TIGA recommends the development of best practice guidelines for FTP games

By July 8, 2013 Press Releases

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, said today that it intends to discuss with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) the potential for producing a set of best practice guidelines for developers and digital publishers to follow when developing Free To Play (FTP) games.

TIGA said that the OFT should work towards a global approach to the FTP market; platform holders such as Google, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo should introduce a ‘children’s category’ in their online stores with specific protections for minors; and that all FTP games should promote payment transparency.

 TIGA made the comments as part of its submission of evidence to the OFT’s investigation into “whether children are being unfairly pressured or encouraged to pay for additional content in ‘free’ web and app-based games”. The OFT began its investigation in April and will publish its conclusions in October 2013.

 TIGA made the following recommendations in its submission of evidence to the OFT:

  • Global approach: the UK’s mobile and online games developers represent a small fraction of the global FTP development industry. If UK consumers are to be effectively protected then the OFT should work with its counterparts in the EU, the USA and across the globe to adopt a common approach to the FTP market.
  • Platform holders should introduce a ‘children’s’ category: platform holders should follow Apple’s lead and have a ‘children’s’ category in their online stores. Games within this category could have daily in-app purchase (IAP) limits, thereby protecting children from accidentally making high volumes of IAP. Parents could then ensure that their children only play games from this category. Platform holders could enforce safeguards for children. Developers could elect whether to submit their games for inclusion in a children’s category.
  • Payment transparency: all FTP games should state unambiguously whether they contain IAP or other forms of optional additional payment. Currently, there is inconsistency in the way in which this is presented to consumers. Some platforms (e.g. Apple’s App Store) and some developers indicate the potential for IAP and other optional payment, but others do not. Developers should also provide brief and clear information on the nature of the IAP specific to their games (e.g. whether IAP will speed up the game).
  • Information for parents: parents should have access to information that can enable them to prevent accidental payments. All major smartphone and tablet platforms and app stores contain parental and/or payment controls that can be used to block all accidental purchases whether these are paid downloads or in-app purchases. Parents need to be made aware of these controls.
  • Enabling Innovation: Any measures adopted by the OFT as a result of its investigation should continue to enable the games development sector to adapt, change and innovate while also protecting the consumer.
  • Best practice guidelines: TIGA intends to discuss with the OFT the potential for drafting and promoting a set of best practice guidelines for developers and digital publishers to follow. This will enable them to develop FTP games on different platforms while adhering at all times to applicable laws and best practices, including the Consumer Protection (from Unfair Trading) Regulations 2008.

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:

“The FTP model is typically excellent value for consumers and could be described as a ‘pay what you want or nothing’ model: 95 per cent of players in a typical FTP game will play the game for free. Yet it is vital that the FTP games model provides clear protection for gamers, particularly children. TIGA therefore plans to discuss with the OFT and other interested parties the production of best practice guidelines to enable developers and digital publishers to develop sustainable FTP games on different platforms while adhering at all times to applicable laws and best procedures.”

Jason Kingsley OBE, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director at Rebellion, said:

“The FTP model can be of great benefit to consumers, for instance by allowing them to play high quality games entirely free or to try games out fully before making any purchase. This model needs to develop in a manner which does not alienate consumers, by surprising them or by appearing to take advantage of them. TIGA will therefore explore with the OFT the potential for developing best practice guidelines for FTP games which afford protection to the consumer while enabling the industry to innovate.”

Oli Christie, TIGA board member and CEO of Neon Play, said:

“FTP gaming has changed the landscape of gaming around the world, but with players and children occasionally having issues with unintentional in-app purchases, it’s clear the industry needs to look at this more closely and see how players get what they want and aren’t misled. With TIGA and the OFT working together, we can hopefully come to some best practices for the industry to follow. The future is free, but it doesn’t mean it should cost the industry its hard-fought reputation.”

Mike Hawkyard, TIGA board member and COO of 4T2,  said:

“Children are passionate, loyal and essential consumers of many video games on all formats.  We want them to have a positive experience with our products. Therefore TIGA fully supports helping to protect children from either accidentally or overenthusiastically purchasing a high value of in-app / in-game purchases over a short period of time.  This issue needs to be tackled at a global level to ensure all developers act responsibly and guarantee a fair market place.  TIGA’s proposal that platform holders should create a ‘children’s’ category in their online stores with daily in-app purchase limits will help to protect children from accidentally making high volumes of IAP.”

 

Notes for editors:

The OFT investigation: The OFT investigation is exploring whether FTP games are misleading, commercially aggressive or otherwise unfair. The OFT is particularly looking into whether these games include ‘direct exhortations’ to children – a strong encouragement to make a purchase, or to do something that will necessitate making a purchase, or to persuade their parents or other adults to make a purchase for them. This is unlawful under the Consumer Protection (from Unfair Trading) Regulations 2008.The OFT is also considering whether the full cost of games is made clear when they are downloaded or accessed.

Free-to-play (“FTP”) game: A game which is free to play for the life of the game but may include content and features which can be unlocked by an optional payment, either via a microtransaction currency, a direct purchase or a subscription. The industry also uses the term “freemium” which should be treated as being the same as FTP.

Microtransactions: The use of a digital wallet system and virtual currency that can be bought for real money. It is so named not because of the potentially small cost of acquiring the currency but because of the potential for redeeming the currency within games in very small increments that would be impractical to achieve with direct purchases.

In-app-purchase (“IAP”): The ability to make a digital purchase for real money from within a game, usually on mobile/tablet platforms. IAPs are split between the acquisition of virtual currency to enable subsequent microtransaction purchases within the game and the direct purchase of digital goods within the game such as content unlocks.

Parental controls: in all cases, real money IAPs require password-based authorisation. Apple does allow a maximum 15 minute window after an initial IAP for additional IAPs without password authorisation but this can be reduced in the settings to “immediately” to prompt users for passwords with every IAP attempt. IAP can also be disabled entirely on iOS-based devices as can access to the iTunes store overall. In addition a large number of third party parental control apps (for example, Kids Place) are available that replicate iOS’s parental controls on other platforms (such as Android) and add a range of additional functionality such as application usage monitoring.

The UK’s mobile and online games developers represent a tiny fraction of the global FTP market: the UK has 304 mobile and online games companies, employing 2,644 staff. To put this into context, mobile and online games development tool company Unity has 1.9 million registered developers, of which 400,000 are active in any given month.  Even assuming this represents the global games development industry (the actual number will in fact be considerably higher), the UK’s mobile and online games developer base would represent considerably less than 1% of the active development market and around 0.14% of the total development market.

 

About TIGA:

TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. Since 2010, TIGA has won 15 business awards and has been nominated a finalist for 16 other awards.  

TIGA’s vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business.  We focus on three sets of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members.  This means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

For further information, please contact Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email: richard.wilson@tiga.org

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