The Korea Economic Daily clarifies the details of the case, which mainly concerns the MMO MapleStory. In this very popular title in China and South Korea, players can buy a lottery ticket for 2000 won (or €1.39 at the current exchange rate) to try to obtain a Cube from a selection of products. Cubes allow you to reset the “potential” of objects, bonus statistics that can make all the difference between two drops identical. Different Cubes exist with different capacities, and therefore, varying interest.
Three-dimensional trap
In May 2010, when Cubes were introduced into MapleStorythey all had the same rate of drop in the lottery. According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), a state body responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the market, Nexon would have gradually manipulated the rates of drop from September 2010 to make the popular items rarer than the others, before simply removing them from the lots without informing the players. Worse, in August 2011, the publisher claimed that the rates had remained the same since day one. A blatant lie which seems, moreover, easily verifiable for any amateur statistician with a little money to spare.
The KFTC therefore penalized Nexon with a fine of $8.9 million, the largest ever imposed for a violation of Korea’s e-commerce consumer protection law. “We imposed this fine because Cubes are a key product [de MapleStory] and the infringement period is very long. This is the second offense [de Nexon] after Sudden Attack“, commented Kim Jung-ki, director of the market surveillance department of the KFTC. Indeed, Nexon had already been fined to the tune of 750,000 dollars for a similar case of lootboxes fraudulent in the FPS Sudden Attack in 2018 (GamesIndustry.biz).
However, the fine is little more than a slap on the wrist for Nexon. Indeed, according to the Korea Economic Daily, the editor “raised 550 billion won“(i.e. 383 million euros)”in Cube sales estimated between September 2010 and March 2021“, i.e. the period incriminated for scam and false advertising. Fine or simple transaction costs? It’s up to you to judge.