The first collaboration case of Esports and Korean wave is presented with “Support project of planning and developing of Korean wave-linked collaborative contents.”
- Participated in the “CAST”, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, organized by the Korea International Cultural Exchange Promotion Agency
- Introduced new products with 8 Esports related companies, which are utilized for Korean wave contents
- Planning to expand the Korean wave’s appearance, including gaming apparel, gaming gear, protection guards, education and cartoon contents.
Through ‘Supporting project of planning and development of Korean wave-linked collaborative content (CAST)’, Esports created the first example of collaborating with South Korean companies, having Esports recognized as new K-wave content.
Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) publicly announced how this meaningful project has been like on the 10th.
‘Supporting project of planning and development of Korean wave-linked collaborative contents (CAST)’ is a project hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea International Cultural Exchange Promotion Agency, and the Korea e-Sports Association participated in the game and Esports field with 8 companies from 5 industrial groups related to Esports.
The project “CAST” (CAST: Connect, Company to make Synergy and Transformation) systematically supports Korean SMEs with potential in developing new content or product. In particular, the game and Esports sectors focus on spreading the dynamic image of K-wave culture.
The participating companies include DRX, ROX Gaming, DSC, AIDER, Xenics, Icom Brand, BATTLICA, Gamtoon. By including esports players and Korean esports content into the company’s original business area, the companies produced new products such as gaming apparel, gaming gear, glasses, protectors, educational content, and e-books.
Specifically, ▲All players from DRX worked with the team for the development of gaming apparel and mouse pads, ranging from designing to the fittings ▲ROX Gaming developed the joystick and various gaming products, working with Bae ‘Knee’ Jae-min, a legendary ‘Tekken’ player ▲DSC created two types of glasses with cooperation from Lee ‘DuDu’ Dong-joo and Oh ‘Vista’ Hyo-sung, professional LoL players of HLE ▲AIDER, with recently retired legendary professional LoL player Heo ‘Pawn’ Won-seok, developed three types wrists and waists supports.
In addition, ▲Xencis created a never-existed gaming chair, with ideation and feedback from Hong ‘Pyosik’ Chang-hyun, a professional LoL player of DRX ▲Icom Brand developed a special gaming PC, working with Kang Do-kyung, a general manager of Team APE, and Kim Hee-chul, a K-wave Icon. ▲BATTLICA made esports educational materials with Jang ‘Dingception’ Kwang-myeon, Cho ‘Vino’ Han-kyung, Kim ‘hyMIN’ Min-kyu, Nho ‘Rothy’ Si-eun ▲Gamtoon created 3 types of cartoon e-book highlighting the stories of legendary esports players (Cho ‘Maru’ Seong-ju and Jang ‘Moon’ Jae-ho) and Korean esports history.
Also, DRX, ROX Gaming, and Aider exhibited their products at the Korean Culture Promotion Center in November last year at the “3rd Jang Sam Gak international Culture Industry Fair” in Shanghai, China operated by the Korea International Cultural Exchange and Korean Cultural Center Shanghai. At the fair, esports was introduced as a new collaboration with various industries. During the exhibition period, more than 2,500 people visited the site and inquiries about products were received directly, so interest in the Korean wave culture in China was also confirmed.
Moreover, the Asian esports Federation (AESF), the governing body of Asian esports communities, introduced this project to more than 40 member countries in the continent, as a good example of the expansion of the industry, with the support from the government.
Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) stated, “’CAST’ project is meaningful because it is the first example of esports showing industrial potential as a collaborative content linked to the Korean wave. Starting with the project, we will continue to show synergy through esports and collaboration with various industries.”
