Game Industry's 'Call for Probability Disclosure'... Will It Soothe Public Sentiment? [Buaeri's Game Dictionary]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] The gaming industry, which has faced turmoil such as truck protests and boycotts over probability-based items (loot boxes), has taken a bold step forward. They have declared that they will disclose the probabilities of items combining paid and free elements, aiming to appease gamers' concerns.

According to NCSoft on the 29th, they will disclose the probabilities of all paid content types, including capsule-type, enhancement-type, and synthesis-type items. NCSoft stated, "Starting from the third quarter, we will sequentially apply the revised self-regulation guidelines of the Korea Game Industry Association to all games."

Earlier, on the 27th, the Korea Game Industry Association announced a revision of its self-regulation guidelines, mainly expanding the scope of probability disclosure. The revision includes expanding and strengthening the scope of probability-based items and diversifying the methods of displaying probability information. The revision will take effect on December 1.

According to the revision, the scope of probability-based content has been expanded to include capsule-type, enhancement-type, and synthesis-type content. When paid and free elements are combined, the individual probabilities must be disclosed in a way that users can clearly recognize.

Following the announcement of the Korea Game Industry Association's revision, NCSoft has proactively decided to apply it. This is interpreted as an effort to regain the trust of gamers, whose sentiments have recently become uneasy. Earlier in March, Lineage M users held boycotts and truck protests triggered by the rollback of the 'Emblem' update.

Since March, the gaming industry, which has struggled with probability-based items, is actively disclosing probabilities. Nexon, which also faced turmoil due to users' truck protests, took a direct approach by disclosing the manufacturing probabilities of its top 10 items. Nexon's flagship game MapleStory faced public outrage after being embroiled in a probability manipulation controversy and revelations that some items had no chance of winning. Lee Jung-heon, CEO of Nexon Korea, said, "We intend to continuously work on embedding the fundamental principle of transparent information disclosure for users."

Netmarble also announced plans to transparently disclose information about probability-based items and balance in its upcoming new game "The Second Country" on the 10th. Kwon Young-sik, CEO of Netmarble, said, "The company has a direction to disclose probabilities as much as possible," adding, "We plan to aggressively disclose probabilities in newly serviced games."

However, some remain skeptical about domestic game companies maintaining their revenue models for probability-based items while only disclosing probabilities. An industry insider familiar with the situation said, "Strengthening self-regulation is meaningful," but added, "Since the existing probability-based item business model is still applied to new releases, criticisms that there is no will to improve are inevitable."

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