Authorities in South Korea have banned the launch of new play-to-earn (P2E) games and asked Google and Apple to remove existing ones from app stores. These games are the latest crypto market fever and usually rely on the purchase of NFTs, with the possibility of earning income on them. However, game prizes above a certain amount in dollars are banned in South Korea.
Since April, game developers had already been facing court battles to keep their P2E games for sale in Korean app stores. The main problem is that some game apps could not obtain an age rating required for listing in the app stores.
According to CoinTelegraph, the local authorities claim they are just following Supreme Court precedent in preventing P2E games from receiving age ratings and being listed. The aim is to avoid games getting age ratings under the current law, since cash rewards can be considered prizes. In South Korea, prizes won in games cannot exceed 10,000 Korean won (US$ 8.42).
The South Korean government’s decision has negative implications for all P2E game apps, including the most popular game applications such as Axie Infinity and Splinterlands.
