On June 19, 2019, the Game Rating and Administration Committee (“GRAC”) released a decision to lift monthly spending limits on online PC games for users over 18 years-old (“Adult Users”). 

As you are probably aware, despite there not being a specific legal basis under any law or regulation, including the Game Industry Promotion Act (“GIPA”), the GRAC has been setting monthly spending limits for users under 18 (“Underage Users”) at KRW 70,000 per month, and for Adult Users, KRW 500,000 per month.  By not awarding game ratings for gaming systems that allow users to exceed those limits, the GRAC has been in practice forcing those limits onto game systems. 

However, as the aforementioned spending limits were not based on any particular law or regulation, the regulations arguably were in violation of the principle of freedom of choice for adults, and there has been controversy over the fairness of these regulations as mobile games and games distributed from abroad were not subject to these spending limits, the GRAC has relaxed these spending restrictions.  Despite the change, it appears that the spending restrictions that apply to Underage Users and web-board games such as go-stop and poker that encourage speculative behavior may still remain in force. 

In connection to the above, the GRAC has announced on June 19, 2019 a partial amendment to the game rating regulations that eliminates the need to list a monthly spending limit for adult games (other than web-board games) when applying for a rating and this amendment is to take effect on June 27, 2019.

There is anticipation that, when the above amendment to the game rating system takes effect, there will be growth and activity in the domestic PC online game industry and the amendment would make syncing mobile and PC game systems together much more convenient.