The Game Self-Governance Organization of Korea (GSOK) has released a new report which reveals that 15 of the top 100 games in the country do not disclose loot box odds, with three of the games being from American companies.
Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel Ahmad has detailed a recent proposal from Korean lawmakers who are proposing changes to the nation's Telecommunications Business Act. In said proposal, the company is aiming to challenge the Google and Apple duopoly on app stores by effectively ending store-exclusive games. As an addendum to this report, he also detailed a recent report that shows how loot box odds are disclosed in Korea.
What Games Do Not Disclose Loot Box Odds in Korea?
Out of the top 100 games in Korea, 85 of them do properly disclose their loot box odds. Out of the 15 games that do not properly disclose the odds, nine are from China and three are from the United States.
The three American games in question are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, and Apex Legends according to Daniel Ahmad. Strangely, Dota 2 is one of the Western games that disclosed its loot box odds in the United States; it's not yet known why the information on DOTA 2 loot boxes are disclosed in the United States but are apparently not in Korea. The other 12 games were not mentioned by name by Ahmad.
As for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Apex Legends, neither game has publicly disclosed its loot box odds to date as far as I can tell, although some players have figured out the statistical odds using math as shown in this analysis of Apex Legends loot box odds.
Korea takes the issue of loot box odds seriously; previously, the country's Fair Trade Commission fined Nexon, Netmarble, and NextFloor nearly a million dollars for alleged deception surrounding loot boxes. Considering these regulatory moves, these companies may soon face penalties in Korea for failing to properly disclose the odds for various items in loot boxes.
Do you think the disclosure of loot box odds should be mandated by law? Which games do you think have the best loot box practices? Let us know in the comments below!
