South Korean government asks Apple and Google app stores to remove P2E games

Time:2021-12-29 00:00 Source:Internet Copy share

The South Korean government has taken action to prevent the release of new P2E games and requires that existing P2E games be deleted from Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

P2E games have become popular in the cryptocurrency industry. In order to play the game and obtain in-game rewards, players usually must first purchase game items as non-homogeneous tokens. However, game bonuses over a few dollars are banned in South Korea.

Yesterday, the Game Management Committee (GMC) of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea asked the main mobile app market to ban any games that require in-app purchases before playing games.

In order to combat the proliferation of what it considers to be a speculative money-making plan, it is almost impossible for South Korean GMC to make the works of P2E game developers appear in the most popular mobile app stores.

Although the government's attempt to curb the growth of P2E games by directly entering the app market is a new development, since April, South Korean game developers have been facing court battles to keep their P2E games sold in domestic app stores. The main problem is that some game apps cannot get the age rating required for listing on the app store.

An official of South Korea’s GMC stated that the committee simply prohibited P2E games from obtaining age ratings and listing in accordance with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence. The official said in a statement on December 28:

"According to the current law, it is reasonable to prohibit P2E games from obtaining an age rating, because the cash rewards in the game can be regarded as bonuses."
In South Korea, the prize money obtained through the game cannot exceed 10,000 won (approximately US$8.42) each time.

The P2E game and NFT market Five Stars for Klaytn were initially banned by the South Korean app store due to lack of ratings, but the team behind the game won the ban in June and the game was launched. The final decision on the legal status of the game is expected to set a legal precedent for other P2E games, such as Infinite Breakthrough Three Kingdoms Reverse.

South Korea’s GMC’s position has a negative impact on all P2E game applications, including application suites related to the two most popular games: Axie Infinity and Splinterlands.

As a blockchain news information platform, Cointelegraph Chinese provides information only representing the author's personal views, and has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are invited to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise their risk awareness.

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