A claim has been raised that damage to South Korea's games industry from Google's in-app payment fees has exceeded 8 trillion won over the past 10 years. Critics say Google, which accounts for more than 30 percent of domestic internet traffic, should also share the cost of network usage fees.

Lee Jin-sook (이진숙), a People Power Party lawmaker on the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said on Tuesday that this was the result of an analysis of the burden of Google's in-app payment fees based on the performance of domestic game companies.

Her office said an AI-based analysis of game companies' performance from 2016 to 2025 found that the amount exceeding an assumed appropriate level of 10 percent out of the 30 percent fee paid to Google by five major game companies, including Netmarble, Nexon, NCsoft, Com2uS and Pearl Abyss, was estimated at about 5.9621 trillion won.

Adding to that about $1.6 billion in claims, roughly 2.4 trillion won, by about 280 small and mid-sized South Korean game companies pursuing collective mediation against Google in the United States brings the overall claimed damage to more than 8 trillion won.

The office assumed the appropriate fee rate at up to 10 percent based on fee levels presented during litigation involving Epic Games in the United States. It said the figure is a combined total of the office's own estimate and the lawsuit claims, and the actual amount of damages has not been determined.

Lee also took issue with the fact that large game companies are not pursuing separate damages claims against Google. She said legal action is needed to recover damages because the fee burden could be passed on to users by being reflected in prices of in-game items.

She also raised the issue of Google's network usage payments. The office said Google accounted for 34.81 percent of South Korea's average daily internet traffic last year. It said estimated domestic revenue as of 2024 could reach up to 11.302 trillion won, but investment in facilities such as domestic cache servers averages about 36.3 billion won per year.

Based on estimates by industry and experts, the office put the network usage payments Google should bear domestically at about 359.5 billion won as of 2024.

Google says it reduces the traffic burden by installing cache servers, known as GGC, at South Korean telecom companies, but Lee said such investment is insufficient to replace sharing network usage payments.

Lee said she will clearly confirm at the parliamentary audit whether Google is blocking major game companies from filing damages claims or whether those companies are holding back on their own. She said Google should also take a responsible position in South Korea, as it does in the United States and Britain, on both in-app payment fees and network usage payments.

Lee plans to question Google Korea head Yoon Koo at the parliamentary audit on the legality of in-app payment fees and any refund plan, whether there has been consultation with major game companies, and ways to reach a reasonable agreement with domestic telecom companies on network usage payments.