Peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, and K-Pop and video games: some combinations just make sense. Not every K-Pop and video came collaboration works together as great as our favorite childhood lunch options, but some are a perfect fit.
While we love our favorite groups for their music, we can’t overlook how colorful and stylized K-Pop music videos and albums are; it’s this commitment to high-quality visuals that makes K-Pop such a good video game companion. These eight collaborations strike the perfect balance of video game IP and our favorite K-Pop idols (and the music’s not too shabby either).
TWICE and Roblox
Early 2023, TWICE launched their own virtual universe called “TWICE SQUARE” in Roblox. The area was released days before TWICE’s EP Ready to Be and features an escape room inspired by the title track, “Set Me Free” along with other fun features. TWICE SQUARE is meant to be a permanent fixture on Roblox, so feel free to check it out and see what TWICE Easter eggs you can spot!
(G)I-DLE and League of Legends
Only months after their debut, (G)I-DLE members Soyeon and Miyeon became part of the virtual League of Legends girl group, K/DA, alongside Madison Beer and Jaira Burns. The group’s first song “POP/STARS” was such a hit, they went on to release not only another single, but an entire EP, “All Out,” in 2020. Fun fact: (G)I-DLE aren’t the only K-Pop idols on the EP; TWICE members Nayeon, Jihyo, Sana, and Chaeyoung feature on the track “I’ll Show You.”
ENHYPEN and Pokémon
As part of Pokémon Music Collective project, ENHYPEN released the song “One and Only” along with a music video featuring several of our favorite Pokémon. I personally love seeing Piplup make an appearance!
LE SSERAFIM and Overwatch 2
LE SSERAFIM released a new song titled “Perfect Night” as part of a collaboration with Overwatch 2. Along with the song and its fun music video, there are new skins for Brigitte, D.Va, Kiriko, Sombra, and Tracer. The new skins will come to the game in early November 2023, but you can catch a sneak peek in the music video.
NewJeans and League of Legends
Ahead of 2023’s League of Legends World Championship, NewJeans worked with Riot Games to create the hard-hitting “Gods.” The track is more theatrical and synth-heavy than NewJeans’ typical UK garage-inspired sound and comes with a music video starring some real-life League pros.
BLACKPINK and PUBG
BLACKPINK started collaborating with PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds in 2021, first with special skin bundles and eventually with the 2022 single, “Ready For Love.” The music video features virtual versions of the girls dancing (Lisa’s avatar even rides a motorcycle) and premiered as part of a virtual PUBG concert.
Aespa and Tetris
While technically not a video game collaboration, Aespa released the song “Hold On Tight” as part of the Apple TV film Tetris’ soundtrack. The song was a surprise hit with the group’s fans, and led to this cute 8bit-inspired music video (a live-action music video would’ve been cool, but we can’t have everything).
BTS and … everyone
Sure, that subheading is hyperbolic, but BTS has collaborated with enough video games they’ve earned their own article documenting them all. From MapleStory to Cookie Run: Kingdom, BTS are the kings of video game collaborations. They’ve worked with plenty of big names at this stage of their careers, but having a Tamagotchi collab under your belt is one impressive accomplishment!