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DeNA to deliver 'safe environment' for young gamers with new spending limits

18 and below limited to ¥10,000 a month

DeNA to deliver 'safe environment' for young gamers with new spending limits
Building on the move towards self-regulation set in motion by rival GREE, DeNA has used its most recent financial report to cast light on its plans to keep excessive user spending in check.

The Japanese social giant plans to introduce monthly spending limits for players using its games platform aged 18 or below, coming into effect from June.

DeNA claims the new restrictions will help "build a safe environment for young people to use social game services with a greater sense of security", though their implementation appears especially timely.

Spending cull

The new limits, which will restrict users aged 15 or younger to spending up to ¥5,000 (around $63) a month, and those aged up to 18 to ¥10,000 ($125) or below, come after the instigation of an investigation into user spending by Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency.

The agency is looking into claims the 'complete gacha' mechanism – one where users are charged small sums for virtual items that can be converted in one single rare item when combined – results in users spending large amounts of money.

In response, the new user spending restrictions will see purchases of Mobage's in-game currency, Moba-coins, falling by approximately 1.1 percent according to DeNA's own estimates.

It said consumption of Moba-coins was ¥50 billion (around $630 million) between January and March 2012.

Step by step

Said measures will also be joined by "proactive and effective" regulations designed to clamp down on the practice of real money trading - an activity rival GREE has also cited as a thorn in the side of social gaming platforms.

All of the new measures will be backed up by guidelines for developers to enable them to keep to the letter of the law, increasing the efficacy of their implementation.

[source: DeNA (PDF)]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.