{"id":68096,"date":"2026-06-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=68096"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:52:05","slug":"why-do-unannounced-games-keep-leaking-through-koreas-rating-site-it-turns-out-theres-a-legal-issue-that-makes-it-almost-impossib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/why-do-unannounced-games-keep-leaking-through-koreas-rating-site-it-turns-out-theres-a-legal-issue-that-makes-it-almost-impossib\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do unannounced games keep\u00a0\u201cleaking\u201d\u00a0through\u00a0Korea\u2019s rating site?\u00a0It turns out\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a legal\u00a0issue that makes it almost impossible to avoid\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Korea\u2019s GRAC (Game Rating and Administration Committee) has inadvertently \u201cleaked\u201d information about unannounced games, including major AAA releases, on so many occasions media outlets now refer to it as \u201cdelivering news on a platter.\u201d<\/a> Just in the past month, titles like Persona 4 Revival and LEGO: Skylines were affected, and most recently, ratings made public by the board have led to speculation about Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 ports being in the works, despite there being no word from the publishers yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to GameMeca<\/a>, which recently investigated this recurring issue, this is actually not a result of the GRAC failing to handle confidentiality requests from publishers, as some would assume. Rather, there\u2019s a somewhat contradictory legal situation behind it. A GRAC representative told GameMeca that the publication of ratings is a legitimate procedure carried out to comply with South Korean law, specifically the Game Industry Promotion Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image via VICE<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, the rating body is only able to accommodate game publishers\u2019 confidentiality requests while<\/em> submitted games are undergoing review. The moment a decision is reached (whether it be an approved rating or rejection), the GRAC is legally obligated, without exception, to make it public through its official website and the digital government gazette. The committee does let game companies know about these circumstances in advance whenever they request for confidentiality, so the release information definitely doesn\u2019t constitute a leak, but at the same time, publishers have little choice other than to agree to the terms if they want to release their games in the country. This has even made domestic gamers concerned about global game companies seeing the Korean market as untrustworthy, but the issue definitely seems to lie in the current law, rather than the rating body itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Steam apologizes for technical bug that gave Umamusume: Pretty Derby an 18+ age rating in Indonesia while adult Japanese games like Saya no Uta got rated 3+<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why South Korea\u2019s GRAC (Game Rating and Administration Committee) ends up prematurely releasing information about games so often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":68098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-68096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy do unannounced games keep\u00a0\u201cleaking\u201d\u00a0through\u00a0Korea\u2019s rating site?\u00a0It turns out\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a legal\u00a0issue that makes it almost impossible to avoid\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why South Korea\u2019s GRAC (Game Rating and Administration Committee) ends up prematurely releasing information about games so often.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/why-do-unannounced-games-keep-leaking-through-koreas-rating-site-it-turns-out-theres-a-legal-issue-that-makes-it-almost-impossib\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why do unannounced games keep\u00a0\u201cleaking\u201d\u00a0through\u00a0Korea\u2019s rating site?\u00a0It turns out\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a legal\u00a0issue that makes it almost impossible to avoid\u00a0 - 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