"Up to 7 Years of Manipulating Probability-Based Items" KFTC Sanctions Gravity and Wemade

Yonhap News Agency

A game company that sold probability-based in-game items while providing false information about the odds has been sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).

On April 21, the KFTC announced that it had decided to issue corrective orders and impose a fine of 5 million won on Gravity and Wemade for violations of the Electronic Commerce Act.

According to the KFTC, from March 2, 2017 to March 20, 2024, Gravity sold probability-based items such as "Costume Enchant Stone Box 32," "Booster Amplifier," and "Sealed Boss Card Ddukttak Box" in its online game "Ragnarok Online," while providing false information about the odds or concealing or omitting such information.

Wemade also provided false information about the acquisition probability of the probability-based item "Brilliant Element Extraction of Harmony" while selling it to consumers of its online game "Night Crows" from December 7, 2023 to March 29, 2024.

For probability-based items, which have become a major source of revenue for game companies, probability information is the most critical factor for consumers when deciding whether to purchase, how many times to purchase, and how many items to buy. However, due to severe information asymmetry between game companies and consumers, there is significant controversy over the authenticity of such information.

The KFTC stated, "This measure is significant in that, in addition to prohibiting such conduct in the future, the corrective order requires the companies to establish and report to the KFTC specific and effective measures to prevent recurrence of such legal violations."

However, the KFTC explained that, considering Gravity and Wemade voluntarily corrected their violations and took sufficient steps to compensate consumers, such as refunding the purchase price of probability-based items, it imposed a fine instead of a business suspension under the Electronic Commerce Act.

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