The Fair Trade Commission is continuing strict sanctions against major domestic game companies. The gaming industry is voicing complaints that, although this could be an issue affecting the entire content production industry, game companies are particularly targeted. Some analysts suggest that the Fair Trade Commission's actions may be a political decision influenced by young men in their 20s, known as '이대남.'
◇ “Fair Trade Commission imposes excessive regulations solely on game companies”
According to the gaming industry on the 7th, there are concerns that the Fair Trade Commission is focusing its sanctions on a specific industry—namely, the gaming sector. The Fair Trade Commission identified issues last year where major game companies such as KRAFTON, NEXON Korea, and NC Soft failed to issue 'written contracts' specifying subcontracting terms when placing external service orders. As a result, on the 6th, it imposed penalty surcharges of 36 million won and 32 million won on KRAFTON and NEXON Korea, respectively, and issued corrective orders.
The Fair Trade Commission stated, 'We have sanctioned the widespread practice of delaying written contract issuance in the gaming industry and will strictly enforce the law to establish fair subcontracting transaction order in emerging industries going forward.'
However, the gaming industry points out that the issuance of written contracts is a matter that can occur across the entire content production industry, yet only game companies are subjected to excessive regulation, raising issues of fairness.
Criticism of the Fair Trade Commission's regulatory approach is also being raised. Cases of corporations losing lawsuits after penalty surcharges are imposed have been repeated, leading to claims that the Fair Trade Commission's regulations are undermining trust instead.
◇ “Social backlash is minimal, and the policy promotion effect is substantial”
This is not the first time the Fair Trade Commission has targeted the gaming industry. In January last year, the Fair Trade Commission imposed a penalty surcharge of 11.6 billion won on NEXON for the controversy over probability manipulation of random chance-based items, and in September of the same year, it recommended 21.9 billion won in compensation for users of MapleStory, causing a ripple effect across the entire gaming industry.
An official from the gaming industry noted, 'From the Fair Trade Commission's perspective, game companies seem to be perceived as easy targets that suffer a significant impact yet respond moderately. Compared to regulations on manufacturing or large corporations, the social backlash is less, and the public policy promotion effect is greater.'
He added, 'The recent actions of the Fair Trade Commission appear to be politically motivated, considering the influential support base of young men in their 20s who have significant dissatisfaction with domestic game companies.'
In connection with this, during the National Assembly audit last October, suspicions were raised about possible involvement from the presidential office in the process of imposing penalty surcharges on NEXON.
Professor Kim Jeong-tae from Dongyang University’s Department of Game Studies stated, 'Game development often involves multiple stages of outsourced services, leading to procedural issues or administrative delays. It seems likely to be a minor mistake by the person in charge, but the Fair Trade Commission's decision to impose sanctions appears excessive.'
He further remarked, 'Especially since this action occurred right at the beginning of the new year, it overlaps with last January's penalty surcharge on NEXON, making it difficult to shake off the feeling that the Fair Trade Commission has targeted the gaming industry as part of an annual event.'