The Korean National Assembly Passed Partial Amendments To The Game Industry Promotion Act (The "Game Industry Act"), Which Includes An Amendment To Simplify The Game Rating Process By Adopting A "Questionnaire-Based Rating System

• Published date: 21 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Sport, Gaming
• Law Firm: Bae, Kim & Lee
• Author: Mr Tae Uk Kang, Susan Park and Joo Sung Park

The current Game Industry Act requires each person who intends to produce or distribute a game to obtain a content rating for the game from the Game Rating and Administration Committee ("GRAC"), the Game Content Rating Board ("GCRB"), or through self-rating (available to certain game service providers). Korea's game rating system is intended to protect under-aged game users from harmful gaming content, as well as to, prevent the distribution of speculative and illegal games (Article 21 (1) of the Game Industry Act)¹.

As evident in the recent criticism against GRAC in relation to its rating practices for the digital game distribution platform STEAM in June of this year, not only game developers but also game users have long complained about Korea's complicated game rating process which is highly time-consuming. In response to such widely shared view within the gaming industry that an overhaul of the current rating system is needed, a bill to partially amend the Game Industry Act was introduced in the National Assembly, which was passed on November 19 in the plenary session. Under the amended Game Industry Act, anyone applying for a game rating is allowed to use a "rating system" created by GRAC and GCRB to rate his/her own game, which will effectively shorten the rating process and enhance the overall efficiency of the rating system. Meanwhile, the games which have been rated via this new process but contain excessively violent, sexual or speculative content will still be subject to review by GRAC or GCRB in the same manner as before to ensure proper review of the game content.

Shortened Rating Process

Currently, to obtain a rating for a game, the relevant person-in-charge at GRAC or GCRB, as the case may be, prepares a review report and holds discussion for rating (this is the so-called "decision-based rating method"), and this process takes more than 9 days on average to complete'and, additional time is needed to rate arcade games, which require a separate technical review process.²

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The administrative process for the current rating system is out of touch with the global trends which are moving toward simplified rating system, and this aspect of the Korean game rating system has come under much criticism as a hindrance to game developers and growth in the gaming industry. For example, the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) has adopted a rating system under which, once a developer completes a...