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PlayStation Store has been forced to go offline in South Korea following changes made to the country’s data protection laws.
South Korea’s new ‘Game Industry Promotion Act’, which is due to come into enforcement from July 1, states that persons under the age of 18 “cannot be asked for their real name or age as part of account authentication” – something the PlayStation Store currently requires.
The act’s imminent arrival means that Sony does not have enough time to make the appropriate changes to the service prior to its implementation next month, and so is taking the entire store offline to comply.
Users will be unable to purchase and download content from the store, or register online games. Presumably that means South Koreans won’t be able to redeem online passes.
According to Gamasutra, however, the law will only impact PlayStation 3 users. PS Vita, PSP and other portable devices that use the PlayStation Store “will not be affected”, the site suggests.
Sony plans to resume the service later this year.
