South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) sanctioned Webzen for selling new items while concealing that it had confirmed it would end its game service.

The FTC said on Wednesday it issued a corrective order and imposed an administrative fine of 5 million won on Webzen for falsely responding to user inquiries and releasing and selling new items even though it was reviewing ending service for the mobile game "The Eminence in Shadow: Master of Garden!"

The conduct violates the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, which bans inducing consumers and trading with them by providing false information.

The FTC said Webzen began a detailed review of whether to end service after the game’s revenue continued to fall from July 11, 2024. Webzen confirmed on July 30 it would end the service, but released 16 new character types to sell to consumers from Aug. 1 to Aug. 22.

Users asked Webzen from around July 26 to state its position on ending the service, as any newly acquired characters would become unusable if the service ended. Webzen responded from July 29 to 31 that there was "nothing under separate review", providing false information.

As a result, users mistakenly believed the service would continue and had no choice but to buy the 16 characters released on Aug. 1. Webzen did not announce its plan to end service until Aug. 22, and finally ended the service on Oct. 17 that year.

The FTC said Webzen violated Article 21(1)(1) of the law, which bans inducing consumers or trading with them by providing false or exaggerated information or using deceptive methods, by notifying users that there had been "no review" of ending service even though it had confirmed the shutdown and was selling new characters. It decided to issue a corrective order barring the same or similar conduct in the future and impose an administrative fine of 5 million won.

The FTC said the measure is expected to contribute to compliance with the law and prevent consumer harm in the related market by taking action against game companies that induce consumers using false or deceptive methods. It said it plans to continue monitoring and take strict action against game companies that provide false or exaggerated information about service shutdowns or induce consumers through deceptive methods.