The European Commission has announced that Google will stop labeling Android games in the Google Play Store as being "free" if they have in-app purchases, as part of an agreement between the company and the commission to offer better consumer guidance when downloading apps.
In their statement, the European Commission offered the details of what Google will change in the app store:
These include not using the word "free" at all when games contain in-app purchases, developing targeted guidelines for its app developers to prevent direct exhortation to children as defined under EU law and time-framed measures to help monitor apparent breaches of EU consumer laws. It has also adapted its default settings, so that payments are authorized prior to every in-app purchase, unless the consumer actively chooses to modify these settings.
The group stated that the changes are currently underway and will be completed in the Google Play Store sometime before the end of September. There's no word yet if the changes will be made to the store outside of Europe. What do you think of this change and will it help consumers or will it end up hurting developers who rely on in-app purchases for their games?
Source: European Commission
