Lowering the probability of paid items and changing the probability of preferred options to ‘0’ without notification… Even after receiving similar sanctions in 2018, Nexon repeatedly said, “There was no legal obligation to publish on the time”… Fair Trading Commission: “Consumer fraud through lies and deception”
Nexon Korea was fined 11 billion won for not disclosing or falsely reporting the probability of a popular item appearing in a paid in-game draw. Some products that included highly preferred features had no probability of being released.
● Reduce the likelihood of popular items without user notification
The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 3rd that it would impose a remedial order and fine of 11.642 billion won to Nexon for breaching the Electronic Commerce Act. This is the largest fine imposed by the Fair Trading Commission for breaching the Electronic Commerce Act. An official from the Fair Trading Commission said, “Although we have already been penalized for lying and fraudulent behavior relating to probability items in the ‘Sudden Attack’ game in 2018, we omitted or falsely published the fact that probability changes during the action of ‘Maple Story’ and ‘Bubble Fighter.’ “It has been confirmed,” he explained.
According to an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission, Nexon introduced the probability item ‘Cube’ to Maple Story in May 2010. Cubes are products that contain random options that can increase the performance or level of equipment. At the start of the sale, the probability that each option would appear was the same, but the probability changed successively thereafter. Users bought probability items to increase their abilities in the game in a short period of time, but the odds became increasingly unfavorable for the users.
Specifically, between 2011 and 2021, the probabilities were changed so that 7 options that were highly favored by game users did not appear at all. Nevertheless, Nexon announced that ‘there are no changes to the functions of the Cube and they are the same as before.’ The probability change for ‘Black Cube’, the most expensive cube released in 2013, continued without notifying game users. The probability of getting the option to upgrade equipment to the highest level has dropped from 1.8% to 1% over two and a half years. A total of 449 notices were posted over 10 years, but changes to Cube probability were not included. Nexon states in its terms and conditions that it must notify users when the content of its game service changes.
Nexon also changed the probability in ‘Bubble Fighter’ so that the item users want will never appear until a certain number of probability items are used. This fact was not included in the accompanying notice.
● In an internal document, “Hide the lower probability.”
The Fair Trading Commission believes that, although Nexon has disclosed some of Cube’s probabilities, it is actively concealing similar probabilities previously made. Nexon held a meeting in 2021 after Maple Story users demanded disclosure of the probability, and in an internal review document shortly before the meeting, it was confirmed that “the lower probability of a Black Cube score increase should be hidden as much as possible.” As user inquiries about the likelihood of Cube poured in, he said, “A quick response only speeds up the time for customers to re-inquire,” and he also mentioned, “We need to ‘hold’ (stop) the response process until the appropriate time. “
The Fair Trading Commission held that failure to correctly inform consumers of the change in probability was an unlawful act of luring consumers because it is possible that the purchase of items similar to the probability would have decreased if they had known that the probability had changed. Between 2010 and 2021, Nexon’s sales of Cube reached 550 billion won. One user even spent 280 million won on buying a cube in a year.
Nexon is considering filing an objection with the Fair Trading Commission or filing legal action. Nexon said, “The period between 2010 and 2016, which was identified as a problem by the Fair Trading Commission, was a period when game odds were not disclosed globally,” and “The Fair Trading Commission considered that this is a crime for a time. when there were no liabilities or legal proceedings anywhere in the world.” he demanded. However, the Fair Trading Commission responded to this by saying, “The Electronic Commerce Act prohibits the act of luring consumers through lies or deception. “If there is a change in content that is disadvantageous to users, they must be notified regardless of legal obligations,” he explained.
Sejong = Reporter Song Hye-mi 1am@donga.com
Reporter Kim Ha-kyung whatsup@donga.com
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