By Yoon Sung-won
The local game industry has found itself in hot water because the National Assembly is considering a bill to regulate the sales of online and mobile games.
As game companies such as Nexon, NCSOFT and Netmarble are expected to suffer if the bill is passed, the industry has expressed antipathy, saying that the legislation will add another hurdle to the already regulation-stricken local game market.
“We are concerned about the regulation because it is about putting limits not only on how we run business but also on how we provide entertainment to our customers. Such things should be determined by customers and the free market,” said a source from a major game company Wednesday. “Amid a series of attempts to regulate the game industry, we seriously doubt if lawmakers are seeking game services as cultural products or not.”
A group of lawmakers led by Rep. Chung Woo-taek of the ruling Saenuri Party proposed a revision bill to the National Assembly on Monday that obligates game companies to notify a warning alongside detailed information such as winning rates when selling lucky-draw items in online or mobiles games, arguing that the items are overly speculative and encourage overspending.
In this business model, which is widely adopted in online and mobile games that do not charge users for playing, users purchase in-game items to get a random reward. In some cases, these lucky-draw items are the only chance for gamers to get rare or unique rewards such as equipment for game characters. But at the same time, a majority of users who have bought such items end up with rewards that are far less valuable than the money they had to spend.
“Such items, which aim to boost incomes for game companies, have repeatedly been identified as undermining the quality of game contents and the competitiveness of the game industry,” Chung said in a statement. “The bill aims at establishing a sound game culture and raising social awareness on games.”
The industry also said the bill will discourage companies’ willingness to voluntarily regulate themselves. To respond to the public criticism over the lucky-draw items, Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association (K-IDEA), the main game industry lobby, said in November that it will come up with a self-regulatory policy within June this year.
“This issue should be dealt with self-regulatory measures,” K-IDEA said in a statement. “At the same time, the regulation should also cover global companies operating in the Korean market.”
Meanwhile, game users welcomed the bill, saying the lucky-draw items are like gambling.
“Customers cannot even know what they are going to get before actually paying for the item. It’s much like gambling,” a user said in an online game community. “For the companies, refusing to notice the winning rate will be a failure in duty to notice just what they are selling to customers. This is unfair trade.”