O Business Korea revealed that the Korea Fair Trade Commission(KFTC) fined the Nexon Korea in 11.64 billion won (about 8.83 million dollars) for violating the country’s E-Commerce Law regarding in-game items sold in games MapleStory It is Bubble Fighter. This is a bigger fine than the KFTC imposed for violation of the Electronic Commerce Law.
According to Business Korea, Nexon Korea allegedly manipulated the exit probabilities of an item called “Cube” on MapleStory to almost zero percent without informing consumers.
“Cube” items introduced in May 2010 enhance equipment worn by characters in the game, with the exact item determined only when the Cube is used. Nexon reportedly initially set the odds for all options to be equal, but then changed the odds so that popular items were less likely or nearly impossible to appear from August 2011 to March 2021.
A KFTC claims that the Nexon did not disclose this change and instead falsely stated in August 2011 that it had made no changes to item probabilities. It was also stated that over these 10 years, the Nexon announced minor changes to the game 449 times, but did not disclose changes in probability that would put consumers at a greater disadvantage.
A Nexon plans to appeal the fine and issued the following statement:
This question refers to the period before 2016, when there was no obligation to disclose information on probability-based items. The KFTC’s retrospective sanctions will greatly reduce Korea’s gaming industry.
The deceased Jungju Kim founded the Nexon in 1994. Nexon specializes in free online and mobile games, such as MapleStory, SINoALICE and the game Kemono Friends original. She also developed games like The Kingdom of the Winds, KartRider, Dungeon&Fighter It is Mabinogi.
In 2021, the Nexon invested 92.4 billion yen in companies such as Hasbro, Bandai Namco Holdings, Konami Holdings It is Sega Sammy Holdings.
