It looks like our neighbors to the east in Turkey aren’t exactly happy about the cash that K2’s Knight Online is rolling in, and want a piece of the action.
The Turkish Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) has recommended to the Ministry of Finance to place a tax on Internet gaming after an investigation allegedly found some discrepancies in the industry. One of Turkey’s largest media outlets, Zaman Instanbul reports that TIB head Fethi Simsek stated that the TIB had been closely monitoring the online gaming sector and decided to warn the Ministry of Finance about a need for a tax.
This investigation also prompted the TIB and the Ministry of the Interior to recommend to the Ministry of Finance a ban on K2’s popular free-to-play, microtransaction based title Knight Online from being played in Internet cafes. K2’s response was to immediately appeal this decision in a Turkish court of law.
Simsek’s investigation revealed that K2 Network’s operations in Turkey have amounted to profits in the $1M per month range in 2008. He also stated that K2’s revenues have steadily increased over the past three years, with 2006 seeing around $4M, and 2007 around the $9M range.
“There are thousands of people becoming addicted to games and companies are earning profits without being taxed,” Simsek told the Anadolu Ajansi news service. Simsek said the game has been popular in Turkey but even though it is now banned at Internet cafes, it is still being played and no taxes apply.
On the other side of the coin, Yusuf Andic from the All Internet Houses Association (TIEV) says that taxing such games is a ‘good move’ he sees that ban on Knight Online as ‘questionable’ as 60 percent of Turkey’s internet gaming takes place in private homes.
So umm. What? There are a coupla things going on here that really raise the wtf flag.
- Assuming that K2 Networks/Gamers First is a legitimate business organization, wouldn’t they be registered with the Turkish Ministry of Finance, and already pay taxes on revenues generated?
- Is Turkey taking a page from the Chinese government’s book, or is there something deeper going on here?
- Mr. Simsek’s statement about the addictive attributes of online games comes out of left field, as if almost snuck in there in a ‘I was instructed to mention addiction’ fashion.
- If Mr. Andic’s numbers are correct (60% of all online gaming being done in a private home), isn’t this ban just a tad discriminatory? How was Knight Online/K2 Networks singled out?
Any way you look at this situation, there seems to be a bit more going on here than just taxes. If Turkey is worried about an addictive culture being formed around online gaming, fair enough, but there are plenty of alternatives to dealing with this issue. Rather than slapping a tax on it, banning a game, and calling it a day, why not take a look at what Korea is doing and position current Turkish players as the developers of tomorrow?
Tags: anadolu ajansi, gaming sector, internet cafes, internet gaming, k2, k2 network, knight online, microtransaction, ministry of finance, tib, TIEV, turkish court, Yusuf Andic
Simple easy, K2 got what they deserved.
Regards/SirKarus
I’m the greatest, Not only do I knock them out, I pick the round!
After this ban, Knight Online will be cheat-free.
lol this game is nothing without Turks
loll this game with turks = $*#% ( not all ) without will be very nice as alot can agree no more dumb ass cheater ( not all turks but mostly )
This is a good move for Turkey AND for the English Speaking players of Knight Online. 95% of the Hacking, Bug Abuse, and Duping…among every other possible way to ruin this game are discovered and used by Turkish Players. I find it quite funny that the Turkish Government has to outlaw these games and the PEOPLE OF TURKEY don’t have the willpower to just quit.
omg really true, turks will destroy this game soon, if k2 dont do anything, i saw only turks use hack, bug abuse and other things…THE GAME WOULD BE PERFECT WITHOUT TURKS…
Ofcourse %95 of the hacking will be the Turks cause the Turks are 95% of the players of that game. Turks are helping K2 network grow but K2 network doesn’t do anything in return becides taking the money of the players. They can’t operate it right, no enough customer support, no enough game masters. You do payment to get some G1 cash and improve yourself faster in the game and they wipe it out so you start again from the begining and you loose your money for nothing. The only thing they know is to punish players no matter if they are fair or not.
I think it is a good idea that the country of tukey ban this game, far to many cheats and hack codes are written by this countries ppl that play knight online. they have no remorse and no ethical morals.
yea dude!! that means k2 will go out of business, they gotta pay those taxes whatever as they do for us gov. otherwise they are gonna lose most of their customers. I am Turk but livin in US waste three years by playing ko and still. game’s already fcked up, thousands of kospers are in cz eventhough Im 82 those noob kospers are able to kill me.