Fair Trade Commission Probes Potential Violations of Newly Enforced Regulations

Courtesy of GRAVITY

Korea's antitrust regulator, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), announced on Monday that it is conducting an investigation into the game publisher Gravity to ascertain whether the company has breached recently implemented policies concerning the loot box system.

This probe marks the first action taken by the FTC following the release of regulations on March 22 regarding the loot box system. This system involves in-game lucky draws purchased by players, which may yield favorable or unfavorable outcomes for their gaming experience.

Korean game companies have faced criticism from domestic gamers for their perceived lack of transparency concerning the loot box model, with allegations of manipulating probabilities for financial gain.

A significant change enforced by the FTC last month mandates that game publishers publicly disclose information regarding loot box items in mobile and online games, including probability data.
 

▲ Logo for Gravity's online game Ragnarok / Courtesy of GRAVITYGravity, known for the online game Ragnarok, updated information regarding loot box items on the game's homepage on March 20, acknowledging discrepancies in the probability data for some items compared to what was previously disclosed. The list of affected items exceeded 100.

Certain items saw significant changes in probability data, dropping from 0.8 percent to 0.1 percent. This meant consumers were eight times less likely to acquire valuable items than previously indicated, without prior notification.

Gravity explained that when disclosing probability data, they verify it through simulations, but acknowledged shortcomings in the procedure.

In response, gamers lodged complaints with the FTC, alleging that Gravity is tampering with their loot box model.

The regulator is also exploring further information gathering through on-site investigations.

Sayart 

Sayart, sayart2022@gmail.com