EU Puts Minecraft and Valorant Currency Shops on Notice

Europe’s consumer watchdogs opened 11 coordinated actions on 30 September 2026 over how 10 game companies sell in-game currency. The files cover Minecraft, Valorant, Candy Crush Saga and eight other titles sold across the EU. Watchdogs want a real-world price on items bought with those coins, and a right to cancel unused balances within 14 days.

The launch is not a verdict. No fines have been announced. The fight underneath the press quotes is narrower, and harder: whether those coins are a payment method at all.

Eleven Files Cover Minecraft, Valorant and Candy Crush

The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, national enforcers working with the European Commission, put 10 companies on a public list. Nine of the files were opened on 30 September 2026. A tenth, against Activision Blizzard UK Limited, was already running in parallel and takes in two games.

A joint statement naming 10 companies says the titles were picked after a market check for reach, device mix and age ratings. Ireland’s consumer watchdog listed the games the next day, on 1 October 2026, as a probe into prices, leftover currency, contract terms and child safeguards.

THE 11 GAMES ON THE CPC LIST

That pairing is the whole public list. Candy Crush Saga sits beside a premium shooter and a children’s building game because the coins work the same way in each shop: players buy a balance, then spend it on items whose euro cost is no longer on the button.

Trade Bodies Say the Coins Are Not Money

Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation answered on the same day. They say they already talked through prices, refunds, bundles and the right to withdraw. They also say the talks stuck on a single legal point.

The network treats paid in-game currency as a digital representation of value, a method of payment inside the game. The trade bodies say those coins are in-game content. They are not bitcoin, and they should not be defined as if they were.

These are not digital representations of value as the CPC Network argues, they are not bitcoin or cryptocurrency, nor should they be defined as such. Doing so will only make video game players less safe online and could have unintended consequences also on player experience.

Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation, 30 September 2026 statement

They add that, since spring 2025, they have asked for the legal basis of that reading and still have not been given it. They say they are ready to implement once legal uncertainty is addressed.

If the coins are content, the real purchase is the moment a player buys the pack with a card. If the coins are money, every later spend in the shop is a second consumer contract. That second contract is where dual pricing and leftover refunds attach, which is why the argument is not a wording dispute.

Small studios can print a euro figure next to a gem pack without rebuilding the game. The expensive change is the one the trade bodies are still refusing: treating a leftover balance as cash sitting in the account.

The Seven Rules Brussels Wants in the Shop

The files follow the network’s key principles on in-game virtual currencies, published on 21 March 2025. Those pages are guidance on laws already on the books, including the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the unfair-terms rules and the Digital Content Directive. They are not a new statute.

The Commission’s 30 September 2026 release boils the ask into seven points, aimed at the live shop rather than the box on the shelf.

WHAT THE CPC SAYS GAMES MUST DO

• Clear prices: Show the real-world price of in-game items and of the currencies players buy to play.
• No hidden costs: Do not stack several currencies or force exchanges that hide what an item costs.
• No extra coins: Players should not feel obliged to buy more currency than they need to progress or enjoy the game.
• Clear information: Easy-to-understand details must sit in front of the player before a currency or item purchase.
• Right to withdraw: Players should be told they can withdraw from contracts within 14 days, including for unused virtual currency.
• Fair terms: Game terms and conditions should be fair and clear.
• Vulnerable players: Safeguards should cover all consumers, including children.

A shop that sells a skin for 1,350 coins, while the cheapest pack on the board is 2,000 coins, is the design the third rule is written against. The leftover 650 coins are not a rounding error in this reading. They are an unsought balance the player was pushed to fund.

A Two-Week Refund on Leftover Coins

The 14-day window is the part of the file that reaches into live-service accounting. Under the Consumer Rights Directive, a buyer can back out of a distance contract for 14 days. For digital content, that right can fall away only if the player gives express, separate consent and the content then starts.

The network’s March 2025 paper applies that window to unused virtual currency. A player who bought a pack, spent part of it on a battle pass, and still holds a remainder would, on this reading, still hold a cancellable balance. The company would need a way to price that remainder in euros, reverse it, and keep the already-consumed items from turning into a free grant.

That is also why publishers talk about player safety. A coin balance that can be cashed back toward a card starts to look like stored value. Stored value attracts a different set of duties than a stack of skins. The trade bodies say that slide is the unintended consequence. The network says the coin had a euro price at the till, so the unused part still does.

Countdown timers and fake scarcity claims sit in the same joint statement as the currency rules, next to loot boxes and other variable-reward systems, especially where children can reach them. The coin layer is the meter those prompts spend against. If the meter has to show euros, and if unused units can come back, the prompt has less room to hide.

Activision’s File Goes Beyond the Shop

Activision Blizzard UK Limited, part of the Microsoft group, is not in the nine-company wave. Its file was already open and is wider. The Commission says the network is looking at how virtual currencies are sold in Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile, and also at how personal data is collected, whether the games use designs that create dependence, default parental-control settings, direct marketing to children, pre-contractual information, and account blocking.

That list is the rest of a live-service relationship, not only the shop. A blocked account with a paid balance inside it is, in this frame, a consumer-contract problem as much as a trust-and-safety one. Terms that let a company change the value of in-game currency, or close an account with no way to contest the ban, are the kind of clause the March 2025 paper flagged as unfair.

Geoffrey Gray, a commission member at Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, tied the child point to the same files on 1 October 2026.

Millions of consumers across Europe play video games many of which are children. Consumers should be able to enjoy these games without being misled about costs, pressured into making purchases, or left unclear about their rights.

Geoffrey Gray, Commission Member, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission

The joint statement is blunter on the law. Some games, it says, “directly exhort children to make purchases, despite an explicit prohibition in EU consumer protection law.” Children are defined there by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: anyone under 18. PEGI labels and other self-regulation, the same text says, have brought some gains and still miss the core of the practices at issue.

How Soft Guidance Turned Into Named Actions

The public naming is the end of a slow sequence, not a surprise raid. The network published the currency paper on 21 March 2025, then sat down with the same two trade groups that answered on 30 September 2026.

FROM GUIDANCE TO NAMED FILES

1. 21 March 2025: The CPC Network publishes its Key Principles on in-game virtual currencies, framed as practical guidance on existing EU consumer law.
2. June 2025: The Commission hosts a workshop with Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation on those principles.
3. September 2025: A second workshop is followed by written exchanges on industry proposals for prices, refunds and bundles.
4. 30 September 2026: After a market check, the network opens the nine new files, keeps the Activision file running, and adopts the joint statement.
5. 1 October 2026: Ireland’s CCPC publishes the company and game list for a national audience and confirms the child-safeguard scope.

The joint statement says a high number of companies made no substantive change after the public guidance or after those talks. It also points back to an earlier common position on Star Stable Entertainment AB, a previous games file, and says later common positions will follow for the companies named now.

EUROPE’S GAMING MARKET IN THE CPC FILE

• Players: In 2025, 51 percent of Europeans played video games, and 46 percent of those players were women, according to Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation, as cited by the network.
• Europe revenue: The same trade figures put the European market at €29.7 billion in 2025.
• Reach: The European media industry outlook, also cited in the statement, counted 279.6 million players in Europe in 2024 and projected 291.7 million by 2027.
• Global market: That outlook put worldwide games revenue at EUR 169.6 billion in 2024, with EUR 190.3 billion expected by 2027.

Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, used the round version of the player share in the Commission’s release.

Roughly half of Europeans play video games, making gaming a major part of our digital economy and everyday lives. With that reach comes responsibility. The industry must ensure that its games do not expose players, especially children, to harmful or unfair practices. The game must be fair, and the rules must be respected. National authorities, with the support of the Commission, will make sure they are enforced.

Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, European Commission press release

National Watchdogs Can Still Impose Fines

A CPC coordinated action is a joint investigation under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, not a Brussels fine in its own right. National authorities run the file together because the games are sold across the single market and the network wants one outcome rather than 27.

Under that regulation, enforcers can invite the companies to offer commitments to stop a suspected widespread infringement, then accept those pledges and set a deadline. If the pledges are missing or too thin, the same authorities can order the practice to stop and impose penalties, including fines, under their own national rules. The 30 September 2026 launch does none of that yet.

The network also told every other studio in Europe to review its shop against the same papers. The 11 titles are the test cases, chosen for scale. A mid-size live game that still sells mismatched coin bundles is on notice without being named.

What the companies do next is a design choice as much as a legal one. They can put a euro figure on every SKU and build a 14-day path for unused balances. They can wait for a common position and fight the payment-method reading. They can split the EU store from the rest of the world. The files are open, the coins are still on sale, and the leftover balance in a Clash of Clans or Valorant account does not yet have a published refund clock.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on a consumer-law investigation and is for information only. It is not legal advice, does not decide whether any company has broken EU or national law, and should not be used to make shop, refund or compliance choices. Readers who need advice on a purchase, a child’s account or a company’s duties should consult a qualified consumer-law solicitor or their national consumer authority. Company names, game lists, figures and case status reflect the Commission, CPC Network, CCPC and trade-body texts issued around 30 September 2026 and 1 October 2026 and may change as the files move.