South Korea’s loot box law shows strong results, but players still left in the dark

A new study in Acta Psychologica finds that South Korea’s new law requiring mobile games to disclose loot box probabilities is more effective than industry self-regulation.

Researchers Leon Y. Xiao (City University of Hong Kong & beClaws.org) and Solip Park (Aalto University) analyzed the 100 top-grossing iPhone games in South Korea.

They found that:

• 90% of games included paid loot boxes.
• 84% of games with loot boxes disclosed probabilities—compared to just 35% in the Netherlands and 64% in the UK.
• Only 41% of disclosures were easy to find, meaning many players may fail to access the information and remain confused or uninformed.

South Korean regulators have backed the law with active enforcement, identifying noncompliance and forcing companies to fix mistakes. Separately, fines were levied against major South Korean publishers like Nexon for misleading disclosures.

“South Korea is showing the world that loot box regulation can work—but only when actively enforced,” said Xiao. “Industry self-regulation has failed globally. If governments really want to protect players, we need enforceable laws with real penalties.”

The authors call on other countries to follow South Korea’s lead in actively enforcing video game regulations, but also to strengthen standards so that disclosures are clear, accessible, and independently evaluated for accuracy.