Friday, April 25th, 2014
SEOUL, KOREA - The share prices of major game companies are on a free fall on the news that the Constitutional Court ruled that the so-called "shutdown law," or formally the Youth Protection Revision bill, is constitutional. In May 2011, a law that forbids children under 16 years of age from playing video games from midnight to 6 am. To this, a group of Korean game developers and publishers challenged on constitutional grounds.
At 9:01 am on April 25, the shares of game maker Dragonfly were traded at 5,950 won, down 15 percent from the previous day's 7,000 won due to the disappointment with the judgment combined with an announcement of large-scale capital increase. Other game stocks such as Nexon GT (-4.26%), WD Online (-1.47%), WeMade (-1.28%), ActozSoft (-1.98%), NCsoft (-1.69%), Neowiz Games (-1.19%), and CJ E&M (-1.17%).
The Constitutional Court justices remarked in a statement after the ruling, "It is justifiable for the government to legislate laws to prevent youths from being addicted to Internet games." But consoles and mobile games are not affected by the regulation.