Nexon fined over MapleStory in-game item selling

South Korea’s online game developer Nexon Korea Corp. was fined 11.6 billion won ($8.9 million) for allegedly misleading its customers over in-game items of its hit online titles MapleStory and Bubble Fighter, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Wednesday.

The antitrust body said that Nexon, the largest shareholder in Nexon Games Co., has arbitrarily lowered the probability of the game's players drawing preferred items, dubbed Cubes, and setting the probability of winning some Cubes to zero, without notice.

A Cube is a paid piece of equipment that resets or upgrades the potential of equipment worn by in-game characters. Each cube carries a different level of potential.

When Nexon introduced the Cube items in May 2010, it set the probability of each option's appearance equally, but from September 2010, it changed the probability structure so that popular options preferred by users appear less frequently.

Game players pay about 2,000 won each to draw a Cube, as if they play a slot machine.

From August 2011 to March 2021, the gaming company changed the probability structure again so that certain options with particularly high preference did not appear at all.

Nexon had raked in 550 billion won in tentative sales from the sale of Cubes between September 2010 and March 2021.

The KFTC said Nexon did not notify its customers of the changes to the probability structure of the Cube items. Rather, in August 2011, it issued a notice that there were no changes to the Cube structure.

“We imposed the largest fine because the Cube is a core product of the game (Maple Story), the period of the violation is long and this is the second violation (by Nexon) following Sudden Attack," said Kim Jung-ki, director of the market surveillance department of the Korea Fair Trade Commission.

The penalty is the highest amount ever imposed for violating the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce in South Korea.

Back in 2018, Nexon was slapped with a 939 million won in fines for giving out false information about lottery-type items for Sudden Attack, an online shooting game.

In response to the KFTC announcement, Nexon said it humbly accepted the commission's decision but will consider challenging it, or taking the issue to court.

Write to Han-Shin Park at phs@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.