Blizzard have been forced to pay the sum of 8 million KRW to the South Korean government after refusing to pay damages to complaining buyers for their unpleasant experience with Diablo 3 in the first weeks after the launch.
The first news about the dispute between South Korea's Fair Trade Commission and Blizzard Entertainment appeared two months ago on May 24th when Jakarta Post reported that the Korean organization will be investigating Diablo 3 due to the record number of complaints that have been filed by buyers unable to play a stable session of D3 or log in altogether. A similar statement was also released by the French FTC "Que Choisir", throwing yet another threat of legal actions down Blizzard's way.
Yesterday, Cinemablend reported that because of their continued refusal to pay damages to the unsatisfied Diablo 3 customers, Blizzard have been fined $7,000 - a number that will surely come out as a bit low, considering the number of complaints in South Korea. Just as the source states, however, the small size of the fine comes at the expense of some truly detrimental company image which is something likely to negatively affect the appeal of Diablo III - a game that is still considered by many users to be far less than perfect.
The issues raised by France's "Que Choisir" and Germany's "Federation of German Consumer Organisations", the latter being about the boxes of Diablo III not correctly stating that the game is online-only, remain officially unresolved.
Source: Cinemablend.com
