Controversy continues to surround promotional marketing utilizing YouTubers in the mobile gaming industry.
Voices are raising concerns over fairness and transparency regarding a structure where marketing expenses paid by game companies to YouTubers lead to in-game purchases, which are then reflected in app store sales rankings.
On June 23, according to the gaming industry, YouTuber A, who has around 230,000 subscribers, purchased approximately 10 million "Diamonds," the game's paid currency, on the launch day of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "SOL: enchant."
This is an amount exceeding 270 million won, estimated based on in-game package prices.
Another YouTuber, B, who has around 260,000 subscribers, also posted a video on June 22, shortly after the game's release, showing them purchasing 18 million won worth of Diamonds.
While showing themselves purchasing large amounts of paid currency with their own accounts in the videos, these YouTubers included a "Contains Paid Promotion" disclosure, making it clear that they received promotions from the game company.
As YouTubers who made large purchases through promotions from the game company and users who logged into the game after watching them flocked to the game, "SOL: enchant" ranked first in sales on Google Play on its launch day.
Promotion is a practice in the gaming industry where game companies pay marketing fees to internet broadcasters, who then reinvest the money into the game to create content.
This method is frequently seen in Korean-style MMORPGs, which use randomized items (gacha) that directly affect character performance as their primary business model (BM) and emphasize hostile competition among users.
Netmarble is reported to have run similar promotions for its previously released MMORPG "Vampir."
Other domestic game companies, such as Nexon, NCSOFT, and Wemade, have also implemented promotion systems in their MMORPGs.
A Netmarble official stated, "We clearly distinguish and provide information on servers where streamers can operate and those where they cannot, and streamers participating in promotions do not receive any other benefits besides that."
They added, "We believe the impact of promotional operations on performance, such as sales, is minimal."
The direct reason game companies spend large sums of money on YouTuber promotions is due to sales rankings in app stores.
App store operators such as Google and Apple compile sales figures for each game over a certain period to rank them in real time.
For competitive MMORPGs or social strategy (SLG) games, where attracting players and maintaining a sense of popularity are crucial, whether they rank first in sales in app stores—especially Google Play—becomes a yardstick for measuring success and a guarantee of a hit.
In fact, when various games, including MMORPGs, reach the top spot in sales, they not only immediately reflect this in their marketing copy but also distribute pre-prepared in-game currency as gifts to users.
The advertising fees paid by game companies to YouTubers go straight back into sales, affecting the rankings.
App stores take about 20 to 30 percent of these reinvested sales as pure profit.
In the music industry, the issue of "chart manipulation" (sajaegi)—buying albums in bulk to boost music chart rankings—was brought to light early on, leading to the creation of anti-manipulation provisions in the Music Industry Promotion Act in 2016.
However, under current laws, it is practically difficult to sanction such industry practices in the gaming sector.
A prime example is the promotion controversy surrounding NCSOFT's "Lineage 2M," which escalated into a legal dispute.
Users filed a lawsuit in September 2022, claiming that NCSOFT violated the game's terms of service, intervened in the game's ecosystem, and induced the plaintiffs to purchase unnecessary items.
However, the courts of first and second instance ruled in favor of the game company, stating that the promotional contract fees paid to YouTubers were in exchange for game advertising and did not impose an obligation to make in-game purchases.
Some YouTubers who broadcast while receiving promotions from game companies even advertise illegal game money top-up sites during their broadcasts.
Illegal game money top-ups, commonly referred to as "proxy payments," are transactions where players exploit loopholes in the game system to pay a third party a lower price than what the game company charges to receive game money.
Most of the game money traded this way is supplied through illegal loans, often referred to as "micro-payment cashing."
In this scheme, credit-vulnerable individuals or minors in need of quick cash purchase game money or gift certificates and hand them over to brokers. The brokers then deduct interest, hand over the cash, and resell the acquired game money to other game users.
Due to its nature, most game companies prohibit this practice in their terms of service, yet it is openly advertised on YouTube and other internet broadcasting platforms.
A gaming industry insider remarked, "It is ironic that YouTubers broadcasting with support from game companies are promoting illegal top-ups that actually eat into the companies' revenues," adding, "In the long run, the gaming industry needs to move away from inflating app store sales rankings through YouTubers."
Some suggest that the issue should be resolved through legislative amendments.
Lee Chul-woo, president of the Korea Game Users Association, said, "Just as information on randomized items must be displayed inside games and advertisements following the amendment of the Game Industry Promotion Act, we could consider measures to label promoted accounts in-game or require notification of ongoing promotions."
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