# Three days for hardcore fans
# Enjoying NEW STATE with celebs
# The only goal is fun!
# Building a future with our fans
# Three days for hardcore fans
KRAFTON dedicated itself even more enthusiastically to G-STAR than previous years, since this year’s event represented the company’s first encounter with the fans in two years. Almost 50 members each played a role in perfecting KRAFTON’s G-STAR booths and programs. As the limelight of this year’s G-STAR was on KRAFTON’s latest game, PUBG: NEW STATE (hereinafter “NEW STATE”), the core program and stage experience program were planned under the leadership of the Asia New State Publishing Team, which is in charge of the marketing for NEW STATE in Korea.
We hope to present a valuable experience to the fans who made the effort to experience KRAFTON’s new game despite the phased return to normal life (the so-called “With Corona” plan). Furthermore, we focused on linking and spreading the program that we had prepared through online channels so that the fans who sadly could not attend in person could still experience the program. As such, we livestreamed the program from the venue and uploaded it as online contents to be available for viewing even after the end of G-STAR.
[G-STAR 2021 Livestream] NEW STATE Challenge Match: Take down STAYC! I PUBG: NEW STATE
At the venue, we staged various events such as “NEW STATE Live,” “NEW STATE Talk Talk,” and “NEW STATE Challenge Matches” in which visitors played against celebrities. Moreover, a diverse range of hands-on experiences were prepared for visitors to the booths, including “NEW STATE MBTI” and “Emote Dance 360.”
“The actual preparation period for the program was only around a month. But we knew that the fans who come to G-STAR to see KRAFTON’s games are our most hardcore fans. We wanted to invite celebrities that our fans would want to meet and come up with activities that they would want to take part in with the celebrity guests. We also wanted to provide enjoyable online programs for those who sadly couldn’t attend in person.” – Chris Yang (Asia New State Publishing Team)
# Enjoying NEW STATE with celebs
We invited rapper DinDin, who is known to be a PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS player, and STAYC, a popular K-pop band among our fans. In addition to their music performances, we also sought their opinion on what kind of experience they would like to have with the fans at this year’s G-STAR. In this process, DinDin decided to contribute his talents to record a Korean cover of “Fall of Troi,” an original song for a music video that introduces the world of NEW STATE.
[4K] DinDin – Fall of Troi | [DF LIVE X PUBG: NEW STATE] DINDIN
The quality of the resulting cover rivaled the original and the live video of the cover song was also released online for the fans on the Dingo Freestyle YouTube channel. The live performance staged at the G-STAR venue was also met with a fervent response.
The program also included a challenge match with celebrities and streamers such as Ted, Choong-hyun Cho and Binu in addition to DinDin and STAYC. Participation requests were accepted on a first-come-first-served basis, with 32 fans and celebs taking part in a NEW STATE match to become the last person standing. In the challenge match, members of STAYC showed off their skills and demonstrated their passion for the game by arriving early at the venue to practice playing NEW STATE to make sure that they would be at their best for the challenge match. In the match, STAYC member Yoon surprised fans by killing an opponent in a one-on-one shootout.
“We wanted to avoid a perfunctory stage where artists perform one song and leave. Instead, we wanted them to connect with our fans at the venue through the game. We hoped that they would cherish the performance, talk show and the NEW STATE challenge matches alongside the fans. Thankfully, our celebrity guests genuinely participated in and appreciated the event, which in turn meant that our fans enjoyed it too.” – Yuna Koo (Asia New State Publishing Team)
# The only goal is fun!
We also organized a mission program for fans to take part in various experiences inside the booths designed under a near-future concept in line with year 2051, which is NEW STATE’s backdrop. The mission was a challenge to collect stamps, with a stamp given for each of the six missions presented and prizes given according to the number of stamps collected.
Inside the tram space, the “Emote Dance 360” challenge took place, where fans wore the NEW STATE level 3 helmet and performed the emote dance, which was filmed in a 360-degree panoramic video. Visitors were amused to watch back the video of their dance. The most popular activity was the “NEW STATE MBTI” challenge. It consisted of a gaming personality test based on the MBTI test, with participants answering questions about situations in NEW STATE to find out the analysis results for their gaming style. Of course, it wasn’t easy to devise the questions and the matching personality types. Members of the Asia New State Publishing Team spent sleepless nights analyzing existing MBTI types to organize the activity, and were proud to see the fans entertained after reading the results at the venue. The activity was also offered online for fans who were unable to visit the booth in person, using the Vonvon platform.
*Try the PUBG: NEW STATE MBTI test online (Click here)
Some fans unfortunately had to wait in a line to take part in the challenge mission, and we staged a guerilla event to make sure that they weren’t bored during the wait. The guerilla event consisted of comedian Choong-hyun Cho and NEW STATE community managers who donned NEW STATE’s iconic white helmets and went out into the booths to play Korea’s nostalgic games such as ddakjichigi with the fans as a parody of the popular Netflix show Squid Game, presenting souvenirs to participating fans. We hoped that every visitor who came to experience KRAFTON’s game would leave with fond memories.
“I feel a sense of pride every time I see a positive review for the stamp mission challenge. People who couldn’t attend this year’s G-STAR told us that they were jealous and will definitely attend next year’s event. It was so meaningful to see that our efforts to prioritize the fans’ enjoyment paid off from start to finish.” – Estelle Ra (Asia New State Publishing Team)
# Building a future with our fans
Another reason why fans visit G-STAR is merchandise. We dedicated considerable efforts to developing merchandise, since we understand how much it means to our fans to find official merchandise of their favorite games that are exclusive to G-STAR. In order to present meaningful merchandise instead of simply branding ordinary goods with brand logos, we decided to collaborate with other brands this year. As we examined different brands to potentially collaborate with, we discovered Kaneitei, a brand that produces clothing and various fashion items by recycling military items, which was fitting to NEW STATE’s themes. We also decided that the brand’s eco-friendly values were aligned with KRAFTON’s own values as well.
The merchandise produced in collaboration with Kaneitei were big hits among the fans as expected. Some fans even bought one of every item and streamer Ted, who took part in the challenge match, also showed an interest as he was already a fan of the brand. The new merchandise was also popular within KRAFTON, with many members asking to buy the goods after G-STAR had finished.
From the stage program to the stamp mission challenge and the official G-STAR goods, our only goal was to make sure that fans of KRAFTON and NEW STATE relished their time as fully as possible, since the event provided a precious opportunity that came only once a year for both the fans and KRAFTON alike. We’re already looking forward to connecting with our fans at next year’s G-STAR and will continue to prepare memorable experiences to enjoy alongside them.
“It was important to effectively convey NEW STATE’s identity through this year’s G-STAR, but overall, the most essential part of the process was having fun. While participating in this year’s G-STAR alongside my colleagues, we were able to see the potential of what we could do for our fans in the long term. We still have so much to show them.” – Kaya Kim (Asia New State Publishing Team)
