My bias entered the game… K-pop fandoms are on the move

The way game companies use K-pop has changed. It no longer ends with simply placing famous idols in front of an advertisement; there is a clear trend of moving into in-game content that fans can touch, collect, and decorate themselves. As fandom activities—such as collecting photocards, decorating favorite characters, and experiencing concerts and merchandise—move into games, the focus of collaboration is shifting from exposure to participation.

From Advertising Faces to Playable Characters

SMiniz, globally released on February 25, is the most direct example of this shift. This mobile game is a match-3 puzzle game featuring "Miniz," small characters that resemble artists under SM Entertainment. It supports five languages, including Korean, English, Japanese, and Simplified/Traditional Chinese, targeting international fans from the very beginning.

The key is that it doesn't just borrow the artists' names. Featuring 36 characters based on NCT, aespa, and RIIZE, the game incorporates movements that reflect actual stage outfits and point choreographies. There are also 720 types of photocards. For fans, a photocard is not just a simple image, but an essential item in fandom life involving albums, trading, collecting, and decorating. The game has translated this habit into digital collecting and "My Room" decoration.

Why Game Companies are Bringing Fandom Culture Inside

From a game company's perspective, K-pop IP—the brand value and image of the artists and their content—provides a reason to stay longer than a short advertisement. A structure where users log in every day to grow characters and collect cards is much more persistent than a banner that users see once and pass by. For fans, the way they consume their favorite artists expands beyond streaming and purchasing merchandise to a direct playing experience.

This type of collaboration has already been seen in major games. The collaboration between PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and NewJeans took place in line with the PC and console update schedule in June 2024, placing elements like NewJeans-themed decorations, starting airplane banners, outdoor stages, and supply crates within the game. Instead of just placing artists in promotional videos outside the game, they have essentially changed the very space where players move.

To Win the Fandom, the Game Must Also Be Persuasive

However, simply attaching K-pop does not mean a game will automatically last long. Fandoms are sensitive to the details of their favorite artists, while gamers look at controls, rewards, and the speed of updates. While SMiniz recording over 100,000 downloads and thousands of reviews on Google Play as of June 17 can be seen as a successful starting point, the next challenge is how consistently new cards and events are provided.

Ultimately, the meeting of games and K-pop is closer to "operations" than a simple promotional contract. Success or failure depends on whether the characters look like the artists, whether the stage outfits and choreography are properly captured, and whether fans are continuously given reasons to collect and decorate. The next checkpoint is not the announcement of new collaborations, but the updates following the launch. If they have succeeded in bringing the fandom into the game, they must now create reasons for those fans to keep logging in.