Game industry, family minister confront over shutdown law

By Yoon Sung-won

Tension is rising again between the government and the game industry here over the so-called “shutdown law” for online games.

On Tuesday, K-Games, the nation’s largest game industry lobby, expressed regret over the new Minister of Gender Equality and Family Chung Hyun-back’s remarks that she opposes the move to scrap the shutdown law.

“We are very concerned about Chung’s view on the shutdown law because it doesn’t reflect the reason why the game industry has continued to oppose the regulation,” K-Games Chairman Kang Shin-chul said. “It is obvious the shutdown law was the biggest cause of negative perception on games here.”

During a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on July 4, Chun said, “I oppose abolition of the shutdown law and it is important to stabilize the regulation as it is now settling down.” When asked if she believes the game industry has been depressed due to the shutdown law, Chung said no.

The shutdown law was introduced in 2011 by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family as part of a revision to the Juvenile Protection Act. The law forbids children under the age of 16 to play online games between midnight and 6 a.m. The ministry and the supporters of this law have claimed it aims at protecting young people from becoming addicted to video games.

However, the game industry and many gamers have repeatedly criticized the law as a flawed legal barrier because it didn’t affect consoles and mobile games as well as computer online games run on overseas servers.

“Other industries don’t have such a regulation,” Kang said. “As it is impossible to apply the law to games run on overseas servers, the law cannot avoid controversy of reverse discrimination, which makes us doubt the primary purpose of the law.”

The industry lobby also pointed out that the new minister’s view is against the move of President Moon Jae-in and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan to deregulate the game industry.

“Though the game industry has created 56 percent of the nation’s total cultural content exports, the regulation has been unable to be free from the negative view, which considers games as a social evil,” Kang said. “This has hindered inflow of new talented human resources to the industry as well as investment in the development of new content.”

An industry insider, however, said the shutdown law is an essential rule to support a healthy lifestyle for children.

“Until the nation’s education system is properly settled to provide young people with opportunities to enjoy activities other than gaming, I believe society needs the shutdown system,” he said.

“It is irresponsible for game businesses to urge the government to leave things to the discretion of young people while they generate massive profits from them.”