Nexon's ₩11.6 Billion MapleStory Fine: A Verdict Delayed Four Times

For more than a decade, MapleStory players rolled Cubes hoping for the perfect set of item options. What they did not know was that some combinations had been quietly made impossible. When Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) finally laid out the details in January 2024, it handed Nexon the largest fine ever imposed on a Korean game company. In November 2026, that case is still not settled.

The KFTC fined Nexon Korea 11.642 billion won and issued a corrective order on January 3, 2024. Nexon sued to cancel the penalty in February 2024. The Seoul High Court has now postponed its verdict four times, most recently by reopening arguments on August 31, 2026, two days before a scheduled September 2 ruling. A further hearing was set for October 28, 2026, after which a fifth verdict date was to be chosen.

What the KFTC found

According to the KFTC's findings as reported by Newsis:

• Nexon introduced paid Cubes in 2010. They made up roughly 30% of MapleStory's sales.
• From September 2010, Nexon lowered the odds of popular options appearing, without telling players. Originally, all options had equal odds.
• From August 2011 to March 2021, certain popular duplicate options were set never to appear at all.
• On August 4, 2011, Nexon posted a notice saying the Cube's function had not changed, which the KFTC called false.
• The Black Cube, added in 2013, started with a 1.8% chance to upgrade an item to Legendary grade. By 2016 it was 1%, again without disclosure.

The fine also covered Bubble Fighter, where a bingo event's golden number had a 0% chance under certain conditions.

Why the court keeps hesitating

The legal question is simple to state and hard to answer. Korea's law requiring games to disclose probability-item odds only took effect on March 22, 2024. Nexon argues that punishing earlier conduct is retroactive regulation. The KFTC says it did not need that law: hiding or misstating key purchase information was already deceptive under the E-Commerce Act.

SBS Biz reported that the court's latest delay was its own decision, not requested by either side, and that observers believe the judges are being careful because the ruling could set a precedent for the whole industry. One lawyer quoted in the report noted that if the fine stands, other companies that changed odds before March 2024 could face similar fines and consumer claims.

How Korea's gacha rules have tightened

The MapleStory affair helped push Korea toward some of the world's strictest rules on loot boxes:

• March 22, 2024: disclosure of probability-item types and odds becomes mandatory. In the first months, the Game Rating and Administration Committee found 261 violations, with foreign companies responsible for more than 60%.
• December 31, 2024: an amendment passes that makes companies prove they had no intent or negligence when odds are wrong, and allows damages of up to three times the loss for intentional cases. It was set to take effect six months after promulgation.
• A separate law requiring overseas game companies to appoint a domestic agent was due to take effect at the end of 2025.
• July 29, 2025: the culture ministry announced a decree giving legal footing to a reporting and damage-relief centre for game users.

Why it matters

For MMO players, the impact is already visible. Korean launches like AION 2 advertise "no power for sale" and lean on cosmetics and memberships, and Lineage Classic returned to a flat subscription (our business-model feature). Whatever the court decides, the old model of hidden odds is finished in Korea. What to watch: the fifth verdict date. If the fine is upheld, expect a wave of claims over pre-2024 gacha; if it is cancelled, the KFTC's power to police old cases shrinks.