Every year, Americans spend billions of dollars on video games and virtual worlds. A large portion of those expenses are purchases of gaming currency that is stored on a player’s account and used for in-game transactions, like buying goods and services or initiating person-to-person (“P2P”) transfers. As detailed in our report on the financial risks of video games and virtual worlds, the ways in which these gaming currencies and accounts work are evolving rapidly, including to function more and more like banking and payment systems.
As these evolutions have occurred, gamers—or in some cases their parents and guardians—have reported issues such as trouble when converting dollars to in-game currency, unauthorized transactions, account hacks and takeovers, theft, scams, and and other losses of assets. They have also described receiving limited to no help from gaming companies and the banks or digital wallets involved. Refunds are often denied, gaming accounts are being suspended by the video game company after the account owner tires to get a refund from their financial institution, or people are left caught in doom loops with AI-powered customer service representatives while they’re just trying to get straight answers.
Despite these issues, operators of video games and virtual worlds typically push a “buyer beware” approach, affording users little, if any, help when problems arise.
Today, the CFPB proposed an interpretive rule to clarify what rights are available to consumers, including gamers, under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. The proposed interpretive rule clarifies that gaming companies that are subject to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act could violate federal consumer financial law if they fail to address problems gamers have with their accounts. The CFPB invites gamers, and the broader public, to provide comments and stories to our proposal.
Tell us about your experiences with video game currencies
Gamers can share their experiences with gaming assets that are stored on their accounts and used for all sorts of transactions within these worlds, including the purchases of goods and services, converting dollars to in-game currency and back, and P2P transfers. Gamers can also tell us about the things that have gone wrong and how they have been affected when trying to get help.
We’re interested in comments from gamers on our proposed interpretive rule about:
- The types of transactions you frequently conduct using your gaming account
- Your experiences using in-game currency, including any problems you’ve encountered and features you do or don’t like
- Your stories of when things have gone wrong, and the help you may or may not have received, including help you thought you should have received
- What protections you need to better safeguard in-game transactions, in game currency, and the value stored on your account
We welcome all submissions until the comment period ends on March 31, 2025. Share your experiences with video game currencies and gaming accounts by emailing us or submitting a comment on the Federal Register . Your contributions will help us shed light on features in the gaming industry that increasingly resemble traditional banking and payments systems.
