Key points
- Cosmetic-only shops are the fairest model; shops that sell power deserve caution.
- Convert premium currency into pounds before you judge a price.
- Use platform spending limits, especially on shared or family accounts.
Free-to-play is the dominant model in online games, and it ranges from exceptionally fair to quietly exhausting. The difference rarely shows in the first hour. It shows in the shop. Before spending anything in a new game, open the store and ask these five questions. It takes about five minutes and tells you most of what you need to know.
1. What is actually for sale?
Sort the items into three groups: looks, convenience and power. Looks are outfits, skins and emotes. Convenience is extra storage, faster travel or boosts to progress. Power is anything that makes your character stronger than a non-paying player’s. A shop made only of looks, such as those in Rocket League or Halo Infinite, cannot affect the fairness of a match. A shop that sells power changes the game for everybody, including those who never open it.
2. Can you see the price in pounds?
Many games sell a premium currency in packs, then price items in that currency. The packs seldom match the item prices, so you are left with a remainder. Work out what one unit is worth in pounds and do the sum yourself. If an outfit turns out to cost as much as a full game, you can decide with open eyes whether it is worth it to you.
3. Is there pressure to decide now?
Rotating shops, countdown timers and passes that expire all push you towards a quick decision. None of them is a reason to buy. Notice which games avoid the tactic altogether: in Halo Infinite a purchased pass never expires, and Deep Rock Galactic lets you replay old seasons at any time. We mark games up for this in our Fair shop score.
4. Can everything that matters be earned by playing?
Look for a clear route to unlock characters, weapons or areas through play, and check roughly how long it takes. Brawlhalla’s weekly rotation lets you try fighters for free and earn the ones you like. If the only realistic route to a core part of the game is payment, treat the game as a paid one and judge the total accordingly.
5. Do you know exactly what you will receive?
The clearest shops show the precise item before you pay. We prefer direct purchases and we mark games up when they sell items that way. If a store is vague about what a purchase contains, keep your wallet closed.
Keeping control
- Set a monthly figure for games, as you would for any hobby, and stick to it.
- Turn on purchase confirmations and spending limits in your console, phone or PC store account.
- On family devices, require a password for every purchase and use child accounts with parental controls.
- Never buy currency or items from third-party sellers. It breaks the rules of most games and can get your account suspended.
A fair shop is one you can ignore completely and still enjoy the game. Every review here includes a Fair shop score that reflects exactly that; you can read how it is calculated on How we score.