South Korea Targeting Steam Over Ratings Dispute

[Logan Westbrook]

South Korea Targeting Steam Over Ratings Dispute

Valve's digital distribution platform might be in a hot water in South Korea, as the Korean government cracks down on unrated games.

The people of South Korea might lose access to their Steam games if the country's government goes ahead with a plan to block the service because of Valve's non-compliance with South Korean law. The country requires that all videogames must be rated by the government before they are released to general public, but the process isn't cheap and so many developers and publishers don't do it - including Valve.

The Korean government set a precedent with the web game Tribe Wars, blocking access to the game when its developers refused to have it rated. According to an insider from the Korean government department in charge of videogames rating, a similar block is on the table for Steam, although the department is said to be seeking alternative options.

Presumably, each developer or publisher will have to decide whether it's worth its while to submit its games to the South Korean rating board, making this situation even more complicated. Without knowing exactly how much it costs to have a game rated, it's hard to guess what might happen. Reports suggest that the fees can run to thousands of dollars however, which might be outside the budgets of the smaller developers that use the service. It could be that Steam will continue to operate in the country, but with a significantly reduced library.

Source: Team Liquid [http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=149943] via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5630828/report-korea-might-ban-steam]


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[Arcticflame]

I sense savvy gamers will be using vpn's and the ol' steam install hyperlinks if only some games are blocked.

Ratings and online content are such a grey area, I'm guessing we will see a lot more of this over the next 10 years, what with the internet being the (current) home of unrated content.

 

[DiscoAtThePanic]

Great article to remember the next time some college kid is calling America a dictatorship because they can't smoke pot in Starbucks.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

Why is rating such an expensive process? Can't they just give the game to a bunch of critics and then just add their rating to the game on Steam? I don't see why this is such a hassle.

 

[DiscoAtThePanic]

That's quite an oversight on the developer's part, there are numerous markets worldwide that need games to be rated before selling them.

The article says Valve refused to do it because of the time and cost. That's not an oversite, thats a choice.

 

[DiscoAtThePanic]

Why is rating such an expensive process? Can't they just give the game to a bunch of critics and then just add their rating to the game on Steam? I don't see why this is such a hassle.

Rated by the government, not by a bunch of critics. A government agency that has no reason to be fast and charges the publisher for the service.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Then I wouldn't have taken the risk and put the games on the SK Steam in the first place.

 

[DiscoAtThePanic]

That's quite an oversight on the developer's part, there are numerous markets worldwide that need games to be rated before selling them.

The article says Valve refused to do it because of the time and cost. That's not an oversite, thats a choice.

It's an oversight not to insist on it, it's required in quite a few markets so they should either have insisted that they were rated or accepted they'd lose sales for it.

No, wrong again. They chose not to pursue the process with every market that requires it, choosing to lose the sales rather than to pay multiple government regulatory agencies to rate each game at thei own pace, losing sales world wide as games waited in limbo for a governmen-agency pace.

 

[Gaderael]

Hang on now. Is it that they are banning games that have no ratings at all, be it ESRB, PEGI, etc.? Or is it that they are banning games that have not been rated by the South Korean government? If the latter is the case, then it seems like some lame cash grab by the government, besides just another means of trying to control what people can and cannot do in their country.

 

[Gindil]

Nuklear launch detected - SK Government

Zerg Rush - Koreans without access to Steam

For Aiur - Steam's response by keeping the games as the SK governemnt back pedals

 

[Aurora219]

I'd laugh if Starcraft 2 was unrated too. There'd be riots in the streets.

 

[mad825]

hm, this does get blocked then I see a huge battle for the gaming addicts going to their local shop to get a game, they would have to interact in the real world.

 

[Jared]

Will be a sad loss for the people os S.Korea. I was sure Steam had some form of rating system though...

 

[Albino Boo]

Hang on now. Is it that they are banning games that have no ratings at all, be it ESRB, PEGI, etc.? Or is it that they are banning games that have not been rated by the South Korean government? If the latter is the case, then it seems like some lame cash grab by the government, besides just another means of trying to control what people can and cannot do in their country.

I think you will find most or rest of the democratic world have legally enforceable age ratings on games, its only really the US that doesn't. I suspect why it takes so long is not because the South Korean government wants control but the much more prosaic reason of protecting domestic game production form foreign competition. Contrary to popular belief Koreans don't only play starcraft, but they have thriving MMO market, just take a look at the NC soft stable for a start. The big South Korean companies, know as Chaebol, practically own the government.

 

[Zhukov]

Please don't let the Australian goverment hear about this.

Please.

They might start getting ideas.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I am sure that Valve will greatly mourn the 3 lost sales from South Korea.
Since it seems that Steam does not have Starcraft and koreans play nothing else sooo.

I'd laugh if Starcraft 2 was unrated too. There'd be riots in the streets.

lol first thoughts that came to my mind.

south korea has to have lower sales than say..one of those really small phillipine islands? who knew they played anything outside sc and sc2?