[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul – The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on September 8 that it has imposed corrective orders and fines totaling KRW 22.5 million (USD 16,000) against three online game operators for misleading consumers about randomized in-game items.
The sanctioned companies are:
Com2uS Holdings – KRW 7.5 million
Cosmos Entertainment – KRW 10 million
iToxic – KRW 5 million
Details of Violations
Com2uS Holdings was found to have falsely informed players of its game Soul Strike that rare items could only be obtained starting from Level 4, when in fact they were available from Level 3.
Cosmos Entertainment, operator of Online Three Kingdoms 2, misled users by claiming that certain reward items could be acquired on specific servers, even though they were actually unobtainable there.
iToxic, which operates Super Girls Battle, advertised that the top-tier character could access 29 randomized items, though 10 of those items had not yet been released.
Regulatory Action
The KFTC ruled these practices violated the E-Commerce Act, which prohibits deceptive advertising in online transactions. The Commission stated that such actions distort consumer choice and undermine trust in the online gaming industry.
The sanctions mark a continuation of regulatory scrutiny on probability-based items (“gacha” mechanics), which have long been a source of consumer complaints in South Korea’s gaming market.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
