The numbers show that the world of in-game purchases is maturing rapidly - and thankfully, it looks like the conversation around children’s spending is finally moving beyond shock headlines about unexpected purchases, and £60 dragon hats.

As society begins to understand the concept of parental controls and the industry continues the successful roll-out of the age appropriate design code - the conversation around in-game purchases for children has finally moved on. 

A Thursday afternoon session in room 2 at Develop: Brighton will lift the lid on what’s driving children’s in-game spending decisions and where our youngest gamers believe value lies. 

It’s Not Real Money, it’s Robux - is a dive into the world of children’s attitudes towards in-game spending from two leading experts from the award-winning Kids Industries. Presented by Jelena Stosic, Strategy Director and Raj Pathmanathan, Creative Director - it shares the agency’s knowledge and expertise in developing successful apps and games for children, having worked with many of the world’s best characters, and brands like Cartoon Network, Marvel, BBC Worldwide and WWF. 

Focused on research undertaken with a panel of athousand 6-to-4 year olds for Kids Industries, as well as the agency's considerable experience in the sector, Jelena and Raj will discuss how they build games for children - and explore how gaming motivation impacts their decision making process.  As well as the dos and don’t of in-game purchases for children, the session will present up-to-date thinking around the ethics of monetising children’s games.

Speaking to Develop:Insight ahead of their Brighton presentation, Jelena revealed that almost 70% of 6-14 year olds now agree that in-game purchases made their gaming experiences more fun, and importantly - the majority of those asked, are now spending their own money on in-game purchases.

Jelena also teased the emergence of a new spending category that will interest the industry, the growth of gifting digital items as presents.  While currently, just one in 10 gamers aged 9-to-11 years old say in-game items are their preferred kind of present, but interest continues to grow - as was shown by a popular Fortnite skin launched in Brazil that was only available to be gifted to others. 

Join Jelena and Raj for It’s Not Real Money, it’s Robux in Room 2 on Thursday, 28th October from 12:15 - 13:00. 

Tickets for Develop:Brighton are on sale now.  Both in-person and online passes are available.