10 takeaways from the new CAP guidance on in-game purchases
Peter Lewin
Wednesday 9th February 2022
On 20 September 2021, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), the body that determines UK advertising regulations, released new guidance on in-game purchases.
This covers topics from in-game store presentation, virtual currency bundling to loot boxes and external game marketing. While only 12 pages long, this guidance could result in significant shifts in current industry practice and is relevant to games businesses globally that have users in the UK.
The guidance will likely evolve over time as and when it starts being enforced, but below are the ten key takeaways at this stage.
The guidance makes a distinction between: (a) virtual currencies that are only obtainable by purchasing with real-money, and (b) virtual currencies that can be bought with real money and earned in-game. This new guidance applies to the former, but not the latter.
In other words, 'soft currencies' and 'mixed currencies' are "very unlikely" to be caught by this new guidance, though that wording does leave the door open for the ASA, the body that enforces CAP guidance, in exceptional circumstances. It seems that games/stores featuring both types of currency will be part regulated. Consoles/platforms offering 'credits systems' are also within scope.
Pete Lewin, Wiggin LLP
The guidance indicates that "branded or otherwise promotional items from a third party advertiser that result from a marketing agreement" could bring an in-game storefront within scope.
It is not entirely clear what this would mean for games featuring real-world brand purchasable content (e.g. new sport team kits, car packs etc), but the implication seems to be that these would be considered ads and therefore regulated.
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