The Fair Trade Commission has initiated sanction procedures regarding the allegations of 'manipulation of probability-based items and false information' by gaming companies. The Fair Trade Commission is either sending audit reports or conducting investigations on a total of six gaming companies, including Gravity.
According to the industry on the 24th, the Fair Trade Commission recently delivered an audit report containing allegations of violations of the Electronic Commerce Act to Gravity. The audit report serves a role similar to that of an indictment from the prosecution. The Fair Trade Commission plans to determine whether to impose sanctions and the severity of those sanctions after going through the corporations' explanation procedures.
The Fair Trade Commission is also conducting investigations on the remaining gaming companies, such as NCSOFT and KRAFTON. It is expected that audit reports will be sent out soon based on the investigation results. Since the activities and the extent of violations vary by company, the severity of sanctions will likely be determined based on each individual case.
Probability-based items refer to game items that can be randomly obtained according to predetermined probabilities from among the rewards specified by the seller. The Fair Trade Commission has designated this matter as 'Case No. 2 of the Key Investigation Team' and has been conducting investigations.
As discussions about manipulation of probability-based items and the provision of incorrect information continue, a law mandating disclosure of information has been in effect since March of last year. Following this, the Fair Trade Commission has initiated investigations across the entire gaming industry. Starting with Gravity, which operates 'Ragnarok Online', the Fair Trade Commission has completed on-site investigations for NCSOFT's 'Lineage M', WEBZEN's 'MU Archangel', and Wemade's 'Night Crow'.
In addition, investigations are underway regarding the probability-based items in KRAFTON's 'Battlegrounds' and Com2uS's 'Starseed: Asnia Trigger'. During the investigation process, it appears that some gaming companies provided item appearance probability information that differed from reality, causing consumer harm.
Previously, the Fair Trade Commission imposed a penalty surcharge of 11.642 billion won on Nexon Korea for violations of the Electronic Commerce Act in January of last year. At that time, Nexon was accused of providing incorrect information to consumers regarding probability-based paid items (Red Cube, Black Cube) in 'MapleStory'. Nexon also ultimately lost in a damages lawsuit brought by users.
A Fair Trade Commission official noted, 'We plan to proceed with necessary measures as swiftly as possible.'