Maple Story
Nexon Korea has been investigated by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) over its recent controversial alleged manipulation of "probability-type items."
According to the game industry on April 20, the FTC sent an investigator to Nexon Korea's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, for an on-site investigation.
The FTC is reportedly planning to focus its investigation on whether game companies such as Nexon Korea, NCsoft, and Netmarble violated the Consumer Protection Act in E-commerce by manipulating the probability
of items appearing low and attracting consumers by providing false information.
Earlier, Ha Tae-kyung, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, called on the FTC to investigate Nexon's Maple Story, Dungeon & Fighter and NC Soft's Lineage (M, 2M) for manipulating stochastic items. The FTC reportedly conducted an on-site investigation on the same day after an internal review at the request of Rep. Ha.
The "probability-type item" is an item that you don't know what item it is until you buy it, and each item has a different chance of winning. Japan banned probabilistic items from games because they stimulated gambling psychology. Recently, Korean users also raised suspicions of manipulation, saying that they spent hundreds of millions of won on purchasing items, but the items they wanted were not selected.
In 2018, the FTC also fined Nexon Korea 939 million won for adjusting the probability of stochastic items and falsely displaying information. However, last year, the court reduced the amount of fines to 45 million won, judging that there was a mistake in the FTC's calculation of the fines.
Under the E-commerce Act, game companies will be sanctioned if they falsely, exaggerate, or deceptively attract consumers to sell probability-type items.
Meanwhile, at a plenary session of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held at the National Assembly on April 19, a "partial revision of the Game Industry Promotion Act" was proposed by Rep. Yoo Dong-soo. Rep. Yoo's amendment calls for mandatory display of probability-type items information and banning "Complete Gacha."
Complete Gacha refers to a collective drawing system that uses items obtained through probability to select probability items again. In Japan, the game industry itself decided to stop the Complete Gacha system as it became controversial.
In the amendment, Rep. Yoo ordered a fine to be imposed for violation of the obligation to display probability-type items and manipulation of item acquisition probability.
