The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined Nexon over violations of the Electronic Commerce Act in its popular games MapleStory and Bubble Fighter.
Specifically, the regulator imposed a corrective order, basically ordering Nexon to fix the issues, and added on top of it a provisional fine of 11.6 billion won, which is just south of $9 million at the current exchange rates.
The reason for the action, explained in an extensive document published by the Korean FTC, is that Nexon has changed the odds in items including randomized effects to the disadvantage of customers without informing them.
According to the regulator, the violations in MapleStory happened across a fairly extensive period of time.
This started with the introduction of Cubes to the game in 2010, which are used to reset potentials on pieces of equipment.
While initially, the potentials resulting from the reset appeared with equal probability, this was changed to weighed probability in the same year with the most desirable results appearing with lower frequency.
In 2011, the probability of certain potentials appearing twice on the same item was also removed.
Then, in 2013 and 2016 the percentage for Black Cubes to push items to Legendary status was dropped twice. In all of these cases, this was not publicly disclosed to the users.
Nexon has responded by posting an extensive apology on the game's website, mentioning that the FTC's investigation began in 2021 after the company disclosed the probabilities behind the Cubes' feature.
The disclosure in 2021 was part of a transparency campaign that followed harsh criticism received from users on the game's quality and the methods behind it.
The company mentions that it is well aware that there are still shortcomings in its operations. It pledges to use this incident as an opportunity to look back at its past, make up for what's still lacking, and think about what to implement in the future to create a game that users can be proud of.
The message, signed by Choi Won-joon in charge of Nexon's live headquarters ends with a pledge to do better.
We won't violate the trust of our users and we'll take the responsibility and lead the way to create a more mature and healthy gaming culture in the future.
