By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

Players of ``Slugger,'' an online baseball game by Neowiz Games, are likely to see their athlete characters with weirdly changed names from their original ones from next year.

In the popular sports game, users choose a club in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league and play their games with real athletes, but now a detour in naming seems inevitable with a licensing issue involved.

CJ Internet, the operator of the online game ``Magumagu'' and the current official sponsor of the KBO league, announced Wednesday they signed a licensing contract in May.

Under the agreement, CJ Internet will have the exclusive right to use the emblems of the eight clubs, as well as their players and coaches names over the next three years. CJ is reportedly supposed to pay the KBO 5 percent of the net sales from the game.

CJ is not the only contractor of the KBO in baseball games. KTH's new baseball game, tentatively titled ``Wind Up,'' can have naming rights of the league until next year, as can SK Telecom for a fantasy baseball game it is preparing to launch.

But considering the game is still under way, CJ Internet and Magumagu will have the sole right to use images and names of KBO players until 2012.

CJ Internet says there is nothing illegal in the deal. ``This is within legitimate sports marketing to maximize our sponsorship,'' a spokesman for the company said.

Criticism on CJ's move, however, is expected to abound as it is feared to have an adverse impact on the game industry in that the royalty payment of 5-percent net sales is no different to those of other baseball game makers that came before the exclusive deal. Some say that CJ offered the KBO sponsorship earlier this year with the sole rights in mind from the beginning.

The signing of the deal when the licensing was still on for other game makers could also leave room for an unfair trade controversy.

The Korean online baseball game market has already overtaken the total entrance profit of the KBO league games. While the organization earned 33.8 billion won ($28.7 million) from ticket sales with a record audience of 5.9 million this season, CJ Internet and Neowiz Games have gained over 40 billion won together from Magumagu and Slugger until the third quarter only.

Neowiz Games declined to comment on the issue.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr