The Fair Trade Commission said on the 30th that it imposed a 158 million won penalty surcharge on WEBZEN for hiding the actual probabilities of loot boxes. The commission found that WEBZEN deceived consumers by failing to disclose a "0% probability" structure under which rare items could not be obtained at all before a certain number of attempts.
WEBZEN is the No. 15 game company in Korea with annual sales of 214.7 billion won. According to the commission's investigation, WEBZEN sold three types of probability-based items in its mobile game MU Archangel: "Set treasure draw ticket," "Festival roulette draw ticket," and "Earth dragon's treasure draw ticket."
Until a certain number of attempts (51 to 150) was reached, the probability of obtaining rare components was 0%. WEBZEN did not disclose this. Instead, it listed the probability for rare items as 0.25% to 1.16%, leading consumers to believe they could obtain the items from the first purchase. The commission said, "Failing to inform users when there is no chance of obtaining an item is a clear act of deception."
WEBZEN belatedly corrected the probability information and processed refunds. However, only 860 of the 20,226 affected users received refunds. The compensation rate is less than 5%. This is why a penalty surcharge was imposed this time, unlike other game company cases this year in which only fines were levied.
From April to June this year, four game companies—Gravity, Wemade, Krafton, and Com2uS—voluntarily corrected their violations and restored most of the damage, and received only 2.5 million won in fines.
The commission ordered WEBZEN to overhaul its overall labeling and operation of probability-based items. It required the company to establish internal verification procedures to ensure the applied probabilities do not differ from the displayed probabilities and to report within 30 days.
A commission official said, "If consumer harm is not remedied, sanctions at the level of fines are insufficient," and added, "We will continue to respond strictly to acts that hide or distort information on probability-based items."