Europe's Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) has launched coordinated actions against nine major games companies, demanding they align their in-game virtual currency practices with the EU's 'Key Principles' on virtual currencies announced last year.

The companies receiving the requests are Activision Blizzard, Crytek, InnoGames, King, Mojang, Plarium, PLR Worldwide Sales, Riot Games, Supercell and Ubisoft. The roster spans mobile publishers — Supercell, King, InnoGames, Plarium — alongside PC and console players such as Ubisoft, Crytek, Riot Games and Microsoft-owned Mojang.

The CPC is a network of national authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer protection law across member states. Coordinated actions of this kind allow national regulators to act in parallel rather than through a single jurisdiction, which increases the practical pressure on publishers operating pan-European monetization systems.

At issue are the commercial practices surrounding in-game virtual currencies — the premium currencies used in everything from Supercell's mobile free-to-play economies to Activision Blizzard's and Riot Games' live-service titles. The Key Principles, published by the CPC last year, set out expectations on how such currencies should be marketed, priced and disclosed to consumers.

For the affected studios, the action signals a compliance workload rather than an immediate sanction. The CPC has asked the companies to bring their commercial practices in line with the principles, which in practice means reviewing how virtual currencies are presented at point of sale, how exchange rates and pricing are communicated, and whether purchasing flows meet EU consumer protection standards.

The sweep matters well beyond the nine named firms. Virtual currencies are the backbone of free-to-play monetization across the European market — one of the largest regions for mobile and live-service games globally. If the CPC's interpretation of consumer law hardens into consistent enforcement, every publisher selling premium currencies into the EU faces the same review, regardless of whether it received a letter this round.

The inclusion of both mobile-first publishers and AAA live-service operators also indicates the CPC is not drawing distinctions by platform or business model. The principles apply to the currency mechanics themselves, not to the size of the studio or the storefront involved.

Publishers without a formal EU establishment are not automatically outside scope either. The network's structure — national authorities acting in coordination — means a game sold into any member state market can trigger scrutiny under that state's consumer law, with the CPC providing the coordination mechanism.

What comes next depends on how the nine companies respond. Coordinated actions typically open with requests for changes to commercial practices, but the CPC can escalate to formal enforcement through national authorities if companies fail to comply. Watch whether the named publishers begin rolling out changes to currency purchasing flows in EU markets over the coming months — that will be the clearest signal of whether the industry treats the Key Principles as guidance or as a de facto standard.