Italian authorities launch investigation into Activision Blizzard over monetization of Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile
Recently, the Italian antitrust authority Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) raised questions for Activision Blizzard. Two investigations have been launched against the company.
The reason was the monetization of the games Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile. The statement on the agency's website reads:
The Italian Antitrust Authority has initiated two investigations against Activision Blizzard (Microsoft group) regarding the video games Diablo Immortal and «Call of Duty Mobile — positioned as free to play, but offering in-game purchases — for misleading and aggressive practices, as well as violation of consumer contractual rights.
The antitrust authority believes that "the company may be violating consumer protection rules."
It is noted that the investigations focus "on the possible use of deceptive user interface design aimed at encouraging consumers to play more often, extend game sessions, and purchase offered goods."
Examples include repeated prompts — both during and outside the game — encouraging users not to miss out on rewards (including through in-game messages and push notifications), as well as buying goods with a limited time to disappear. These practices, along with strategies that make it difficult to understand the real value of in-game virtual currency and the sale of in-game currency in sets, can affect players as consumers — including minors — encouraging them to spend significant amounts, sometimes exceeding what is necessary to progress in the game, and without fully realizing the costs incurred.
In addition, the agency has questions about the parental control function — the pre-installed options are considered "aggressive" because they:
are automatically set to options with a lower level of protection for minors (for example, allowing in-game purchases, unlimited playtime, and interaction with other players) without any active participation or supervision by parents or guardians.
The agency also plans to check how consent is obtained for the processing of players' personal data in Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile when creating an account, since
it seems that consumers — including minors — are encouraged to choose all consent options, including consent to profiling for commercial purposes, under the impression that they are mandatory choices."
The agency is also assessing the company's ability to block game accounts unilaterally without providing adequate grounds, support, or the opportunity to be heard, which "inevitably leads to the loss of money spent on digital content — in some cases significant amounts."
