Blue Archive Rating Dispute Reveals The Korean Games Rating Committee’s Fraudulent Practices

The Korean Games Rating and Administration Committee is in a pinch due to a surprising turn of events. An audit was carried out due to a petition filed against the committee by the fans of Blue Archive—an RPG gacha title for Android/iOS. The investigation revealed several fraudulent events leading to a chaotic situation that may place the committee under a national ban, according to the details mentioned in a Korean article that reported the event. 

Previously, The Games Rating Committee tried to rate Blue Archive 18+. However, the developers disputed the ratings with the committee as an 18+ rating will impact the game’s player count and the entry’s profits. The result of the dispute had Nexon Games develop a separate version rated 16+ for the Korean audience. 

With that said, fans filed a petition against the Korean Game Rating Committee to dispute the title’s rating. It was alleged that the “Self-Classification Game Product Integrated Post-Monitoring System“ established by the NGC in 2017 was irregular, and the ratings were changed and reviewed by the agency without clear and well-defined standards. 

Since it was a government agency, an internal audit was conducted for further investigation. The audit was conducted extensively from January 30 to February 24 this year. The audit revealed that the game product rating service and equipment import and export management system was not operational.

Furthermore, evidence of embezzlement, ignorance of duty, and corruption was found during the audit. The Korean agency got ended up in a tight pinch, as evidence showed that some employees were mining Bitcoin during work hours and used the company’s internal data to earn more profit. Some speculate that it will be difficult for the committee to avoid a national ban after various fraudulent activities have been revealed.

The chairman of the auditor’s office has ordered disciplinary action against those involved, including temporary suspension of activities and resolving damages. The commission accepted the audit results and intended to carry out follow-up measures. Kim Kyu-Chul, chairman of the committee, ordered the resignation of all general managers, and according to the Korean article mentioned above, he promised to make reforms.

We promise to thoroughly implement the requirements for the disposal of the auditors,” and said, “We will use the results of the audit by the auditors as an opportunity to resolve internal problems within the committee and re-emerge as an institution that can be trusted by the people.”