韩国法院将就Nexon 116.42亿韩元概率道具罚款上诉作出判决

A South Korean court will issue its ruling on July 22 in Nexon's appeal seeking to overturn a 11.642 billion won administrative fine imposed over its failure to disclose probability changes for MapleStory's "Cube" items. The decision is expected to serve as a key precedent on whether game companies can be sanctioned for conduct that occurred before mandatory disclosure rules for probability-based items took effect.
According to industry sources on July 20, the Administrative Division 6-3 of the Seoul High Court will deliver its judgment on Nexon's lawsuit challenging the penalty imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).
The central issue is not whether Nexon manipulated item probabilities. Instead, the KFTC argues that the company failed for years to disclose information that could materially affect consumers' purchasing decisions. Nexon, meanwhile, contends that the regulator is retroactively applying standards that did not exist at the time because no legal obligation to disclose probability information was in place.
During the final hearing at the Seoul High Court in April 2026, Nexon argued that most of the probability changes at issue occurred during the 2010s, while the legal requirement to disclose probability-based item information was introduced only through amendments to the Game Industry Promotion Act that took effect in 2024. The company said applying the current standard to earlier conduct is unlawful.
Nexon also argued that its failure to disclose the probability changes amounted to a mere omission rather than an affirmative false representation. It further claimed that Cube sales increased even after probability information was disclosed, making it difficult to establish a causal relationship between the alleged deception and consumer purchases.
The company additionally maintained that the probability adjustments cited by the KFTC had ended before 2016, meaning the regulator's 2024 sanctions fell outside the applicable statute of limitations.
The obligation to disclose the probabilities of random-item products was codified through Article 33(2) of the Game Industry Promotion Act on March 21, 2023, and took effect on March 22, 2024.
The KFTC has argued that the case should be judged under Article 21 of the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, rather than the Game Industry Promotion Act. According to the regulator, it did not retroactively apply the probability disclosure requirement but instead sanctioned Nexon for concealing or omitting material information that influenced consumers' purchasing decisions and induced transactions.
According to the KFTC's written decision, Nexon modified the Cube potential-option system in 2010 and carried out 449 updates before publicly disclosing probabilities in 2021 without informing users of the changes. The regulator concluded that the conduct constituted deceptive practices that interfered with consumers' ability to make informed purchasing decisions.
One of the KFTC's representative examples is the so-called "Bo-Bo-Bo" case. The regulator found that Nexon altered the system in a 2011 update so that three highly desirable potential options could no longer appear together. However, the company simultaneously announced that "there are no changes to existing potential abilities, which remain the same," and that "there are no functional changes to existing Miracle Cubes," thereby concealing the probability changes.
Those options were among the most valuable potential attributes obtainable through Cube items and were highly sought after because of their impact on gameplay. The KFTC concluded that whether combinations such as "Bo-Bo-Bo" remained obtainable was material information likely to influence purchasing decisions. It therefore viewed Nexon's notices not as simple non-disclosure but as affirmative statements that led consumers to believe the probability structure remained unchanged.
The ruling is also expected to have implications for the broader gaming industry. A similar case involved Webzen's mobile game MU Archangel. In November 2025, the KFTC imposed a 158 million won fine after finding that Webzen had failed to disclose a so-called "floor system" under which players had a zero percent chance of obtaining certain rare items until they reached a minimum number of draws while selling three probability-based items between June 2020 and March 2024. Depending on the item, users had to make between 51 and 150 purchases before becoming eligible to receive the rare rewards. Despite that prerequisite, Webzen advertised acquisition probabilities of between 0.25% and 1.16%. Although the conduct predated the statutory probability disclosure requirement, the KFTC concluded that concealing material acquisition conditions distorted consumers' purchasing decisions and constituted deceptive conduct under the Electronic Commerce Act. Webzen did not challenge the regulator's decision.
The Nexon case concerns an appeal against an administrative sanction rather than criminal liability. At issue is whether the Electronic Commerce Act can be used to penalize companies for concealing information that materially affected purchasing decisions before mandatory probability disclosures became law.
If the court upholds the KFTC's decision, it could establish a clearer legal standard for determining whether past probability-based item practices constituted consumer deception. A ruling in Nexon's favor, by contrast, could limit the KFTC's ability to interpret pre-disclosure omissions as deceptive conduct under the Electronic Commerce Act.