EU Proposes New ‘Kids Act’ Targeting Video Games, Mobile Monetization, and Online Safety

The European Commission has officially published its long-awaited legislative proposal for the EU Keeping Internet Digital Services Trustworthy and Accountable Act, widely referred to as the "Kids Act." Drafted as a comprehensive 99-page regulatory framework, the proposal is designed to thoroughly regulate the design, mechanics, and user access of various online services for minors across the European Union.

According to Veronica Perez Lima, a policy advisor at Flux Digital Policy, the sweeping legislation comes in response to mounting political and public pressure to protect children within digital spaces. Several European member states, including France, Italy, Norway, and Greece, have already taken the initiative to draft their own national laws while simultaneously lobbying for harmonized measures at the broader EU level. While specific obligations and clauses are bound to evolve and undergo significant debate throughout the upcoming legislative process, the newly released draft firmly establishes the regulatory direction the European Union intends to take.

For the video game industry, and the mobile gaming sector in particular, the regulatory impact could be profound. Although the text is dense and technical, industry stakeholders must carefully analyze how its various provisions intersect with game development, live-ops, and user acquisition strategies.

Are Games in Scope?

The scope of the Kids Act adheres closely to a "social media plus" framework, a concept previously recommended by a dedicated EU child safety panel. Specifically, the legislation explicitly brings "video games," "video game platforms," and "online games"—an overarching term encompassing both categories—into its regulatory sights.

However, navigating the legislation requires careful attention. Not every single clause applies to video games, and those that do are scattered throughout the extensive document. This means that while there is a designated section dedicated explicitly to online games under Article 15, relying solely on that section would leave developers and publishers blind to numerous other obligations woven into the broader text.

Navigating Blanket Age Restrictions and Verification

The question of whether the Act introduces blanket age restrictions yields a nuanced answer. Unlike traditional social media platforms and dedicated video-sharing sites, games do not carry a mandatory default minimum age across the board. Instead, they are required to maintain exceptionally high standards of privacy, safety, and security for minors, even in scenarios where a game can be accessed freely without requiring a user account. To comply with this standard, providers must adopt a precautionary approach, assuming that all incoming users are minors until proper verification proves otherwise.

For features that are legally restricted from minors, game operators will be forced to implement robust age verification mechanisms to either unlock those specific functionalities for verified adults or block children entirely. The legislation explicitly rules out reliance on simple Terms and Conditions checkboxes or unverified self-reporting. While an approach that presumes an account holder is an adult if their profile is set to 18 may be acceptable under certain limited circumstances, many developers will likely need to integrate dedicated age assurance solutions.

Furthermore, the video games section introduces a potentially sweeping requirement under safety-by-design principles: providers must ensure that access to online games for children under the age of 13 is exclusively enabled and controlled through specific parental tools. While the exact legal drafting remains somewhat ambiguous, this provision could ultimately mean that all online games must actively check whether users are under 13, determining whether they can enter independently or if explicit parental approval must first be secured.

Beyond individual game requirements, the Act enforces strict age-ratings for all online video games and software applications. App stores operating within the EU will be legally mandated to apply established age-rating systems, such as PEGI, to all applications and rigorously enforce those ratings by preventing minors from downloading or purchasing content deemed inappropriate for their age group. Notably, the current draft does not appear to feature a carve-out allowing for parental override or approval for higher-rated software. Furthermore, the criteria used to determine appropriate age ratings will evaluate both traditional content concerns like violence and profanity, as well as modern game features including monetization models and communication systems.

For video game platforms that allow users to generate, publish, and share their own user-created games, the legislation places a clear burden of responsibility on the platform infrastructure. Platforms must supply creators with the necessary tools to ensure they can meet their legal obligations, balancing the creator’s direct responsibility with the platform’s duty to facilitate compliance.

Which Features Face Strict Age Restrictions?

To fulfill the mandate of providing high levels of privacy, safety, and security for minors, video games will be forced to restrict or completely prohibit access to a wide array of features. Broadly speaking, this includes safeguarding minors from unsolicited contact, preventing them from being automatically included in contact recommendations, and stopping them from being added to group chats without explicit, informed consent. Games must also protect minors from being seamlessly redirected to external third-party services. These communication-related safeguards carry immense implications for any online title featuring built-in chat or social tools.

Additionally, games must implement default settings that disable geolocation tracking, camera access, microphone permissions, contact list synchronization, and account recommendations.

However, the most significant impact for the mobile gaming sector lies in provisions prohibiting the exposure of minors to features that are "intended, or can reasonably be foreseen, to encourage compulsive or excessive use." This establishes a near-blanket prohibition on specific game design mechanics that make it difficult for minors to stop playing, alongside strict limits on specific types of notifications. Game mechanics that explicitly penalize disengagement—such as systems where players lose earned progress simply for being away from the game for a period—are directly targeted. Moreover, features that heavily reward engagement, including daily login streaks, ongoing engagement rewards, and re-engagement push notifications, could also face severe disruption. Push notifications, in particular, will be required to be turned off by default and thoughtfully designed to avoid interfering with children’s sleep schedules or school hours.

Consequently, video game providers will need to conduct rigorous assessments of their core design choices alongside evaluating the explicit prohibitions outlined in the text. Interestingly, while the explanatory introduction of the proposal briefly mentions controversial elements like loot boxes and virtual currencies, these mechanisms are only explicitly targeted in the sections governing social media and video-sharing platforms. Industry experts suggest this omission could mean that the upcoming Digital Fairness Act—expected to be published by the European Commission in Autumn—will address these monetization practices more directly and potentially with a much higher degree of strictness. Alternatively, it may reflect confidence that the mandatory enforcement of age ratings will naturally achieve a similar protective effect.

The proposal also introduces specific regulatory hurdles for games that choose to incorporate AI companions or general conversational chatbots. If such functionality is presented as an integrated part of an online game, it must not be activated automatically, cannot be prominently pushed or marketed to minors, and children must not be actively encouraged to engage with it.

What Happens Next?

The legislative proposal now moves to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, where representatives will review, debate, and negotiate the proposed text. While the European Commission has expressed hope for a streamlined legislative timeline, complex negotiations of this scale typically span anywhere from eight to 24 months, particularly given anticipated disagreements surrounding strict age restriction mandates. Nevertheless, legal experts emphasize that while the specific wording of the Act is certain to evolve, the overarching legislation is moving forward and is here to stay.

In parallel, the European Commission remains on track to unveil its proposed Digital Fairness Act, which will introduce an additional layer of compliance obligations for online games, impacting regulatory requirements for both minor and adult consumers alike. Companies operating within the EU market are strongly advised to closely monitor the ongoing development of the Kids Act and subsequent regulatory announcements, paying particular attention to shifting age assurance standards, monetization structures, engagement loops, and communication features that may necessitate substantial overhauls to their existing services.