Virtual currency

Also called in-game currency, premium currency, hard currency

An in-game currency such as gems, coins or V-Bucks that players buy with real money and spend on items inside the game.

Selling currency lets a player buy once on the web and spend inside every version of the game that honours it. Apple allows this worldwide. Guideline 3.1.3(b) lets multiplatform games honour “consumable items” bought elsewhere, “provided those items are also available as in-app purchases within the app” (Apple). Apple also says currencies bought through in-app purchase “may not expire”. Google requires that in-app virtual currencies “only be used within the app or game title for which they were purchased” (Google).

Regulators treat currency as a pricing question. The EU’s consumer-protection network published key principles in March 2025 that call for the real-money price of in-game content to be shown, and that warn against mixing currencies or forcing players to buy amounts they don’t want (European Commission).

Check your provider too. Paddle’s acceptable use policy lists “Virtual currency or stored value” among prohibited products, so get written confirmation before you integrate (Paddle). US sales-tax treatment of currency varies by state. See offers and bonuses.