Parents Intend to Sue Xbox After Teen Spends $4,500 on FIFA Microtransactions

In-app purchases are a rising problem for parents, and Jeremy Hillman knows better than most since his son recently spent $4,500 on a single game.

It's a constant struggle for companies to figure out a way to prevent children from spending their parent's money on in-game transactions without authority while encouraging more purchases, and now Microsoft is feeling the pressure. Eurogamer reports that the 13-year-old son of World Bank's Director of Corporate Communications spent $4,500 on FIFA 15's in-game purchases. Obviously, he doesn't have the same money management skills as his father. All joking aside, Jeremy Hillman takes full responsibility for not paying more attention to his bank account (especially considering where he works) and is pointing the finger at Microsoft for letting this happen.

Here's what Hillman had to say about his son's purchases:

Where was Microsoft on this? What was their responsibility? I should declare here that I feel conflicted about writing this. I have good friends at Microsoft, especially in the press and communications teams. My wife and I accept our responsibility on this. We should have paid much closer attention to his video gaming, and my son accepts his responsibility and punishment. [But] how many users legitimately spend thousands of dollars on in-app purchases and just how much usage would it actually take for [Microsoft] to flag this as unusual behaviour [sic] and require confirmation that the purchase is legitimate? Banks and credit card companies regularly do this.

Hillman went on to say that while he won't be the first person to take action, if there was someone out there who wanted to sue Microsoft in an effort for them to take more responsibility in the matter, he would support them. The oblivious parent also wants to see if he can sue Microsoft over the whole ordeal. This isn't the first time that the gaming industry has made enemies out of parents this way, and there should be a limit in regards to purchases that become that ridiculous for a single game.