There's a bunch of people in this thread saying "but what about the parents", and a bunch of other people in this thread saying "but dark patterns", and they're

There's a bunch of people in this thread saying "but what about the parents", and a bunch of other people in this thread saying "but dark patterns", and they're both missing the point. If you're in the industry and making money from IAPs, especially from lootbox IAPs, the one thing you need to know is that governments are coming for you. If you're Apple or Google taking 30% of those IAPs (and also not paying much tax) then government is coming after that money. If you're a publisher selling games for children, marketed to children, with hundreds or thousands of dollars of IAPs then governments are coming after you too. Articles like this are a clear and simple warning: fix your shit, sort out sensible industry self-regulation, or face EU wide regulation. We have plenty of examples to prove that the EU or individual governments are not afraid of bringing in fierce regulation.