Supercell, King, and Sybo say the EU's Digital Fairness Act, which requires pop-ups showing virtual currencies' real-world values, could make games “unplayable”
Makers of ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘Candy Crush Saga’ and ‘Subway Surfers’ warn EU proposals could throttle rare tech success
Context & Ripple Effects
Supercell enters this debate after a period of sparse releases: its 2024 launch of Squad Busters was its first new title in more than five years, while related coverage described a 4% decline in its 2023 revenue. Its chief executive had also characterized the sector as stagnant since 2021.
The warning sits within a broader European scrutiny of digital gatekeepers and mobile distribution, including UK investigations into app-store restrictions and EU disputes over platform compliance. This proposal shifts attention from platform access toward how consumer transactions inside games are presented.
First-order effects
- Supercell, King and Sybo would need to redesign virtual-currency purchase flows for EU users if the proposed disclosures take effect, adding real-world-value prompts at the point of purchase.
- The companies are publicly framing the requirement as disruptive to play, making the proposal an immediate lobbying and product-compliance issue for developers built around virtual currencies.
Second-order effects
- Publishers using similar in-game currency systems would face pressure to standardize more transparent EU purchase interfaces, potentially separating European user flows from those used elsewhere.
- App-store and payment-flow stakeholders would have to accommodate any revised disclosures, extending regulatory friction beyond game design into the mobile commerce stack.
Third-order effects
- If pursued, the measure would extend European digital policy from regulating platform conduct to regulating the design of monetization interfaces, particularly where virtual currencies obscure direct price comparisons.
- The industry could move toward more explicit pricing and fewer opaque currency conversions in consumer-facing games, though the eventual effect depends on the law's final requirements and enforcement.
The trend: This is one data point in the widening European push to make digital-market transactions and the interfaces that shape them more transparent and contestable.