A digital version of Raymond Briggs' classic story The Snowman is tackling the red-hot issue of in-app spending this Christmas by introducing a cap on how much children can spend.
The Snowman and the Snowdog is the first app to introduce this type of limit, following a government consultation earlier this year and a slew of horror stories about parents saddled with expensive bills run up by their children's mobile games.
Launched by Channel 4 this week, the free game for iPhone, iPad and Android devices is based on the popular Christmas film and is the sequel to a free game which topped British app store charts in December 2012.
Avoiding 'parental bill shock'
Children can spend between £0.99 and £3.99 at a time on virtual snowflakes, which can be spent on gameplay boosts and customising the Snowman character. But total spending has been capped at £20 per player in an effort to avoid parental "bill shock".
"While we had to figure out a way that we could make money from the game, we absolutely could not have anything that might give rise to anyone feeling it was exploitative," Channel 4's games commissioning editor Colin Macdonald told the Guardian.
"Every free-to-play consultant will tell you that a pricing cap is commercial suicide, but we have bent over backwards to do this game responsibly because we knew it would appeal to so many kids."
Macdonald said Channel 4 paid close attention to the September report by the Office of Fair Trading into children and in-app purchases, which set out some best practices for freemium games following a five-month consultation.
"We're not proposing the cap as a model for all our games or the wider industry. We're just very sensitive around kids and around this brand," said Macdonald. "We've gone through the OFT recommendations, and tried to get that balance where hopefully there's enough money coming in to fund next year's game, but not anything that would be exploitative."
Macdonald also stressed that every item in The Snowman and The Snowdog Game's in-app store can be unlocked through earning snowflakes by playing, meaning that purchases are optional.
The game's launch comes at a time when the companies behind the devices and apps being used by children aren't pushing in-app purchases inappropriately. Apple launched a new Kids category in its App Store in September, refusing to feature in it any apps and games that did not abide by new rules on IAP, advertising and data-gathering.
The company's main rival, Samsung, has partnered with US startup Fingerprint to develop a "safe" network around children's apps on its devices, initially launching in Asia in the first quarter of 2014.
"Our goal for Samsung's new kids’ mobile network is to offer parents peace of mind, knowing their kids will have meaningful play experiences that will help them to learn and grow," said Samsung's head of learning and reading, Gerald Cai, in a statement.
Back in the UK, games industry body TIGA has been lobbying the Office of Fair Trading to ensure that any future regulation of free-to-play games for children does not leave the UK out of step with other countries.
"If UK consumers are to be effectively protected and if we are to avoid the regulation of the UK market becoming misaligned with the rest of the world, then the OFT should work with its counterparts in the EU, the USA and across the globe to adopt a common approach to the F2P market," said chief executive Richard Wilson.
• How to stop kids spending inside apps on iPhone and iPad
• How to stop kids spending inside apps on Android
