Blizzard Korea Under Fire From "Unfair" Licensing Fees
Today marks the highly anticipated worldwide release of Starcraft Remastered, the retrofitted remake of the original Starcraft. Starcraft Remastered has taken the world by storm, with many fans eager to relive the glory days of the iconic game, however South Korea's "PC Bangs" (the local term for internet cafes) are less than happy with Blizzard Korea's new pricing scheme for the game.
South Korea's PC Bangs have accused Blizzard Korea of "unfairly charging them for the new game". The PC Bang association argues that Starcraft Remastered is essentially the same game as Starcraft, albeit with updated graphics and improved compatibility. Therefore, it is "unjustified for Blizzard to start charging new fees" for what they believe to be the same product.
The Korean PC bang association has taken issue with Blizzard’s new policy to charge PC cafes between 203 and 233 won (20 cents) per hour for offering the new Starcraft game to visiting players. In the case of the original “Starcraft,” Korean PC bangs purchased the game package one-off and were not required to pay any additional fees.
“Blizzard Entertainment is misappropriating its superior market status to push unfair measures to PC bangs owners, most of which are small-sized business owners,” the association said.
Blizzard Korea however, sees the situation differently. A representative for Blizzard has stated that they view Starcraft Remastered "as a new game with different elements from the old version", with new PC Bang perks and incentives that were unavailable to players in the old Starcraft game.
With its exclusive offerings, ‘Starcraft: Remastered’ helps attract more players to PC bangs, therefore benefiting PC bang owners as well as legitimizing the fees that Blizzard can collect from them,” a Blizzard Korea official told The Korea Herald.
The dispute is still ongoing, and a petition has been filed with Korea's FTC alleging that Blizzard Korea is breaking the local anti-trust laws with their licensing fees for Starcraft Remastered. The case so far has been turned over to the anti-trust watchdogs for further review, with no current updates posted as of yet.
