[Exclusive] Was the Child Sexual Abuse Game Inevitable? 750,000 Annual Games Undergoing 'Self-Review'

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Recently, the mobile game "Idle Princess," which involves raising a daughter, has been embroiled in a controversy over child sexualization. An 8-year-old girl appears wearing revealing clothes, and provocative lines such as "Do you want to see my panties?" have sparked public outrage. The bigger issue is that this game received a 15+ age rating through 'self-rating.' This has raised serious concerns about loopholes in the current game rating system.

According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 12th through Assemblywoman Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Game Rating and Administration Committee, more than 750,000 games are distributed annually through the self-rating system. In 2019, 795,268 games received self-ratings, and as of September 2020, 759,423 games were released to the market after self-rating reviews.

The self-rating system allows businesses to assign game ratings independently. Once designated as a self-rating business operator, they can autonomously assign ratings?excluding "All Ages" and "Restricted to Adults"?without prior review by the Game Rating and Administration Committee and provide services accordingly.

The controversial game "Idle Princess" by I&V Games also received a 15+ rating through self-rating and was released on platforms such as Google Play. The content that sparked child sexualization controversy was thus exposed to adolescent users as well. Following social backlash, the Game Rating and Administration Committee belatedly issued a "Restricted to Adults" rating for "Idle Princess" on the 8th.

In materials submitted to Assemblywoman Shin, the Game Rating and Administration Committee stated that 230 monitors conduct post-monitoring of self-rated games. This admission highlights that the number of personnel is grossly insufficient to manage over 750,000 games annually. Consequently, as the domestic mobile game market continues to grow, calls for system improvements are increasing. According to the Korea Mobile Industry Association, the domestic mobile game market is estimated to grow from 4.5476 trillion KRW last year to 4.9887 trillion KRW this year.

Assemblywoman Shin said, "The domestic mobile game market has grown to nearly 5 trillion KRW, but the corresponding sense of responsibility still seems lacking. Since many adolescents use these games, management is urgently needed," adding, "This controversy has revealed institutional loopholes in the self-rating system, so strengthening management, including increasing monitoring personnel, is urgent."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.