On July 10, 2026, representatives from TheGameAgent attended the first official roundtable for domestic agents representing overseas game companies. The event was jointly organized by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC).
Held approximately nine months after Korea’s domestic agent requirement took effect on October 23, 2025, the roundtable provided a practical view of how the system is being implemented and which compliance problems continue to appear in overseas games.
Korea’s domestic agent requirement does not apply automatically to every overseas game developer entering the Korean market.
It applies to game distributors or game service providers that have no address or place of business in Korea and meet at least one of the following criteria:
The designation obligation should therefore be reviewed annually based on the company’s latest revenue and installation data.
Figures presented at the July roundtable showed that 80 of the 81 companies subject to mandatory designation had completed the process—an implementation rate of approximately 99%.
An additional 24 companies that were not legally required to appoint an agent had done so voluntarily, bringing the reported total to 104 overseas companies with a Korean domestic agent.
These figures demonstrate that the designation requirement has largely entered its operational stage. However, the roundtable also showed that appointing an agent on paper does not automatically guarantee substantive compliance.
Under Korea’s Game Industry Promotion Act, a domestic agent must have an address or place of business in Korea and must be appointed in writing.
The agent’s legal responsibilities primarily cover:
The domestic agent’s name, address, telephone number, and email address must also be included in the game company’s applicable terms and conditions.
The law does not automatically define the domestic agent as a general customer-service center or Korean publisher. Nevertheless, the agent functions as an important local compliance channel between the overseas company and Korean regulatory authorities.
One of the clearest operational messages from the roundtable was that a domestic agent should not simply forward a Korean regulatory notice to the overseas headquarters.
The agent must be able to explain:
A delayed response is not automatically a violation merely because of a language barrier. However, failing to respond to a lawful reporting request or failing to correct a disclosure violation can cause the matter to escalate.
The roundtable focused heavily on probability disclosure because compliance remained inconsistent even among companies that had appointed a domestic agent.
GRAC reportedly reviewed 1,205 games operated by 103 designated overseas businesses between January 1 and July 9, 2026. Of these, 206 games contained probabilistic items and were examined more closely.
Among the violation patterns presented, partial omission of probability information accounted for approximately 40%, while complete omission accounted for approximately 14%.
The following issues therefore require particular attention.
Probability information generally must be available both within the game and on the game’s official website.
In-game disclosure should be directly accessible from the relevant purchase, inquiry, or use screen. Website information should be provided as searchable text or numerical data rather than being embedded only in images.
Where a game does not operate an official website, an official blog or social-media channel may be used in accordance with the applicable requirements. Certain user-specific probabilities that change in real time may also be subject to separate display rules.
The key question is not simply whether a probability table exists somewhere. Users and regulators must be able to locate and verify the applicable information through the required channels.
Another recurring issue is disclosure of only an overall grade probability, such as:
This is insufficient when individual items within the same grade have different acquisition rates.
The disclosure must allow users to verify the probability applicable to each obtainable item, including relevant differences based on item type, grade, or performance.
A grade-level total does not replace item-level disclosure where individual outcomes and rates differ.
Displayed probabilities must accurately reflect the probabilities applied by the game system.
Rounding is permitted only in accordance with the applicable precision rules. Developers should not arbitrarily shorten decimal values or use different calculation methods across the server, in-game UI, website, and regulatory reporting materials.
A reliable compliance check should compare:
Any discrepancy should be investigated before the game is launched or the relevant update goes live.
When advertisements or promotional materials feature a game containing probabilistic items, the required indication that the game includes probabilistic items must also be displayed.
Developers should therefore include advertising assets—not just the game client and website—in their compliance review scope.
A company that is legally required to appoint a domestic agent but fails to do so may face an administrative fine of up to KRW 20 million.
Separately, probability disclosure violations may begin with a corrective request. If the company fails to respond or remedy the issue, the matter may escalate to additional corrective measures, an official corrective order, or distribution restrictions.
The practical risk is therefore not simply receiving an initial notice. The greater risk is failing to understand the requested correction, missing the response deadline, or submitting evidence that does not prove the violation has been fully remedied.
Based on the July 2026 roundtable, overseas publishers should confirm the following:
The roundtable confirmed that many probability disclosure problems arise from operational omissions, inconsistent data, and incomplete communication rather than intentional manipulation.
However, an unintentional mistake can still become a regulatory issue if users cannot verify the correct probability or if the company fails to complete the requested correction.
Domestic agent compliance should therefore not be treated as a one-time appointment. It requires an ongoing system connecting the Korean agent with the overseas company’s legal, engineering, live-operations, and publishing teams.
TheGameAgent supports global game companies through:
For further guidance, see 5 Critical Mistakes in Choosing Your Agent.
If your game contains paid randomized rewards, review our Probability Disclosure Compliance: 5 essencial Q&As.
Is your company’s Korean compliance framework ready for the next regulatory request? Contact TheGameAgent for a practical review of your domestic agent structure and probability disclosure process.
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