As one of the world’s best crypto regulators, the South Korean government is looking to regulate the Play-to-earn (P2E) gaming sector. The authorities have reached out to both Google and Apple to help block all P2E games as they are being seen as scams.
The South Korean government has been working hard to become the world’s best crypto regulator. People who play P2E games with NFTs have been the target of the authorities’ attention this time around.
The country’s Game Management Committee (GMC), which is part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, recently asked Apple and Google to block any games that require in-app purchases before you can play them.
In local news, South Korea’s regulators say that P2E games are scams that try to get more money from people. That’s because, with this order from the GMC, P2E games won’t be able to get on major app stores anymore. Even though the authorities haven’t used the word “ban” for P2E games, their actions show that they want to stop them.
The GMC’s stance on P2E games
This isn’t the first time that the South Korean government has tried to stop people from playing games like this one. The GMC was already in a fight with P2E game groups over the “age-ratings” mess.
If these NFT games had to get an age rating from the GMC, then P2E game companies kept on launching new games in the domestic market with self-rating systems.
“It is reasonable to keep P2E games from getting age ratings under the current law because cash rewards in games can be considered prizes.”, said a government official on the matter of blocking P2E games, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision.
Because the game companies used an in-house service provider for the release, they could rate their own games. As a result, the Game Commission banned the distribution of P2E games across the country, citing a law called the Game Industry Promotion Act’s “ban on prizes.” It used its own rating service to block the games. A lot of people aren’t happy about this. Gaming companies keep taking GMC to court.
