The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has penalized the South Korean publishing giant Nexon for breaches of the Electronic Commerce Act in their games, MapleStory and Bubble Fighter.
Precisely, the regulatory body issued a corrective order instructing Nexon to address the identified issues. Additionally, a provisional fine of 11.6 billion won, equivalent to just under $9 million at current exchange rates, was levied.
The grounds for this action, as detailed in a comprehensive document released by the Korean FTC, are that Nexon altered the probabilities in items, including randomized effects, to the detriment of customers without providing adequate notification.
The verdict asserts that Nexon employed these practices for over a decade, spanning from 2010, including covertly reducing the loot box odds for certain items to nearly zero. The conclusions were purportedly drawn from internal documents acquired from Nexon.
“Nexon made announcements about changes to the games hundreds of times from 2010-21, but it omitted the information about the probability adjustment,” stated the KTFC in a release.
It further remarked, “Our judgment is that the company had aimed to lure customers by giving them false information and used deceptive means.”
MapleStory, a free-to-play 2D MMO initially released in 2003, has reportedly generated around $418 million (550 billion won) in sales from its loot boxes between 2010 and 2021.
The Korean Times stated that Nexon issued an apology in its statement but intends to appeal the decision.
Further reiterating the stance most gamers with common sense stand behind, that the whole concept of in-game microtransactions and or loot box mechanics are nothing short of an invasive cancer among the gaming landscape, with modern gaming favoring the direction of live service models and gacha style games as they both generate immense profits at regular intervals.
Initially, the potentials resulting from resets had equal probabilities, but in the same year, it was altered to weighed probability, with the most desirable outcomes occurring less frequently.
In 2011, the likelihood of certain potentials appearing twice on the same item was eliminated and subsequently, in 2013 and 2016, the percentage for Black Cubes to elevate items to Legendary status was reduced twice. None of these changes were publicly disclosed to users.
Nexon responded by issuing a comprehensive apology on the game’s website, acknowledging that the FTC’s investigation began in 2021 after the company revealed the probabilities associated with the Cubes’ feature.
Because rigged loot box mechanics warrant a simple “we’re sorry“.
The 2021 disclosure was part of a transparency campaign initiated in response to severe user criticism regarding the game’s quality and underlying methods.
Nexon acknowledges existing shortcomings in its operations and commits to viewing this incident as an opportunity for introspection, addressing remaining deficiencies, and contemplating future enhancements to create a game that users can take pride in.
The message, signed by Choi Won-joon, responsible for Nexon’s live headquarters, concludes with a commitment to “strive for improvement”.
We won’t violate the trust of our users and we’ll take the responsibility and lead the way to create a more mature and healthy gaming culture in the future.
Nexon certainly aren’t going to change even after this simple slap on the wrist, $9 million dollars for malicious and outright rigged loot box mechanics spanning over a decade is a laugh in the face towards the players they’ve scammed and continue to scam to this very day, their entire company now revolves around the concept of microtransactional live service games for players to endlessly fuel.
The imposed fine is negligible compared to the revenue generated through these practices, suggesting that it is unlikely to prompt any significant changes in their approach especially considering that Nexon are the ones behind the global sensation of Blue Archive. Which is yet another live service game that has continually bankrolled the company due to its gacha nature.
