Children spending £250 on Fortnite 'skins' to avoid being labeled 'the poor kid' at school, Children's Commissioner warns

Video game ‘skins’ are being viewed in school playgrounds in the same way as the latest pair of trainers, a report by the Children’s Commissioner has found.

Researchers found children are spending as much as £250 a year on digital outfits for their characters in video games such as Fortnite to avoid being labelled ‘the poor kid’ in school.

The findings prompted the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, to warn that children are “open to exploitation” from video games companies.

She called for video games companies to be subject to a legal duty of care and the incoming online regulator to be given specific legal powers to prevent children being ripped off and pressured into spending while playing online.

The report ‘Gaming the System’ came from a series of focus groups held with children aged 10 to 16 about their gaming habits. 

It found that children enjoyed video games where they could play with friends, but that companies were increasingly inserting items that can be bought into the games, called microtransactions.

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