Working out what a free-to-play game really costs in AUD
A free-to-play game is genuinely free to install and free to play. It is also, almost always, a shop. This page sets out the five ways such a shop takes money, how to put an AUD figure on it before the first purchase, and which Australian consumer protections stand behind a digital transaction.
Quick answer
Decide a monthly figure in AUD before the store is unlocked, and treat it as a cap rather than a target. Keep no card stored in the account. Read whether a price is charged in AUD or converted from another currency, because a converted charge can also attract an international transaction fee from your bank. Treat randomised items as a separate category needing its own household rule, and read the ACCC rather than a summary when a purchase goes wrong.
The five ways a free game takes money
Almost every free-to-play title in the desktop category uses some combination of these. Which ones a specific game uses is a question its own store answers, and the only honest way to find out is to open that store and read it.
- Cosmetic items
- Appearance changes that do not affect play. The cleanest category, because what you buy is exactly what you see.
- Premium currency
- An in-game token bought with real money and spent on items. It adds a conversion step that makes the real cost of an item harder to see, and bundles are usually sized so that some currency is left over.
- Progression accelerators
- Purchases that speed up advancement you could otherwise reach by playing. The value depends entirely on how much you value your own time.
- Subscriptions or premium accounts
- A recurring charge for ongoing benefits. The item to check is not the monthly price but where and how it is cancelled.
- Randomised containers
- A purchase whose contents are decided by chance. This is the category that most often needs an explicit household rule, and the one to treat most carefully where a younger player is involved.
Putting an AUD figure on it
Two things make in-game pricing harder to read than a supermarket shelf. The first is the currency step: money buys tokens, and tokens buy items, so the price of an item is rarely a round figure in dollars. The second is that some stores charge in a foreign currency, which means the amount that reaches your account statement depends on the rate applied on the day and may include an international transaction fee charged by your own bank rather than by the game.
The way through both is to work backwards from your statement rather than forwards from the store. One purchase, then a look at what actually appeared on the card, tells you whether you are dealing with AUD pricing, a conversion, or a conversion plus a fee.
A household sets a cap of AUD 20 a month for one player, and decides that randomised containers are out of scope entirely. The first month's plan looks like this:
| Category | Allowed this month | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic items | Up to AUD 20 | Only if the item is visible before purchase |
| Premium currency bundles | Only the smallest bundle | Larger bundles exist to leave a balance behind |
| Progression accelerators | Not this month | Revisit once the player knows whether they still want to play |
| Subscription or premium account | Not this month | Recurring charges are reviewed separately, with a diary reminder |
| Randomised containers | None | Household rule, not a money question |
The card is not stored in the account. Each purchase is entered manually, which is a small friction that does most of the work of enforcing the cap. After the first purchase, the statement is checked once to establish whether the charge arrived in AUD or as a conversion.
What Australian consumer law has to do with it
Digital purchases made by consumers in Australia sit inside the Australian Consumer Law, which is administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Two general points are worth carrying into a game store, and for anything more specific the ACCC's own material is the source to read rather than a paraphrase on a site like this one.
The first is that misleading or deceptive conduct in trade is prohibited, and that applies to how a product is described to you, including in advertising. The second is that consumer guarantees exist independently of whatever a vendor's own refund page says; a seller's stated policy is not the limit of your rights. What consumer guarantees cover, and in what circumstances, is set out by the ACCC, and a complaint that cannot be resolved with the seller can be raised with the relevant state or territory consumer protection agency.
Two practical caveats. Change of mind is generally not covered — deciding after a week that an item was not worth it is not the same as the item not working. And where a purchase is made through a distribution platform rather than directly from the game publisher, the platform's own process is usually the first place a refund request has to go, because the platform is the seller on the receipt.
Where money goes missing
Third-party sites selling in-game currency, "cheap" premium accounts or keys at a discount are the main way players in this category lose money. The goods may be non-existent, bought with stolen cards, or tied to an account that is later reclaimed, and because the transaction sits outside the publisher's own store, there is usually no route to a remedy and often a terms breach on top of the loss.
A stored payment card is the other quiet cost. It converts each purchase from a decision into a single click, which is exactly what it is designed to do. Removing the card is not a restriction; it is a two-second delay reintroduced deliberately.
Losses and approaches of this kind can be reported to Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre, at scamwatch.gov.au, and to your bank, which handles disputed card transactions.
What the title covered here states about cost
The affiliate programme listing for World of Tanks states that the game is free to play and that account creation and activation cost nothing. It does not state prices for anything inside the game, and Kinetrixa does not publish figures the listing does not contain. Anyone wanting to know what an item costs should read the game's own store after registering, where the current price in whatever currency applies is shown. The overview page sets out which claims the listing does and does not make.
The checklist
- A monthly cap in AUD written down before the store is opened, agreed with everyone it affects.
- A household position on randomised containers, decided separately from the money question.
- No payment card stored in the game account or the launcher.
- The first charge checked on the statement to establish whether it arrived in AUD or as a conversion with a fee.
- Recurring charges diarised, with the cancellation path found before the first renewal rather than after it.
- Purchases made only inside the publisher's own store or its official distribution platform.
- Receipts kept, because a consumer guarantee claim starts with proof of the transaction.
What to read next
- Classification and households — the same questions where a player is under 18.
- Account safety — credential theft and trade scams, with the Australian reporting routes.
- World of Tanks overview — what the programme listing states, and what it leaves unstated.