The State Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) of South Korea imposed a fine of $875 thousand on the Nexon gaming company for selling loot boxes. The department considered that the publisher misled the players about their chances of finding a particular reward in the loot chest.
The reason for the sanctions was the Celebrity Count event in the Sudden Attack multiplayer shooter. During the game event, gamers were offered to buy loot boxes worth about $1. In addition to random items, each box contained two puzzle picture elements. Having collected 16 pieces, the player received a guaranteed prize.
According to the Korea Herald newspaper, some parts of the puzzle came across with a probability of 0.5%. KTFC reported that one of the participants spent about $430 on prize chests, trying to collect all the pieces.
The Commission believes that Nexon unfairly underestimated the probability of obtaining some pieces of the puzzle. Nexon insists that there was a misunderstanding here.
“We warned the participants of the event that the items and pieces of the puzzle will fall out randomly. It was assumed that the chances of getting every detail of the team picture are different.
KFTC interpreted this phrase as suggesting an equal chance of getting the contents of the loot boxes. We plan to work out this problem in the future,” Nexon Korea reported.
In addition to Nexon, KFTC also fined gaming companies Netmarble and NextFloor for selling loot boxes. In comparison with Nexon, the amount of penalties was significantly lower — the companies paid about $60 thousand in total.
The Commission found that both companies misinformed their players about the real chances and conditions for obtaining certain game items in their titles.
For example, Netmarble promo materials promised gamers a 10% chance of getting an item in online baseball Ma9, but in fact this chance was 5%.
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