Google Agrees to Stop Calling Games With In-App Purchases "Free," at Least in Europe.

The pressure to stop referring to games with in-app purchases as "free" continues to grow.
As part of an announcement from the European Commission today, it was revealed that Google will cease using "free" to describe such games.

This news comes not long after a UK ad regulator declared Electronic Arts had to stop running certain advertisements for the microtransaction-heavy Dungeon Keeper mobile game that referred to it as free.
Last December, the EC put forth a request to companies like Google and Apple to reevaluate their handling of free-to-play games. Among other things, it specifically asked that consumers not be misled about the "true costs involved" with games marketed as free, and that children not be urged to make in-game purchases. The two companies then met with the commission to discuss these requests in February.
In response, the EC announced today that Google will institute a number of changes by the end of this September. The most significant of these is no longer using "free" in relation to games with in-app purchases. It will also tweak the default settings so that payment has to be authorized before every in-app purchase, though you'll be free to change this. Additionally, it will implement developer guidelines to disallow "direct exhortation to children," meaning they can no longer strongly appeal to children to make in-app purchases.

  "In-app purchases are a legitimate business model, but it's essential for app-makers to understand and respect EU law while they develop these new business models." -- European 
Commission's Neelie Kroes.

It's unclear whether Google will only make these changes in Europe, or if it will seek to get ahead of any future issues by making them worldwide.