‘Spending limit on Japan teen in-app purchases’

Casual game giants Dena and Gree have agreed to a new policy that will restrict how much young people can spend on in-app purchases, a new report claims.

It is said that Gree will prevent people aged 16 to 19 to spend more than about $125 per month on virtual items. Dena will implement a similar cap for 16 to 17 year-olds, according to the Japan Times.

In what some say is a move to deter national in-app spending laws, it is claimed that both companies will also cap spending to about $60 per month for people younger than 16.

Neither Dena nor Gree has confirmed the initiative. The Japan Times claimed it had been informed from inside sources.

“They made the decisions in response to growing calls for such caps to be introduced as many young customers tend to spend tens of thousands of yen a month partly to obtain game characters,” the publication claimed.