South Korea’s antitrust regulator has penalized a domestic game developer for deceiving players about the odds of winning in-game items. (Image courtesy of the Korea Fair Trade Commission )
SEOUL, April 15, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator has penalized a domestic game developer for deceiving players about the odds of winning in-game items, marking a rare move to regulate deceptive practices in the booming online gaming sector.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on Monday that it has imposed a corrective order and a fine of 36 million won on KOG Co., the operator of the online game Grand Chase Classic, for violating the nation’s e-commerce law.
According to the KFTC, KOG sold “Orb Unsealing Scrolls” — loot box-style items offering character-enhancing equipment — between August 2022 and February 2023. The company claimed each draw had a fixed probability of success. However, the regulator found that the game’s mechanics were rigged to prevent any successful draws until a certain number of attempts had been made.
Specifically, the probability of obtaining an item was zero for the first three draws and only increased gradually thereafter. In cases where players already possessed multiple items, the odds of success were even lower. For example, players who had obtained nine pieces of gear through the loot boxes faced a zero-percent probability until the ninth draw, after which the chance rose incrementally.
In total, KOG is estimated to have sold roughly 3 billion won worth of these misleading items.
“The company misled consumers through false disclosures and deceptive business practices,” the commission said. It pledged stricter oversight to ensure fairness in the online gaming industry.
“We will continue to take firm action against violations of the e-commerce law by online game service providers to build a fair and transparent gaming market,” the KFTC stated.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
