“Apple Angry at Capcom over Smurf Village App Purchases”

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Apple Angry at Capcom over Smurf Village App Purchases Posted: 16 Feb 2011 06:35 AM PST Technology Feb. 16 2011 - 9:28 am | 933 views | 0 recommendations | By PAUL TASSI Capcom is treading dangerous waters these days. Once a premiere video game brand with storied franchises behind it, they've recently tarnished their name by entering the mobile games market. There's nothing inherently evil about that per se, but they've already completely ripped off one indie title ('Splosion Man) and now their social games have raised the ire of Apple. You wouldn't think a game called "Smurf Village" would be able to cause such controversy, but Apple is receiving numerous complaints from parents that their children are racking up big bills in "Smurfberries," the game's currency, without realizing the actual financial burden attached. Most of Capcom's games are freeware, but they make money from players who get tired of waiting for the in-game items they want, so they spend real life money to quickly be able to purchase anything in the game. This can range from a $5 to a $100 bundle, and as most children don't quite  have the capacity to stop and think about this month's budget, bills have soared into the thousands for some parents. Smurfs Village takes advantage of the iTunes rule that once an account password has been entered after a free or paid purchase, it doesn't need to be entered again for fifteen minutes. So minutes after getting their parents to install the free game, kids are going on a Smurfberry spending spree. Smurf Village apparently isn't making it explicit this costs real money, because I haven't heard complains this severe about other titles. Capcom, watch yourselves, I haven't heard a positive word about you in a while now. Post Your Comment You must be logged in to post a comment Members Log in with your Forbes account This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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