Dutch advertising self-regulator partially upholds loot box complaint against My.Games

Dutch advertising self-regulator Stichting Reclame Code has partially upheld a complaint against My.Games regarding in-game purchases, and how information about them is shared with users.

The complaint concerned the mobile game Rush Royale: Tower Defense TD, and alleged several infractions against both article 7 in the Dutch Advertising Code (Nederlandse Reclame Code – or NRC) and parts of the Children and Youth Advertising Code (the Kinder- en Jeugd Reclamecode – or KJC).

Points raised in the complaint included the following:

• The existence of loot boxes in the game must be displayed on the store page (the Apple App Store page apparently did not do this at the time the complaint was filed).
• Loot box probabilities must be disclosed.
• All in-game purchases must be priced in euros in addition to the virtual currency price.
• In-game purchases must not have ambiguous wording that suggests they could be free when they’re paid.
• Games must disclose the existence of in-game advertising.
• Games must disclose the identity of all advertisers whose ads may be shown inside the game.
• Children must not be encouraged to ‘advertise’ the game themselves – for example, referral-type ‘invite a friend’ features.

My.Games appealed the decision twice in October and January, but the commission ultimately upheld the points above. A further argument around language being used to encourage children to make in-game purchases was dismissed.

Following this, the SRC chairman made several recommendations that My.Games adhere to the NRC in future when it comes to advertising loot boxes. In addition, they suggested it should meet requirements of the KJC when it comes to in-game advertising and features that may encourage children to ‘advertise’ the game themselves.

The full statement contains a detailed breakdown of how My.Games responded to each point raised.

The complaint was lodged on behalf of a child by frequent GamesIndustry.biz contributor and video game legal specialist Leon Y. Xiao, who offers additional context.

“The Dutch consumer regulator, the Authority for Consumer & Markets (ACM), published its guidelines on the protection of the online consumer in 2020,” said Xiao.

“These sought to advise video game companies as to what they must and must not do in order to comply with pre-existing consumer law, such as the national implementations of the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (which was also implemented in the UK pre-Brexit and remains substantively applicable in the UK).

“In 2024, I sought to assess whether the most popular iPhone games in the Netherlands followed the Guidelines. Most games did not follow many rules.”

Xiao continued: “One of the companies that failed to comply was My.Games, which operates Rush Royale. Consumer law is enforced in many European countries both officially by the government consumer regulator (in the Netherlands, the ACM) and also by an industry self-regulator in the advertising context (the SRC).

“Government regulators are not obliged to act on any complaints, but advertising regulators are more likely to take action on the basis of complaints. I therefore complained about My.Games before the SRC.”

GamesIndustry.biz reached out to My.Games for comment on the chairman’s decision, and got the following response from its press service. “We are aware of the SRC chairman’s conclusion regarding this matter, which we received one week ago.”

“Since receiving the complaint, we have been in active dialogue with the SRC to define the right approach to the requested changes – one that both complies with regulations and respects the core experience of the game.

“Most of the concerns raised have already been addressed in the game, and we are continuing to work on implementing the remaining adjustments. We are committed to providing a responsible and enjoyable experience for our players and are working actively to ensure compliance with all applicable requirements,” the statement said.

Self-regulation vs regulation

Xiao offered his point of view on what the conclusion means, and how self-regulators work versus regulators.

“In general, it is excellent to see an advertising industry self-regulator upholding consumer law,” he explained. “However, it is only these industry self-regulators’ hands that I could force by making complaints that must be investigated and ruled upon. In contrast, I cannot force official consumer regulators to act.

“The ‘real’ regulators of many countries (for example, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and the UK Competition and Markets Authority) should recognise the efforts of advertising self-regulators and pursue more robust enforcement actions, such as criminal prosecution, to deter widespread non-compliance with consumer law in the video game industry.”

“We must move away from non-enforcement (citing lack of resources or knowledge).”

Xiao says the rule on the pricing for all in-game purchases being shown in euros was broken in 49 out of 50 popular iPhone games he assessed last year.

“The rule that a price in euros must be shown was broken by 49 of 50 games I assessed. The ACM has been speaking about this rule since 2020; however, in 2024, there was a 98% non-compliance rate.”