Fate/Grand Order, a leading character collection game New Year’s event in Korea was discontinued without meeting the set deadline. While Netmarble, in charge of the service, has not specifically revealed the reason for the suspension of the event, gamers are protesting that it is discrimination against domestic users.
The controversial event is the Happy New Year Start Dash campaign. The Start Dash Campaign is an event that presents various goods, including Sung Jeong-seok, where you can draw a character by simply logging in, and by the 20th of the New Year, two times more rewards will be paid than before.
However, the event was stopped through the data patch held at 9 pm on the 4th. Netmarble, in charge of domestic service for Fate/Grand Order, announced in an official cafe announcement just before the data patch that “an internal problem has occurred in the Start Dash campaign and will be temporarily suspended for review and action.”
Without even revealing the reason, when the event was suddenly stopped without meeting the set deadline, domestic users of the Fate/Grand Order complained. As the controversy grew, Netmarble posted two additional announcements over the 5th and 6th, and also posted a long apology. The apology stated that “We will deliver the resumption policy, including details and targets for application, as soon as possible so that the Start Dash campaign can meet the original intention of’a campaign for new users’.”
Currently, domestic users of Fate/Grand Order are complaining that only Korean servers are being discriminated against. One user said, “Unlike overseas, domestic Fate/Grand orders do not have product compensation through April Fools’ Day events and live broadcasts. Instead, we are running the Start Dash campaign for all users. Limiting it to targets is discrimination against Korean users.” On various communities, articles that compare/analyze free goods that can be received annually on the Fate/Grand Order Korean server with overseas servers such as North America and Japan are also being shared.
Among some fans, there is also an opinion that the event was stopped due to external pressure. Netmarble’s apology states that “the part that the event was being applied differently from the intention was delivered through an’external channel’ and hastily stopped it.” In response, some speculate that the domestic situation in which Start Dash rewards are paid to all users is known to Japan through SNS, and that developer Delight or distributor Anyplex, which received complaints from local users, put pressure on Netmarble to stop the event Was raised.
Game Mecca contacted Netmarble to hear opinions on the controversy. First of all, regarding the controversy over external pressure, a Netmarble official said, “It is the decision of Netmarble to stop the Start Dash campaign.” As it is a game that is serviced worldwide, it was decided that it was correct to provide benefits only to new users, just like overseas, and we stopped.”
Regarding the opinions of users that only Korean servers are being discriminated against, “There is no discrimination against Korean services. The Korean service is based on the same contents as the original service,” he said. “Some campaigns not conducted in Korea are paid bonuses through other campaigns so that there is no significant difference in compensation. I will do my best so that there is no misunderstanding or confusion in the future.”
