When PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS launched its latest season titled Dark Arts, they also dropped a collaboration with K-pop girl group aespa. It raised a few eyebrows and asked a few questions. Does it work? Does it feel earned? And perhaps most importantly, what does it actually say about aespa?
Surprisingly, it says a lot.
This Isn’t a K-pop Collab
On paper, this is your typical game-meets-pop-culture crossover: aespa lends their image, releases a theme song, and the fans get some shiny cosmetics. But PUBG x aespa goes far deeper than that. All four members, KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE, and NINGNING appear as playable characters in outfits pulled straight from their Whiplash music video.
Players can explore concert-themed arenas on Miramar, stumble across aespa rest stops, and even trigger full music videos by performing special emotes on Emote Stages scattered throughout the game’s major maps. Massive glowing symbols light up the terrain. aespa songs play from vehicles and float across the sky with themed fireworks. Even the care packages are decked out in blacklight-style aespa branding.
“Dark Arts” Feels Like It Was Written For PUBG
The title track, “Dark Arts,” doubles as PUBG’s current lobby theme and PNC 2025 anthem and it doesn’t feel like an afterthought. The song’s distorted guitar riffs and intense industrial beats align shockingly well with PUBG’s supernatural season.
It’s aespa at their most aggressive and cinematic. It trades the high-gloss polish for a darker, harder sound that mirrors the brutal, occult-tinged world of Dark Arts.
aespa has always embraced the digital. Their initial lore centers on battling an interdimensional entity called Black Mamba, with the help of their AI counterparts, or “æ” selves. It’s part sci-fi and all tied up in this idea of blurred reality. So putting them into a survival shooter where avatars and digital combat reign supreme actually makes sense.
The Launch Trailer Nails the Vibe
If you haven’t seen the cinematic trailer yet, go fix that.
The clip presents aespa as combat operatives in a post-apocalyptic setting, infiltrating a fortress with their guns. Their AI personas move through empty warehouses like it’s just another day in KWANGYA. It’s a bold, stylish twist that merges the group’s futuristic identity with PUBG’s gritty edge without losing the intensity of either.
Why Does This Work So Well?
Because it’s not just aespa dropping into PUBG. It’s PUBG entering aespa’s world, too.
The Dark Arts season is already themed around occult symbols, paranormal forces, and survival horror vibes. aespa’s own concept, which explores futurism, digital personas, and the paranormal, naturally aligns with that.
The result is a rare collab where both sides feel elevated. PUBG gets a slick, futuristic edge that breaks away from the usual camo-and-sniper aesthetic. Meanwhile, aespa gets to reinforce the darker, more tactical side of their brand. One that’s always been there under the surface but rarely gets to take center stage.
That’s what sets PUBG x aespa apart. It respects the identity of the group while pushing the boundaries of what a K-pop collab can be. It leans into aespa’s strength as artists who live between dimensions, fiction and reality.
And if this is any sign of where K-pop collabs are headed? We’re in for a wild (and weirdly beautiful) ride.
