The concept of NFT has attracted a lot of attention in the Internet circles since its inception, but the situation of P2E games in South Korea is somewhat complicated. On the one hand, many game companies have announced that they will develop P2E games with NFT blockchain technology applied to games, and on the other hand, the Korean Game Management Commission believes that "P2E games are legally impossible in South Korea on the grounds of speculation." ”
The "confrontation" between the two sides will inevitably bring about a collision of concepts, and recently, with the popularity of South Korea, among the top 10 best-selling P2E mobile game "Infinite Breakthrough Three Kingdoms" (hereinafter referred to as "Infinity") was imposed by the South Korean regulatory authorities with the penalty of "canceling the grading assessment", it is likely to officially withdraw from the application market after the completion of the corresponding procedures, and the "short-lived" "Infinity" marks an inflection point in the development of Korean P2E games.
Beat the dog before the lion? "Infinity" canceled its rating, and South Korea's P2E may usher in an inflection point
The mobile game "Infinite Breakthrough of the Three Kingdoms" operated by South Korean game company Natris has soared all the way after its launch, and soon rushed to the top of the Google Play and App Store charts.
It is worth mentioning that the game was launched as early as 2013, operated by South Korean game company Party Games, and then removed and discontinued in 2018. This year, the game was revived with KaKao, and the more outdated gameplay and slightly anachronistic art style did not reduce the enthusiasm of players to "cash out".
In this game, players can complete daily tasks, enter the PVP list and other behaviors in exchange for the virtual currency Mudol in the game, such as completing the Daily Mission can get 50 Mudol (previously 100, but due to the continuous monitoring of P2E by the regulatory authorities, the official has also recently reduced this revenue) entering the top 50 of the arena can get 1200-2000 Mudol.
Mudol can be exchanged for the cryptocurrency Clay through Kakao's blockchain subsidiary Ground X, which as of December 8 could be exchanged for 4.18 Clay coins, and 1Clay coin is equal to about 1600 won (about 8.6 yuan). In other words, an average player can earn at least about 3,000 won (about 16 yuan) a day in the game.
"Play and earn" naturally attracted a large number of players to join, but also made this game on the shelves in a few days to break through 170,000 DAU, for a time, in the game's community "how to earn 10,000 won in 15 minutes" similar posts emerge in an endless stream, which also triggered the attention of the regulatory authorities.
Just on December 13, the Korean Games Commission held an internal meeting and finally decided to "de-grade" Infinite, which also means that the game is about to be removed from the shelves of major Korean markets.
In South Korea, the launch of all kinds of games must pass the rating rating of relevant departments and agencies, and the behaviors such as violence and eroticism in the game must have a clear logo, and mobile games can be rated through the relevant application market.
According to relevant reports, in order to provide P2E services in South Korea, Natris directly registered the game on the Apple market without applying for a rating rating from the Game Commission, and the Korean Game Commission also considered it speculative after monitoring it, which forced Infinity to face the situation of canceling the original rating.
The cancellation of the rating means that Infinity has lost its "passport" to enter the market, and according to the P2E nature of its game itself, it is likely that it will not be able to be listed again due to relevant regulations after it is removed, although Natris may be dissatisfied with its decision and file a lawsuit, but this move also marks the inflection point in the development of the P2E game industry in South Korea, which has become a global boom.
Fragrant food is still hot potato, South Korean companies layout P2E
Although "Infinity" triggered the supervision of the relevant departments in South Korea at the beginning of its release, the "gold fever" it triggered may also affect the hearts of many game companies, which has also made the major game companies in South Korea recently begin to accelerate the layout of P2E products.
WEMADE, which was named "P2E Leader" by South Korean Media, continues to add bricks and tiles on the road to P2E, not only with the explosive MMOPRG "Mir4" pearl in front, they also established the WEMIX platform, intending to create an "open platform for all games to integrate with the blockchain." "At present, this platform not only contains famous game IP with more than 10 million downloads such as "Everytown" and "WIND Runner", but also continues to move forward on the road of expansion.
On December 13, Lightcon's game Project SA announced that it will join WEMADE's blockchain platform WEMIX, a blockchain game that integrates collectible RPGs and TCG, focusing on the two-dimensional style, in which players can earn game tokens through PVP, and all characters in the game are NFTs, can be traded, and can also create new characters through crafting.
In addition, Softton Entertainment also announced its participation in the WEMIX platform and plans to "transform" its most famous game IP, Dark Eden, into a blockchain game, which is a horror type MMORPG.
Game maker Nowiz also recently announced that it will enter P2E games, they announced two games of the global teaser website, one is the golf game "Crypto Golf Impact", the other is its veteran mobile game "Brown Dust", this mobile game will also be "transformed" to P2E next year after the name of "Brave Nine". It is worth mentioning that these games are based on neopin, a blockchain platform developed by Neofly, which is a blockchain affiliate of Neofiz, and players can exchange neopin tokens for game content through game currency.
Similarly, according to South Korean media sources, NCsoft also announced its ambitions to lay out in the P2E field on its 3Q earnings call. NCsoft has created a working group internally to prepare for game development using NFT technology and plans to launch a new game next year, while its CFO believes that "MMORPGs are the most suitable type to apply NFT technology." NCsoft also intends to expand overseas with games with an NFT nature.
Although the For klaton version of Five Stars, which claims to be the first game in South Korea to access the NFT trading system, was rejected and rated by the Korean Game Management Commission on the grounds that the game includes NFT functions, its game company SkypePeople also announced a new company slogan last month, "Earn and Enjoy", which also expressed their determination to continue to cultivate in the P2E field.
Summoners War's developer Com2Us began investing in South Korea's large cryptocurrency exchange in 2020, becoming one of the largest mobile game companies to enter NFT games, and they will also launch many blockchain games soon, including Baseball Superstar, Zenonia World and so on.
There may be many more cases like this, which undoubtedly show the attractiveness of P2E games to the Korean game market, but it is worth noting that most of the company's P2E games are based on their own blockchain platforms, which may also be a breakthrough for game regulators, and the cancellation rating of Infinity has pushed P2E games to the forefront.
Speculation or routine? Many parties have debated the storm undecided
South Korea's official "resistance" to P2E games also begins with a 2004 game "Ocean Story". This is a game approved for listing in 2004, players can invest a certain amount of cash in the game to draw far more than the amount of goods tickets invested, this game in the later because of the collusion between the commodity coupon company and the arcade, gradually became a disguised gambling tool, caused a considerable sensation, millions of people were involved in it, which also made 2006 also become the darkest year in the history of the development of the Korean game industry.
According to Article 32, Paragraph 7 of the Game Industry Promotion Act, it is not allowed to "engage in currency exchange business or intermediary the exchange or repurchase of tangible and intangible results" in games.
Intriguingly, the current perception of P2E games has been divided to varying degrees in the Korean game industry, regulators, financial stakeholders and players.
Wi Jeong-hyeon, president of the Korea Game Association, has said: "Games that provide instant cash flow are likely to be 'spend money (P2W)' rather than 'make money (P2E)'... In a structure where gaming companies can control game information and currency supply and demand, a second ocean story could emerge, so deregulation could disrupt the gaming industry in the long run. At G-Star last month, Kim Gyu-cheol, chairman of the Korean Games Commission, also stated that classifying games with an NFT nature is "not possible under current game laws." ”
However, the financial sector's attitude towards P2E is completely opposite, and the South Korean Financial Services Commission said that P2E games do not violate financial laws. The Secretary of the Financial Services Commission's E-Finance Department argued that "there is no part of the P2E game that conflicts with the E-Financial Transactions Act." He added, "I don't think it's any different from most games that can earn points and money rewards." ”
At the player level, the attitude towards P2E is even less pronounced, with some players saying, "In a P2E game, you can simply perform tasks and exchange rewards for cryptocurrency, and I don't know what kind of 'speculative' element there is." It was also endorsed by a subset of players who had received rewards for Infinity, claiming that Infinity's P2E model was "much more reasonable than other games that offer paid products that offer 'probability items.'" At the same time, due to the uncertainty of the attitude of game regulators to virtual assets, some players are not optimistic about the development of P2E games.
In GameLook's view, the reason for this disagreement is naturally caused by the different perspectives of all parties, but its essence is the contradiction around the word "speculation", and the different definitions of "speculative behavior" naturally expose certain limitations in the supervision of Korean games.
As WEMADE CEO Zhang Xianguo put it, "Simply allowing NFTs in game law is limited, and speculation regulation itself needs to change." Perhaps, rather than whether P2E games are allowed, the "redefinition" of the concept of "speculation" itself may be an important driver of this disagreement, as some Korean game practitioners believe: "This is an era that needs to be re-discussed, rather than on the same line as existing speculative games." “
epilogue
Many remarks from all sides have shown the embarrassing situation of P2E games in South Korea. On the one hand, "Infinity" is facing the "accusation" of declassification and even removal, on the other hand, on the other hand, the legendary item "Dragon Sword" of "Mir4" was traded for 160,000 DRACO coins (about 100 million won, equivalent to 538,000 yuan), on the other hand, players set off a burst of gold rush in P2E games, and on the other hand, The Korean game regulator has been slow to determine the division of the concept of "speculative behavior".
Perhaps the pain before the advent of the new order, Infinity may become a landmark "victim" on the road to the legalization of P2E games in South Korea. Under the wave of P2E, NFT and metaversity in the world, and the continuous addition of major Korean manufacturers in these fields, the victory of P2E may only be "sooner or later", but in this process, it is more necessary to do not communicate and negotiate between South Korean regulators, the game industry and major manufacturers, so that this "gray area" can be painted with a bright color of the new era.
····· End ·····
GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
Global vision / depth is material