Missouri.-Video game applications, including the popular Candy Crush, would be banned from offering “pay-to-win” schemes aimed at children, who pay for upgrades and bonus features, according to federal legislation presented on Wednesday. A Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri proposed a bill that seeks to sue games aimed explicitly at underage players whose parents end up paying the pay-per-play system, in titles like Candy Crush and many others.
When a game is designed for children, gaming developers should not be allowed to monetize the addiction, Hawley said in a statement.
“And when children play games designed for adults, they should be excluded from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children must face legal consequences, “the senator added.
Just announced → Sen. Hawley, a fierce critic of tech practices preying on the addiction of users, to introduces legislation banning the exploitation of children through “pay-to-win” and “loot box” monetization practices by the video game industry. https://t.co/xlXvszkBMj — Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress)
May 8, 2019
Last week, in a speech to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, he criticized social media companies for benefiting from their users ‘ addiction, the Kansas City Star reported.
Hawley has already filed a bill to restrict Internet companies from accumulating data from users under the age of 13. The legislation described on Wednesday, the Child Protection Act of abusive games, points to a lucrative source of industry revenue that, according to analysts, could be worth more than 50 billion dollars. Under the measure, video game companies would also be banned from offering “loot boxes,” which can be purchased or offered as rewards for achieving certain goals in a game.
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The measure has a particular goal in Candy Crush, a free jigsaw puzzle application that contains a package that allows users to pay $149.99 dollars for 24 hours of unlimited lives and other additional functions. A spokesman for the game publisher, Activision Blizzard, declined to comment on the Washington Post. King, the developer of the Malta-based game, did not immediately respond to an email from the Kansas newspaper.
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