Nexon incorporates own payment system for Dungeon & Fire release

South Korea’s online game developers are intensifying their efforts to build and incorporate their own payment systems to wipe out hefty commissions paid to operators of app stores. 

Online game juggernaut Nexon Co. introduced its own payment system for the computer version of its recently released Dungeon & Fire mobile game.

US-based internet behemoth Alphabet Inc., which owns Google, and Apple Inc. have been under international scrutiny for forcing app developers to use their payment systems on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Nexon is allowing the players of the Dungeon & Fire mobile game to play the latest title on their computers as well. Thanks to the flexibility, the players can enjoy the game on either of the platforms with a single account.

This is not the first time Nexon introduced a mobile game that is also compatible with computers. 

But the computer version of its mobile game V4 still had to follow the payment prompt of the app store operators. That means Google took a 30% cut of revenue incurred from any V4-related purchase whether through mobile or computer. 

FROM MOBILE TO COMPUTER

With Dungeon & Fire, Nexon will not have to pay the 30% commission to Google for purchases made on personal computers. 

Industry insiders say NCSoft Corp. was one of the biggest losers of the Google commissions on games because a large number of its players began playing the Lineage M series on computers. 

Nexon is the first major game publisher in South Korea to veer away from the in-app purchase mandate by Google. Last year, smaller game developer NPixel introduced an independent in-app purchase system. 

“Google recently lowered its standards for restricting independent in-app purchase systems,” a subject matter expert told The Korea Economic Daily. The US internet company did not allow app developers to incorporate their native payment systems even on the computer versions of mobile games and required that payments be made only through the Google Play Store. 

Industry insiders are hopeful the Korean companies' profitability will drastically increase with fewer commissions paid to US tech giants for in-app purchases. 

The Korea Mobile Internet Business Association estimates South Korean companies paid some 952.9 billion won ($ 787.9 million) to the app operators last year. 

The country’s 3N, or the three biggest players in the gaming industry, are paying tens of billions of won every year in commissions to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. They are Nexon, Netmarble Corp. and NCSoft. 

FIRST CASE GLOBALLY

South Korea is the first and only country so far to impose legislation addressing the tech companies’ payment policies.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is in charge of ensuring the respective companies are following the latest law that bars dominant app store operators from forcing app developers to use their payment systems.

Korean lawmakers amended the Telecommunication Business Act last August in an aim to curb the tech majors’ market dominance and curtail the global app store operators' restrictive in-app purchase policies. 

Alphabet Inc.’s Google, for its part, maintains that it will remove any apps that try to circumvent its payment system from the Google Play Store.

Write to Joo Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.