K-Pop Sensation BTS Is Teaming Up With This Beloved MMORPG
It's not uncommon to see a recognizable entertainment brand attach its likeness to a popular mobile game.
Puzzle & Dragons has linked up with popular IP's such as Hello Kitty, Fist of the North Star, and even ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins in the past. The King of Fighters All Star associated itself with Tekken, Samurai Shodown, and World Wrestling Entertainment. And Power Rangers: Legacy Wars added a few Street Fighter world warriors to the fray.
Another beloved mobile gaming IP that's set to get the likeness of a famous entertainment giant is Nexon's MapleStory M. And not only will this collaboration take place on mobile devices, it will also appear within the original game on PC. The collab that's set to take place will feature the mega popular K-Pop group known as BTS. Starting during the week of November 25, a series of behind-the-scenes videos will be uploaded to the official MapleStory YouTube channel. The newly launched MapleStory x BTS web page notes that the next two videos will be arriving on December 2 and December 9.
One of those videos has already gone up and shows the group working on the collab and reminiscing over their time spent with the game. One of BTS' members (Jin) even recalls a sad moment where he almost paid a visit to Nexon headquarters after he mistakenly destroyed one of his best in-game accessories. Jin's MapleStory horror story was detailed by KStarLive, in which he spoke about quitting the game for good. In response to a fan that asked him if he was still playing the game or not, Jin replied with, "the probability of getting destroyed is only 0.7% but my item is gone. I quit playing the game."
This isn't the first instance of BTS getting into the gaming space for a big-time collab. The pop group debuted its choreography video for the hit song "Dynamite" in Fortnite. Fans can even play mobile games based entirely around the group itself via BTS World and BTS Universe Story.
Past MapleStory collabs have been tied to Naruto, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, and even Disney's Frozen. And according to NME, the game has been going strong for 15 years, has over 13 million registered players, and has had 274 million avatars created within it. MapleStory M is just as popular as its PC counterpart, as its been downloaded over 16 million times to date.