KB News Desk
Korea’s gaming giants are expanding their franchises into fine arts in a bid to reshape public perception
Riot Games, the company behind global gaming phenomenon League of Legends, is bringing its intellectual property into the classical arts through a new partnership with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, reflecting a broader effort among game companies to expand franchises into cultural fields to strengthen their corporate image, experts say.
The agreement, formalized July 29, establishes a multiyear collaborative framework spanning live performances, studio recordings and original crossover programming.
With planning extending through the end of 2026, the partnership will officially launch its slate of orchestra-backed productions in 2027. For Riot Games, the initiative offers a new platform to translate the narrative world of League of Legends into symphonic compositions. For the Seoul Philharmonic, the alliance provides a channel to engage younger demographics and expand classical music’s reach.
The venture highlights a broader trend across Korea’s gaming arena, where publishers are increasingly reinterpreting digital intellectual property through traditional fine arts and crafts.
In June, Nexon Games teamed up with the Nexon Foundation and the Korea Ceramic Foundation to reimagine its popular title Blue Archive across traditional mediums including ceramics, glasswork and mother-of-pearl, culminating in a showcase at the 2026 Gyeonggi Craft Festa this October.
Earlier this year, Devsisters turned its CookieRun: Kingdom franchise into an exhibition featuring traditional Korean lanterns and gold-leaf printing, while Krafton launched its PUBG x Octique project, tapping master artisans to craft PUBG: Battlegrounds artwork using hanji — traditional paper made from mulberry bark — and mother-of-pearl inlay.
The cultural pivot reflects a strategic positioning, and experts say the shift is partially anchored by a statutory change in the domestic market.
“The gaming industry’s active collaborations with classical and traditional culture can be seen as part of the process of establishing games’ social recognition as a form of comprehensive art, moving beyond the long-standing perception of games as mere entertainment, following the 2022 amendment to Korea’s Culture and Arts Promotion Act — which officially recognized games as a legal category of ‘culture and the arts,'” said Lee Cheol-woo, head of the Korean Game User Association.
The move toward partnerships comes as the gaming sector stands as Korea’s primary international cultural export. According to data released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in January, gaming generated $8.5 billion in foreign sales in 2024, representing 60.4 percent of total K-content exports worldwide. The music sector ranked second with $1.8 billion, followed by broadcasting and film with $1.25 billion.
However, industry analysts note that sheer financial success has not automatically granted the sector the artistic prestige enjoyed by other media. Pop culture critic Jung Duk-hyun emphasized that these cross-genre initiatives are essential for shifting public perception.
“There is a strong desire within the gaming industry for games themselves to be recognized as culture,” Jung said. “Through these collaborations, the industry wants to demonstrate that games, too, are a form of cultural content and expand their cultural value.”
Beyond elevated brand perception, experts further point out that these fine art alliances perform critical public relations work for publishers looking to broaden their corporate footprint.
“Ultimately, it’s about easing the resistance and discomfort around the (prevalent) idea of games by demonstrating that they have an artistic dimension,” said Wi Jung-hyun, a business professor at Chung-Ang University and head of the Korea Game Society.
“It goes beyond the product itself and helps enhance the company’s overall image — essentially, it is a form of image management. I would say companies want to take pride in what they do and build a positive reputation as socially responsible organizations.”
