Last Friday, a South Korean court ruled against the release of a blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) game due to the in-game non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Fast facts
-
According to court documents, SkyPeople, the South Korean developer of Five Stars, argues that game items and characters minted as NFTs are not rewards but records of ownership.
-
Seoul Administrative Court dismissed SkyPeople’s appeal against the GRAC’s refusal to process the age rating for Five Stars. According to the court, trade of NFTs cannot be game items.
-
On OpenSea, Five Stars’ collection had 2,249 owners as of Jan. 17.
-
South Korean video games must have an age rating from the game rating committee.
-
In South Korea, games involving cryptocurrencies or NFTs have been banned by the game rating committee due to a local law prohibiting companies from promoting speculative behavior to players.
-
As part of his election campaign, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol promised to abolish the ban.
-
Despite the local ban, South Korean P2E game makers have released blockchain-based games abroad.
