Apple is being sued by a group of parents in a class action lawsuit because they call the company’s children’s games too “addictive.” The lawsuit was recently green lit by a San Jose judge.
According to the lawsuit the company’s games are:
“Highly addictive, designed deliberately to be so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of game currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more.”
Parents in the lawsuit argue that while the games can be downloaded for free in-app purchases can cause the cost of those games to skyrocket. The parents cite “Smurfberries” currency which sell in the Smurfs game for $59 per batch.
The lawsuit argues that children use their parents iTunes account to purchase the extras.
Apple recently changed the way its security protocols work so that parents need to setup in-app purchases with a password as soon as possible, that change came about after a British boy racked up $2,000 in charges while paying the game “Tap Zoo” on the iPad.
In the meantime the parents involved in this lawsuit may want to think about actually parenting. If they are worried their children are not responsible enough to game responsibly perhaps they shouldn’t be buying them $500 iPads and iPhones in the first place. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of Apple to babysit a parents child because they are too lazy too do it themselves and that is likely the very argument Apple will make when this case moves forward.
Do you think the parents have a case or will Apple prevail based on the parenting vs. babysitting argument?
