Game companies that did not issue a 'written contract' detailing subcontracting terms while outsourcing services related to graphics, motion, and recording will face sanctions from the Fair Trade Commission.
On the 6th, the Fair Trade Commission issued corrective orders to game companies KRAFTON, Nexon Korea, and NCSoft, and imposed penalty surcharges of 36 million won and 32 million won on KRAFTON and Nexon Korea, respectively.
The current law on the fair regulation of subcontracting transactions (the Subcontracting Act) stipulates that subcontractors must issue a written document detailing the subcontract price and payment methods before starting service performance tasks entrusted by the main contractor. This is the most fundamental obligation to establish a fair subcontracting transaction order.
However, it was found that the three businesses subject to this sanction had either issued related documents after the subcontractors started performing services or issued documents after some transactions had ended while outsourcing the resource production for games such as Battlegrounds, Bubble Fighter, and Lineage.
The Fair Trade Commission noted, 'There is significance in detecting and sanctioning the practice of delayed issuance of written contracts that is commonly seen in the gaming industry,' adding, 'We will focus our investigatory capabilities on new industries such as software and content in the future and will continue our efforts to ensure the establishment of a fair subcontracting transaction order through strict law enforcement against unfair subcontracting practices that infringe on the rights and interests of subcontractors.'