Nexon fined 8.9 million dollars by KFTC

The South Korean publisher Nexon has been fined 8.9 million US dollars by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). The reason for this is the alleged misleading of customers about the likelihood of certain purchasable items dropping.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, the fine applies to purchasable items in MapleStory and Bubble Fighter. The KFTC said the company had changed the likelihood of players drawing preferred items, called "cubes", in these two applications without informing players.

The regulator stated that in some cases Nexon ensured that the probability of selected cubes dropping was zero.

Cubes are items that can be used to change the potential of equipment worn by characters in the game. They can be acquired randomly via an in-game marketplace and vary in rarity.

Furthermore, the publication added that Nexon earned 550 billion won from cube purchases between September 2010 and March 2021 alone.

Source: www.gamedeveloper.com