When Two Worlds Meet: 5 Times When K-Pop Meets Video Gaming

Gaming is such a huge and diverse community. From cozy gaming such as Stardew Valley to competitive rounds such as League of Legends, there’s got to be one game that someone has tried or has been playing for so long. However, there are instances where gaming companies collaborate with artists or even set up a virtual concert for them for promotional purposes. I have experienced being in a virtual concert in a game called Sky: Children of the Light, where the company showcased AURORA for a full season that lasted two to three months. But what if K-pop meets gaming? Luckily, K-pop has reached the gaming world multiple times, and below are the instances when they’ve collaborated with gaming studios to release music or promote an event.

1. G-(I)DLE’s Soyeon and Miyeon as K/DA’s Akali and Ahri (League of Legends)

Credits: Riot Games and Cube Entertainment

Virtual bands weren’t a recent concept, fairly speaking. Such bands started to exist in the 2000s, and some popular ones include Gorillaz and Vocaloid Miku Hatsune. League of Legends’ studio, Riot Games, even had a couple of virtual bands, like Pentakill and even Jinx herself, to promote their game annually, and it wasn’t until November 2018 that they struck gold with their strategy.

That same year, Riot introduced a new skin line for four champions reimagined as K-pop idols. Madison Beer and Jaira Burns provided the voices of Evelyn and Kai’sa, respectively, but to add a K-pop twist for the group named K/DA, Riot hired (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon and Miyeon, whose group had just debuted the same year, to voice Akali and Ahri. The result was a single titled POP/STARS, which became a huge hit in the League of Legends community and beyond and put the girl group (G)I-DLE on the map in K-pop.

In fact, they were so successful in the eyes of Riot Games that in 2019, Soyeon was invited to voice Akali again—this time for a different virtual group called TRUE DAMAGE, which debuted with the single "GIANTS." Riot also gave K/DA a comeback EP titled ALL OUT, collaborating with other artists like Kim Petras and JYP girl group TWICE. As of today, K/DA is the first and only Riot group to have had a comeback. POP/STARS, as of writing, has 628 million views on YouTube.

2. BLACKPINK for PUBG Mobile

Credits: PUBG Corporation

First-person shooters and battle royales are some of the most popular video game genres in the community. One of the most popular games in these genres is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, also known as PUBG. To celebrate the release of Blackpink’s The Album in 2020, the group collaborated with PUBG. It seems that it was a success because by July 2022, YG Entertainment announced another collaboration with PUBG and Blackpink.

Blackpink has collaborated with PUBG Mobile on a project titled “Blackpink: The Virtual”, a virtual concert that took place on July 22-31, 2025. They first showcased the virtual tour in North and South America, then to the rest of the world, and then back to North and South America again. Players get the band’s outfits worn in the concert as a gift within the time.

There are other collaborations PUBG has had as well, one of which was a collaboration with Stray Kids, CORSAK, and Swedish DJ Alesso for a single titled “Going Dumb” in 2021.

3. EXO’s Baekhyun as HEARTSTEEL’s Ezreal (League of Legends)

Credits: Riot Games and SM Entertainment

K/DA’s success as a virtual band for skin promotions led to Riot Games making more music featuring their League of Legends champions like True Damage. In October 2023, however, the studio decided to introduce a boy band to promote a new skin line named HEARTSTEEL. The band’s voices featured Tobi Lou for K’Sante, Cal Scrub for Zayn, and ØZI for Sett.

To complete the lineup, EXO’s Baekhyun gave the voice for the band’s Ezreal. The fictional artist is displayed to be an energetic and charismatic boy, having fun with his bandmates and showing a loveable attitude throughout their music video titled “Paranoia”. Baekhyun made an extra effort to give Ezreal his charm to leave an impression that matches the same energy as his original counterpart.

Credits: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games (credited by: oneesports.gg)

To top it all off, Baekhyun performed the song along with the other artists who gave the voices for the rest of the band in League of Legends World 2023. The performance saw him dancing and singing to the song, while the other artists showcased their skills through rap and singing, eventually ending with the appearance of HEARTSTEEL themselves.

4. LE SSERAFIM for Overwatch 2

Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment is a game studio that has created memorable games for many people’s childhoods, such as Overwatch and DOTA. Overwatch is known for its touching and unique animations that Blizzard releases for its rich lore and characters that pop out and hold iconic character designs. The success of the game led to the release of Overwatch 2. The game had its flaws, but it still delivered a collaboration with a K-pop girl group as an event.

In November 2023, to celebrate the release of LE SSERAFIM’S new song Perfect Night, Overwatch 2 released an event which featured cosmetics related to the girl group, as well as a full season with a game mode titled “Concert Clash” and challenges rewarding players with experience points and some cosmetics that players can show off in games.

5. Enhypen for Pokémon

Credits: Enhypen Official Japan

Pokémon is one, if not the most, popular games that has existed for many years. Many animal characters come from this game, such as Pikachu, Snorlax, Eevee, and many more. It was so popular in Japan that Pokemon’s game studio established February 27 as Pokémon Day, the day on which the very first games were released.

In June 2023, Pokémon announced a collaboration with boy group ENHYPEN, releasing a single titled “One and Only” in July of the same year. To add, the group participated in the Pokémon Dance Challenge that Pokémon has released to celebrate Pokémon Day in 2024.

BONUS: Marvel Rivals’ Luna Snow is a K-pop Idol!

Credits: @tokodavinci on Instagram

Marvel Rivals is a player-versus-player (PvP) shooter that showcases Marvel superheroes such as Spiderman, Captain America, and Scarlet Witch. However, it wasn’t until the game’s release that they noticed an obscure character who is showcased as a strategist. Who is this girl? Since when was she introduced to the Marvel Comic Universe? How did she get her powers?

Turns out, this character, known as Luna Snow, is a K-pop idol whose in-game moveset includes healing teammates and making a stage that supports the team in a certain radius. For her story, her real name is Sol Hee. To support her grandmother (her parents died when she was young), she decided to enroll in a special academy and eventually founded the K-pop girl group 4L1T, taking up the stage name Luna. However, during a K-pop concert held by the group, an ambush took place, and the group was held hostage in a cold chamber, but the chamber malfunctioned and granted Luna the power to control ice to heal and attack. Since then, she started to work as a superhero under the name of Luna Snow.

Her K-pop affiliations aren't just exposition, though! Luna Snow was created for another Marvel game, Marvel Future Fight. The game studio that created her released a few singles under her name, namely, Fly Away, Flow, I Really Wanna, and Tonight, all of which can be found on YouTube Music or Spotify.

Video Games and Music are very diverse communities. There are times when they’d collide, not only to provide immersion but also for others to appreciate art in a unique way. When K-pop collides with video gaming, fans get to experience a new game or be introduced to a new group, but they get to enjoy such things as a form of art ultimately.

How about you, bepeus? Do you play any games or know of an instance when K-pop meets video gaming? Let us know in the comments below!