The Australian ratings board has ruled that all games featuring microtranscations or in-game purchases will need to highlight them on the box art going forward. This comes from a user on Reddit who has detailed the change.
This will only be required for games going forward which means that it will effect the likes of Marvel’s Avengers, FIFA 21, PGA Tour 2K21 and Madden NFL 21. You can see on the Marvel’s Avengers listing that in-game purchases are now listed in the consumer advice section.
Australia is already quite strict in comparison to the rest of the world in terms of what retailers need to show on the front of each game cover. For instance, games need to state if a game has virtual reality features or require internet to access part of the game. It’s expected that the in-game purchase disclosure will feature along the bottom of a game, like the below.
Interestingly enough, FIFA 20 featured this same disclaimer, but other Q4 2019 games such as NBA 2K20, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, NHL 20 and Madden 20 did not. It’s unclear if this was a choice made by EA, or if it was enforced for other reasons.
