Italian regulators are investigating whether two popular mobile games from Microsoft's Activision Blizzard are misleading players. The country's competition authority, AGCM, announced Friday that it has opened a probe into "Diablo Immortal" and "Call of Duty Mobile."
Officials suspect the company is employing aggressive tactics to encourage players to spend more time gaming and to purchase in-game deals. While the games are advertised as free-to-play, they still offer in-app purchases for various items.
Investigation Focuses on In-Game Tactics
The core of the investigation centers on the frequent notifications players receive, urging them to act quickly to secure rewards and limited-time offers.
Regulators stated that these practices, combined with strategies that obscure the true value of the virtual currency used within the games and the sale of in-game currency in bundled packages, may unduly influence consumers, including minors. This can lead to players spending significant amounts of money without fully understanding the actual cost.
This is not the first instance of Activision facing criticism for aggressive monetization strategies. The company previously removed advertisements from its Call of Duty titles following significant backlash from the gaming community.
Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Under Scrutiny
Another concern raised by the Italian regulators involves the default settings for parental controls, which reportedly begin in a less restrictive mode, potentially allowing children to make in-game purchases.
Microsoft completed its $69.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. The deal faced extensive scrutiny from regulators worldwide due to potential competition concerns. The European Commission only granted approval after Microsoft committed to licensing Activision's games to competing platforms for a decade and allowing rivals to offer cloud streaming services.
This acquisition marked a significant shift, transforming Microsoft into a major player in the mobile gaming sector and bringing about substantial leadership changes within Activision Blizzard.
The UK's competition watchdog initially blocked the merger. However, the companies were able to reach an agreement by selling Activision's cloud streaming rights to the French game company Ubisoft, which satisfied the UK authorities' approval requirements.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also attempted to prevent the merger but was unsuccessful in convincing the courts that the deal would negatively impact competition.