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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] Nexon Korea has lost a lawsuit filed by a user who claimed to have been harmed by manipulated probabilities in the gacha-style items of the popular game "MapleStory." The Supreme Court ruled on November 28 that Nexon must refund a portion of the user's purchase amount due to fraudulent practices in the sale of in-game items.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (Chief Justice Oh Seok-jun) upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of the plaintiff, A, in a case involving a claim for the return of sales proceeds. The court acknowledged that Nexon had engaged in fraudulent conduct and ruled that the contract for the item purchases should be annulled, limiting the amount to be refunded to 5% of the total price, which equates to approximately 570,000 won.
The case stems from the so-called "BoboBo" incident in 2011, which centered on Nexon’s sale of probability-based items called "Cubes" in MapleStory. These items, designed to enhance the in-game character’s stats, were advertised as offering five options, with three randomly selected. However, it was later revealed that Nexon had set the system to allow only two specific options to appear, leading to a public outcry.
Earlier this year, in September, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) and the Korea Consumer Agency reached a settlement regarding collective disputes over in-game probability items, instructing Nexon Korea to compensate 800,000 affected users with a total of 21.9 billion won. This was the first such collective compensation case since the introduction of the collective dispute resolution system in 2007 and is considered the largest of its kind.
Additionally, in January, the FTC fined Nexon 11.6 billion won for failing to properly disclose changes to the odds of probability-based items in MapleStory and Bubble Fighter, marking one of the largest penalties under the Electronic Commerce Act.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
