On the eve of raising PC bang premium fees, Riot Games held an emergency meeting with the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative Association (KIPC) and agreed to a three-month deferral effect and to renegotiate. It is a tentative outcome reached after hours of all-out talks, as the association pushed back, saying it could not accept a hike without improved benefits. The association had prepared to file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission, but said it decided to put the process on hold after confirming in the meeting Riot Games' explanation that the login restriction warning was "an issue that occurred during the agency's guidance process" and that the measure had been halted.
According to the association on the 2nd, Riot Games proposed offsetting the increase by paying back 15% of billed hours as premium time for about three months starting on the 8th. It also conveyed it would review additional promotions to increase PC bang traffic during the peak season. However, Riot Games said, "Given the global single-service structure, it is difficult to immediately implement features or benefits solely for Korean PC bangs," and kept the enhancement of premium benefits at the level of "we will begin reviewing."
On the recently controversial notice about "possible access restrictions for terminated franchise stores," Riot Games said, "We were explaining measures permitted under the terms, but we will not actually implement any restriction." It explained that the notice was delivered by the PC bang master distributor's agency and was immediately halted after strong objections from the association and business owners. The association had been reviewing this issue as grounds for a complaint to the Fair Trade Commission, but said, given there were no actual restriction measures and the issue lay in the guidance process, "We will watch Riot Games' response this time and then decide again whether to file."
On server outage issues, Riot Games explained, "There were various causes, and improvements took time due to the headquarters' management structure," adding, "We are reinforcing relevant personnel, and the Korea side is making more active demands for improvement." It also said it would discuss a system to inform business owners more quickly when outages occur.
Regarding the switch to Naver Pay for payments, it said it was "a decision based on convenience and security," adding, "Once a card is registered, it can be used as before." It apologized for the inconvenience caused by changing the existing method.
An association official said, "We fell short of getting the hike withdrawn, but it is a pragmatic agreement achieved while minimizing industry confusion," adding, "In the renegotiation in three months, we will make sure to push through enhanced benefits and structural improvements." The official added, "This should be a turning point for Riot Games to begin seeing PC bangs as partners, not merely a billing channel."