KRAFTON and Com2uS, which operate the online games 'Battleground' and 'Starseed: Asnia Trigger', received sanctions from the Fair Trade Commission for displaying the probability of winning items higher than the actual rate.
On the 16th, the Fair Trade Commission determined that KRAFTON and Com2uS violated the Electronic Commerce Act and decided to impose fines of 2.5 million won each, totaling 5 million won.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, KRAFTON misled consumers about the actual probability of winning items from March to June of last year. The item in question was content that changed the appearance of game characters to resemble members of the K-pop group NewJeans. In the game, it was indicated that players would win after 5 attempts, but the actual probability of winning on the last attempt was only 9%, the Commission explained.
Furthermore, KRAFTON indicated the probability of winning some items as 0.1414% to 0.7576% through a 'crafting' system that allowed players to change existing items, but it turned out the actual probability was 0%.
Com2uS similarly notified that the probability of enhancing the stats of probability-based items sold in Starseed from March to May last year was uniformly set at 24%. However, it was investigated that this probability only applied to one of the three components, while the other two had no enhancement effect.
The Fair Trade Commission ordered both companies to submit a detailed plan to prevent deceptive probabilities within 30 days. However, they adjusted the severity by imposing fines instead of penalty surcharges, considering that the period of legal violation was relatively short and that the companies voluntarily took corrective actions.
KRAFTON refunded over 3,800,000 won to about 380,000 affected consumers and provided in-game paid currency worth approximately 9.8 billion won as compensation. Com2uS compensated all users, totaling 1.55 million people, with rewards equivalent to 200,000 won, which was higher than the maximum purchase amount of about 140,000 won.
This action is the result of an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission that has been ongoing through self-monitoring and consumer complaints, following the implementation of the amended Game Industry Act, which mandated the disclosure of information on probability-based items starting in March of last year. Previously, in April, corrective orders and penalty surcharges were issued to Gravity (Ragnarok Online) and Wemade (Night Crow). Currently, sanction procedures are underway for other gaming companies, including WEBZEN (MU Archangel) and NCSOFT (Lineage).
A Fair Trade Commission official noted, 'We will strengthen surveillance on actions that deceive consumers with probability information of probability-based items and impose strict penalties upon confirmation of violations. We plan to rigorously enforce the law to ensure effective prevention of recurrence and consumer damage remedies.'