Korean Ratings Board Says "Diablo 3"'s Auction House is Too Close to Gambling

Diablo 3 may be stuck in a legal limbo in Korea, where the ratings board has deemed the game's auction house too close to online gambling, and thus illegal. According to Joystiq, Blizzard has submitted three different versions of the game for review, even removing the auction house entirely, but the committee is still "conflicted about what to do" for some reason.

Given Korea's unabashed obsession with Starcraft, one of Blizzard's other franchises, their refusal to approve the game for release is pretty baffling. Our main concern, though, is that this will affect the game's release date in other countries. A couple days ago, a sign in Best Buy appeared to reveal a Feb. 1 release, though it turns out the sign may have been made in-house by the retailer and thus not accurate.

Still, we're hoping for a release sooner rather than later, and Korea's hesitance may prevent that from happening. Do you think their concerns about the auction house are valid? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.