Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Game Industry Act Passed at Cabinet Meeting
Effective from March 22... Monitoring Team Operation Announced
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon) announced on the 2nd that the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Game Industry Promotion Act, which includes the mandatory disclosure of probability-type item information, was passed at the first Cabinet meeting.
Jeon Byeong-geuk, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, briefing on the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Game Industry Act related to probability-type items. [Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]
The amendment to the Enforcement Decree contains provisions to implement the mandatory disclosure of probability-type item information, one of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national tasks. In February last year, a partial amendment to the Game Industry Act including related content passed the National Assembly plenary session. Accordingly, the government announced the draft amendment to the Enforcement Decree for public comment in November last year. It will take effect from March 22.
The amendment passed at the Cabinet meeting stipulates, through the establishment of Article 19-2 and Appendix 3-2, ▲types and display items of probability-type items ▲games subject to the display obligation ▲methods of displaying probabilities, etc.
The amendment comprehensively regulates types of probability-type items such as capsule type, enhancement type, synthesis type, complete gacha*, and ceiling system, as well as display information including probability information and item provision periods. It also establishes a legal basis for the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to announce by public notice the display of probability information when new types of probability-type items emerge.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is announcing a pledge to reform unreasonable regulations in the game industry and protect user rights at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, during his presidential campaign.
However, through exception clauses, games provided to youth game providers and general game providers, classification-exempt games produced for educational and learning purposes, and games from small and medium enterprises whose average annual sales for three years are less than 100 million KRW for all producers, distributors, or providers are excluded from the display obligation.
It also stipulates that information on the types of probability-type items and supply probabilities by type must be provided in a form easily understandable by users. The government plans to establish a monitoring team of 24 members to crack down on violations. To prevent confusion in the game industry due to the system implementation, a guidebook on the disclosure of probability-type item information will also be distributed within this month.
In addition to the disclosure of probability-type item information, the Cabinet meeting also approved ▲adding history-related organizations to the recommending organizations for the Game Management Committee members ▲changing the age rating display method according to the change of youth age standard (19 years old) under the Game Industry Act.
Minister Yoo In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, "I feel deeply moved that the concrete details of the probability-type item information disclosure system, which game users have long desired, were established and passed at the first Cabinet meeting of 2024," adding, "We will sufficiently explain the system to the game industry before its implementation and thoroughly crack down on legal violations after the system is in place to protect the legitimate rights of game users."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
