About three weeks have passed since Riot Games blocked access to its titles at PC bangs that disabled its paid affiliate service, but some owners still have not resumed the service. They say they will hold out, even if it means taking losses, while seeking legal action and workarounds.
According to the industry on the 12th, dozens of PC bangs nationwide are continuing to operate without rejoining Riot's premium PC bang service. As of early last month, about 500 locations, or roughly 10% of all PC bangs, had disabled the service. However, after Riot began blocking access to its games at non-subscribed locations on the 21st of last month, most reportedly signed back up.
The main reason owners resumed the service is Riot's strong influence. According to the PC bang game statistics service GameTrics, as of the day, League of Legends and VALORANT account for about 40% of domestic PC bang usage. The industry believes normal operations are virtually impossible if the two games are not available.
In fact, owners who have the service disabled say their sales have plummeted. At the shop of Owner A, who runs a PC bang in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, sales fell to about half after the access block. Many customers who came in without knowing the games were unavailable turned around, and overall visits have also dropped significantly, the owner said.
Still, Owner A says the service will not be reactivated until the injunction ruling comes out. The owner said, "For the first time since opening, I am running a deficit," but added, "I also think this could be a chance to let users try other games."
Some owners are also continuing attempts to circumvent the block. They believe the block is enforced through the MAC address of the LAN card or motherboard information, and cases are being shared of swapping out motherboards to respond.
Owner B, who runs a PC bang in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, also said the owner is seeking a way to bypass the block by applying the premium PC bang service only to certain seats. The owner said, "The premium PC bang service expense is more than 2 million won each month, and for the same money I could replace dozens of new motherboards."
Owners say they are holding out because the premium service is not as effective as before. They are paying at least 1.5 million to 2 million won monthly in fees, but the effect on attracting customers has dropped sharply compared to the past, they say.
In particular, compared with Nexon's FC Online or NC's Lineage, Riot's premium service is seen as relatively weak in drawing customers. One owner said, "Until the block, most patrons didn't even know whether the premium service was on or off."
Owners also believe this case could set a precedent that establishes standards for the PC bang industry overall, not just an individual dispute with Riot. Riot's position is that PC bang operators providing its games to customers constitutes commercial use, and that the PC bang service is a paid business-to-business (B2B) license service that includes the right to such commercial use and PC bang–only benefits.
If this reasoning is accepted, owners argue that other game companies, as well as content providers like YouTube or Netflix, could demand similar additional usage fees.
In response, the Korea Internet PC Cafe Cooperative filed for an injunction on the 18th of last month with the Seoul Central District Court to halt the game access block. Then, on the previous day, it filed a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission, arguing the measure violates the Fair Trade Act.