S.Korean IT companies partner with K-pop girl groups

South Korean game companies like Krafton Inc. and Nexon Korea Corp., and telecom firms such as SK Telecom Co., are collaborating with K-pop girl groups to attract young users, blurring the lines between entertainment and intellectual property (IP).

Nexon on April 8 released a 4th-anniversary video for its soccer mobile game FC Mobile, featuring the girl group NMIXX from JYP Entertainment Corp. The company produced seven youth drama-themed videos starring NMIXX.

Previously, Nexon used K-pop girl group Blackpink's Jisoo for their mobile racing game KartRider Rush+ in 2021 and former I.O.I member Chungha for their 2019 PC shooting game Sudden Attack.

Krafton is also set to introduce idols into their games.

On June 12, it will release content for their PC and console shooting game Battlegrounds, featuring HYBE's girl group NewJeans.

American company Niantic Inc. has partnered with SM Entertainment's girl group aespa to promote the augmented reality (AR) game Pokémon GO.

Niantic on May 31 released a video showing aespa members Karina and NingNing exploring Pokémon characters both in reality and online.

It’s not just game companies that are enamored with female idols.

SK Telecom announced on Sunday a dedicated K-pop fan community, the K-pop Hotel, within its metaverse service, ifland.

Matching the hotel concept, idols provide content such as music videos and art walls on different floors. Aespa and Ifland's own idol group, iflandies, were chosen as the first residents of the K-pop Hotel, both of which are girl groups.

Apple, known for its meticulous brand image management, held a listening event with NewJeans at the opening of the Apple Store in Gangnam last March.

At that time, Apple's CEO Tim Cook mentioned NewJeans on his social media.

The collaboration between the IT industry and girl groups aims to capture the hearts of the MZ generation (Millennials and Generation Z).

Female idols have a broad fan base among both males and females aged 10 to 30, making their demand wider than that of male idols, who have more female-centric fans.

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at 2juhyun@hankyung.com