Category: Mobile Gaming

EU regulators take action on the problems associated with mobile apps and their microtransactions

Mobile games are massively popular, but many of these games may be marketed under false pretenses that they are free. In the U.S., federal regulators are pushing for mobile platforms to curb the growing problem of young children making unauthorized purchases through mobile applications. In the European Union, regulators have begun following suit, taking steps to ensure that apps that feature microtransactions are no longer marketed as free and purchases made through these applications are appropriately authorized.

Microtransactions are leading to unauthorized in-app purchases

Microtransactions have become a very common aspect of the mobile app world. In mobile gaming, in-app purchases are one of the best ways for developers to generate revenue from their creations. In these games, players can often purchase upgrades or buy digital currency that can be used to unlock special content. Because mobile games are particularly popular among children and young adults, unauthorized purchases have become a problematic issue.

Games cannot be marketed as free if they also include microtransactions

The EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network has determined that games that are advertised as free cannot also have microtransactions. Google, Apple, and other providers of mobile games will have to remove such games from their store platforms in the European Union. Google has had a somewhat cavalier response to the ruling and has begun taking steps to weed out such games from its store platform, but Apple has been less inclined to accommodate the new rules.

Issue has more to do with marketing rather than microtransactions themselves

The European Commission notes that Apple has yet to take any sufficient action on the matter. Apple has proposed its intention to address the issue of microtransactions, but has not yet made any effort to do so. These transactions are a major revenue stream for app stores, allowing these stores to generate profit for their parent company. Some argue that microtransactions are vital to the growth and survival of mobile games, but the issue is mostly about marketing and not about an application’s ability to generate profit.

Blippar demos ar game on Google’s wearable tech.

The augmented reality company has dedicated itself to finding a way to combine the digital world with the physical world and recently took another step forward toward its goal by running one of its AR games on Google Glass for the first time.

A simple game using Glass demonstrates the first steps of gesture interaction.

According to The Next Web (TNW), Blippar used Kung Food for the test. A pretty basic game that is not unlike the popular mobile game, Fruit Ninja, Kung Food revealed what playing a game on Glass could be like one day. To play, all that is required is the Blippar Glass app and a poster that is used for the game. Players use the “mouse” button on the side of Google Glass as the blasters controller. The object of the game is for players to slash at food that flies at them in 3D space to stop it from “splattering” their face.

Since the game is played with Glass, both of the player’s hands are free, which is a key point for playing the game and illustrates the start of gesturing interaction using this head mounted wearable device. Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra said that the augmented reality gaming technology is still in its beginning stages. In the company’s short demo, the Glass device overheated within a matter of minutes of continuous use.

Although earlier this year, in February, Blippar demonstrated its AR app using Glass at Mobile World Congress, this is the first time that is has been demoed as a gaming platform.

Blippar is not limiting its augmented reality technology to gaming.

“Our ambition is to build a browser where you just look at things and you get spontaneous information, whether that’s some [sort of] utility or something entertaining… When we think of mobile we don’t define mobility and restrict it to your mobile device itself. Mobility is a lifestyle choice,” Mitra said.

The company’s vision extends beyond augmented reality mobile entertainment. It wants users of mobile devices to have an optional layer of information available to them whenever they need or want it, whether it is looking at products to obtain additional information or to play a game when they are looking to amuse themselves for a few minutes.