
So that kind of reads as a problem for login bonuses and any system that strips benefits when you don't play for a while.
PEGI and USK have been working on a similar criteria for age ratings recently. The KIDS Act is more straightforward, which raises some questions for persistent worlds where the entire structure assumes regular return.
As expected contact between minors and other users must also be restricted, and providers would generally need parental controls and age assurance, though less strictly than social networks. Titles without problematic features might be exempt.
The definition of an online game is pretty broad to potentially cover anything from Roblox to the multiplayer mode of a regular game.
The loot box contradiction
Minors "should benefit from transparency as to the real monetary value of transactions carried out through virtual currencies and variable reward systems."
Variable reward systems is a fancy way of saying loot boxes. Real monetary value of virtual currencies is the concern at the heart of the BEUC report and the CPC Key Principles.
The economic transaction rules there, real-time labelling of purchases, prices in the minor's national currency, and no exposure of minors to products with random or unpredictable outcomes, are written for social networks and video-sharing platforms only, it does not cover games yet.
The app store obligations
Software application stores must have an integrated age-rating system covering every app including games, publish the methodology and criteria behind it, block minors from accessing or buying age-inappropriate apps, assess user ages, and carry the EU age verification app.
That lands on Apple, Google, Valve, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo which is expected and some have this feature already.
Scope
The regulation covers social networks, video-sharing platforms, app stores, online games, operating systems, AI companions and conversational chatbots accessible to minors.
Exemptions include not-for-profit encyclopaedias, not-for-profit educational and scientific repositories, services run by educational establishments, open-source software platforms, scientific research services and public authority services.
More:RTX 5090 Listings Hit $7,500, With Nothing in Stock Anywhere Else
Read
Source Editing
Visual Editing
Related news
