Year after year, governments around the world are increasingly monitoring the gaming industry from a legal and regulatory perspective, and microtransactions are a key concern for consumer regulators. Gamesindustry.biz portal speakHow regulators in various countries changed their stance on microtransactions in 2025.
United States: FTC vs Genshin Impact
In January 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission settled complaints against Cognoosphere, the international distributor of Genshin Impact, developed by the Chinese company miHoYo. According to the commission, Cognoosphere violated consumer laws and children's privacy rights – the distributor did not agree with the statements but did not deny them, and paid a fine of $20 million. Additionally, the company has agreed to make changes in the way it monetizes the game. Specifically:
- People under 16 years old are prohibited from purchasing loot boxes without parental consent
- Prohibit the sale of loot boxes through premium virtual currency without the ability to pay directly in fiat currency
- Provides accurate information about the potential value of digital goods in fiat currency
- Provides accurate information about the number of loot boxes that can be purchased by paying for certain sets of virtual currency
Cognosphere has begun implementing these changes, but the Federal Trade Commission has not yet evaluated the level of compliance with the agreements reached. Additionally, the decision on Genshin Impact was made in the final days of President Biden's administration, and the board has changed significantly since then. So, on the contrary, the current president believes that American consumers “don't need to be rejuvenated” and protected from loot boxes.
Brazil: prohibits the sale of loot boxes to people under 18 years old
In September 2025, Brazil passed a law to protect children online, including a law banning the sale of loot boxes in games aimed at children or teenagers. It will come into effect in March 2026, but details on the implementation of the legal regulation (for example, how to accurately check the age of players) have not yet been revealed.
In this context, one cannot help but mention Belgium: the only country that cannot “ban” loot boxes, because the gambling regulator simply would not have enough resources to monitor compliance with such a law. It's hard to imagine that a similar rule would work without problems in Brazil, even though the country is much more important to the gaming industry in terms of profits and audience. It would be unprofitable if many major companies left this market – unlike Belgium, where several studios have ceased operations or disabled the ability to purchase loot boxes.
Belgium: refund of money spent on illegal loot boxes
Speaking of Belgium, the position of the regulators there has not changed. The total ban on loot boxes, which builds on existing gambling laws, remains in place… But no one is still monitoring compliance with it, which makes it easy to ignore it. However, the court made an interesting ruling in the case of a player trying to return money spent on illegal loot boxes in the Chinese mobile game Top War. Furthermore, the defendant in the lawsuit is Apple, the owner of the app store, not the developer.
In this case, the judge concluded that, under Belgian law, paid loot boxes fall within the definition of illegal gambling. Apple tried to justify itself: the company claimed that it had immunity because it was not aware of any illegal acts in Top War. To this, the court responded that Apple could not have been unaware of the loot box ban in Belgium, but it remained unclear whether this would deprive the company of its immunity.
To understand what was going on, the Belgian court submitted a request to the Court of Justice of the European Union, but unfortunately, Apple and the player who filed the lawsuit reached an out-of-court settlement and the request was eventually withdrawn. It is possible that other proceedings of this type will appear in Belgium in the future.
Australia: Games with loot boxes must be rated at least 15+
As of September 22, 2024, Australia requires games with “microtransactions with an element of chance” to receive a minimum age rating of M. This rule applies to both games released after the law was passed and those released before that but have changed the way they monetize, such as by adding new loot boxes.
However, the Australian government failed to notify industry of this important regulatory change. The new guidelines were released just four days before the law took effect, which simply did not give publishers and developers enough time to properly comply with the new rules. According to a study conducted by the University of Sydney, developers of many popular games ignore this law – they introduce new loot boxes but do not update the age ratings accordingly.
European Union: virtual currencies, child protection and the Digital Justice Act
Technically, European law has not changed, but three important things have happened.
Firstly. In March 2025, with the support of the European Commission, consumer regulators from different countries published a report on the main principles of virtual currencies in games. It represents a strict regulatory interpretation that may go beyond legal requirements, but we won't know for sure until the courts are asked to interpret relevant EU law in the context of video games.
What is especially noteworthy is that, according to regulators, any microtransactions using in-game currency must display the equivalent price in euros. Exchanging between currencies before making in-game purchases is also prohibited. Almost all companies are most likely not in compliance with this rule, as the requirements are much stricter than expected by the gaming industry. But maybe they should still follow the law.
Monday. In July, the European Commission published child protection guidance under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act, which requires online platforms accessible to minors to provide an appropriate level of privacy and protection for children. The Commission considers loot boxes a risk to consumers and requests the gaming industry to take the necessary measures.
“Necessary measures” means protecting children from loot boxes “to avoid unnecessary or unwanted expenditure.” Obviously, this is a pretty clever way to ask for, in effect, a complete ban on the sale of loot boxes to minors. App and game stores with user-generated content will have to accept that content under the Digital Services Act, although the decision can be appealed.
Finally, third. Over the summer and fall, the European Commission consulted on the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, which is likely to include provisions to regulate video games. Or more precisely, about virtual currency and loot boxes. The exact content of the legislation is still unknown, but shareholders and senior managers of large companies are assured to keep an eye on developments – the first draft of the legislation is expected by the end of 2026.
