In the music video for 2023’s “Perfect Night,” the heroes of the first-person shooter “Overwatch” are LE SSERAFIM fans, excited for the group to perform in concert. Three years later, in “Made My Night,” the idols have vanished, and it’s up to those heroes to track the group down. A lot has changed in the game world of “Overwatch” between when its heroes were in the audience to now, when they’ve joined LE SSERAFIM onstage. Players can equip LE SSERAFIM skins and dance together to “CRAZY” with the group’s light sticks in hand, then watch the Play of the Game as “Made My Night” plays in the background. Three years and three collaborations later, LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” have found their ultimates in each other. For more on the third collab, we spoke with SOURCE MUSIC—Songsoo Park from the marketing team and Myron Shin from the BX team—and with Blizzard Entertainment.

This is the third collaboration between LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” since first joining forces in 2023. What first led to choosing to partner with the K-pop group, and what’s allowed the collaboration to keep going into its third iteration?
Blizzard: We started looking for a musical artist to collaborate with for “Overwatch” back in 2022. As we went through the potential candidates, we found there was a significant overlap between “Overwatch” players and K-pop fans, so we narrowed our focus to K-pop. We were looking for a partner we could grow with and a group that could keep trying new things with us. LE SSERAFIM was a fourth-generation K-pop group that had just debuted, but considering how few years they had under their belt, they were already quite successful both in Korea and around the world.

What really sealed the deal was that the people at HYBE and SOURCE MUSIC saw this as more than just a licensing deal. They were eyeing a deep partnership between two IPs. What made the collaboration work from the start was that we were all focused on the same thing—not just using each other’s names and images, but two sides developing ideas together and building something new. The bond between the two brands deepened over the two projects that followed, and between our companies, too.

Park: With the first collab, the most important thing was showing that both sides were genuine about it. Not everyone in the group was an everyday “Overwatch” player, so we were careful not to approach gamers in a way that felt forced or disrespectful. Over the course of all the collabs, both the group’s and our team’s love for “Overwatch” has truly grown. More FEARNOT have even picked up the game specifically because of LE SSERAFIM. SAKURA and HONG EUNCHAE already played “Overwatch,” and watching them continuously improve over the past three years came across as that much more authentic to both the gaming community and fans, I think. I feel like that change is what let us try going wider with this collab than ever before.

What did you want to carry over from earlier collaborations for the latest one, and in what ways did you want to take things further?
Blizzard: The first two collaborations gave us a deeper understanding of SOURCE MUSIC and LE SSERAFIM. We wanted to draw on that experience to bring the two fandoms even closer together this time. Our hope was that LE SSERAFIM would be welcomed in as part of the “Overwatch” community, and that “Overwatch” could become a part of who the group is. We wanted to offer new content with the third collaboration but also let fans who remember the first one feel a sense of continuity, so we all decided right from the earliest planning stages to carry on the story that began with “Perfect Night.”

Park: For the first collab in 2023, we were focused on getting word about the “Perfect Night” comeback out there and showing what LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” could do when they team up together. This time, the goal was to go a step further and create an experience both fandoms could celebrate and enjoy together. We kept LE SSERAFIM’s bold, fearless energy and the idea of having fun together that’s been there ever since “Perfect Night” while tying the music and gameplay even tighter together.

We kept the format we’d used before—collaborative music, music video, in-game content—but this time, we tried having LE SSERAFIM and the heroes in their new skins making moves together within the same narrative framework. We also planned for the connection that begins in the game to carry over into real life on the global BlizzCon gaming festival stage. We call this the “worlds collide” strategy. “Overwatch” players get to see the game they know and love in a new light, and LE SSERAFIM fans are given an opportunity to explore the world of the game and the culture around it. We hoped the fandoms would feel connected with one another and feel a sense of belonging, and that it would give them a reason to come together as a united community and play together.

In “Perfect Night,” the heroes were LE SSERAFIM fans. In “Made My Night,” they’re all working together. How did you want the music video to capture that shift and the introduction of the new hero D.Mon?
Blizzard: When we collaborate with other IPs, we try not to let it affect the existing “Overwatch” storyline. That’s also why, for the first collaboration, we established the heroes as FEARNOT and wrote a plot around them going to a LE SSERAFIM concert. For “Made My Night,” both sides wanted the group to play a more active role in the story, which is how the LE SSERAFIM members and the “Overwatch” heroes ended up teaming up in the music video. We’d also been working on D.Mon’s storyline for a long time and the timing of the collaboration let us fold that in. With D.Mon new to the game, it was a good time to debut the first skins with LE SSERAFIM, and it was also a good opportunity to continue the story arc of D.Va and D.Mon, the two Korean heroes, on the Busan map.

Shin: The third collaboration coincided with the Busan map and MEKA Squad’s storyline being expanded upon, so we worked Busan into the “Made My Night” music video, too. We used signs from the Busan map in the background as references, and we even put in a part where the Gwishin omnics dance in the karaoke room where players wait to join the map. For the story, we drew inspiration from how D.Mon and D.Va are total opposites but still work well together in their MEKA Squad duties. When the alert goes out that LE SSERAFIM is missing, D.Va climbs into her mech and takes off without a second thought, and D.Mon watches her go before summoning her own. That brief moment demonstrates how, whatever their differences may be, the two of them are working toward the same goal.

The latest collaboration brought with it new heroes, including D.Mon. What did you have to take into consideration to bring out the best of both LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” when picking the heroes and designing the skins?
Blizzard: When we choose the heroes for a collaboration event, diversity and inclusion are among the things we care about most. Rather than featuring only the most popular heroes over and over, we try to give new ones a chance each time. We’re also bringing back skins from earlier collaborations in new color variations. There was also the significance of getting to connect the stories of D.Va and D.Mon, who are both from Korea. D.Va is more gamer than idol in the lore, but she also lives like a celebrity, where fans and the media can’t get enough of her. That’s what made her such a natural fit for LE SSERAFIM from the very first collaboration in 2023.

On the design side, it was important to stick to the bright, hopeful, heroic spirit of “Overwatch,” and we wanted to reflect LE SSERAFIM’s brand and style into the heroes’ stories, skins, and in-game items on top of that, so we worked more closely and thoroughly than ever with LE SSERAFIM’s team on everything from the design of the skins to the logo and the overall visuals. We used to use logos with the two names side by side, like “Overwatch × LE SSERAFIM,” but this time we also made a logo that merges them into one. We’ve gotten better at working the unique aspects of both brands into the design over the course of the three collaborations.

Shin: My personal favorite detail among all the designs is the LE SSERAFIM symbol on the upper back of D.Mon’s mech, which looks like a hologram. Their logo shows up on Mizuki’s kasa hat and glaive, too, and the text logo is on Anran’s fans, Freja’s crossbow, and Sierra’s Helix Rifle. I’m a gamer myself, so I know you don’t really get many chances to see your whole character when you’re playing a first-person shooter. The weapon in your hands, though, that’s always in view. That’s why we thought it was important for the details of the collaboration to really show on the weapons, too. You feel the satisfaction of having bought the skin right there in the middle of playing.

L) ‘Made My Night’ logo © SOURCE MUSIC R) ‘Made My Night’ Gameplay Trailer (PlayOverwatch YouTube)

The two IPs come together in one visual design for the single and the logo. What was the concept behind the design and how did the physical single come together?
Park: Right from the very first planning stages of the project, it was, “Let’s create something fun for both our communities.” Both sides felt that was important. The idea was to show off the collaboration not just in the music and the game but at every point of interaction, including products, livestreams, promotional material, and other content.

That line of thinking led to the North American physical single. LE SSERAFIM’s CDs usually center on photos of the group and whatever the album’s concept is, but this time we mapped out a story involving LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” together from the start and built it into the physical release. We made it so that fans could step into the world of the collab through the CD, then keep following the story through follow-up promotional and other content.

Shin: With the CD design, we focused on getting the feel of this collaboration across visually. Since we were bringing back the night theme from “Perfect Night,” we worked with two core ideas: after-party and disco. We weren’t trying to set this apart from the earlier collaborations so much as find where the branding “Overwatch” and LE SSERAFIM have built up and the vision for the future meet.

When we started designing the single, the first question was how to blend something distinct about “Overwatch” into LE SSERAFIM’s logo.  The way the group members’ very different personalities all come together in a fun, refreshing way reminded us of how D.Mon and D.Va are nothing alike but fight side by side in the MEKA Squad together. We worked that sense of imperfect symmetry into the “Made My Night” monogram logo and a second logo created around the two heroes in profile. We considered FEARLESS BLUE and purple for the main visual colors, but ended up borrowing D.Va’s and D.Mon’s accent colors because they show the collab more directly. Then we cranked up the saturation to better suit the night concept, and that’s where the neon mint and pink ultimately came from.

We made six versions of the physical single: one group version, plus five that each pair one member of the group with a hero wearing their corresponding skin. For those pairs, we went with the girls’ preferred characters—KIM CHAEWON with D.Mon, SAKURA with Sierra, HUH YUNJIN with Freja, KAZUHA with Mizuki, and HONG EUNCHAE with Moira. HONG EUNCHAE actually plays Moira, and I know SAKURA plays Sierra a lot, too. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to make real photos of the LE SSERAFIM members and illustrations of the “Overwatch” heroes work in one package. Rather than merge the two into a single piece of artwork, we decided to put each in their own spot. We used a jewel case instead of a paper sleeve, with the heroes on the CD itself and the girls’ photos adorning the booklet. The inlay you see when you take the CD out has outline illustrations of each hero’s silhouette, along with descriptive text. By giving each IP its own component within the same product, we managed to make them feel balanced together.

Beyond the physical single, what approaches did you try with the BlizzCon merch, such as making real-life versions of things from the game or bringing different visual styles together?
Shin: We focused on making products imbued with the significance behind the collaboration that are also high-quality enough that fans would actually want them. One notable item is the decorative Weapon Charm that combines Nano Cola with LE SSERAFIM. In the game, you decorate your weapon with it, and we worked closely with Blizzard for a long time so fans could get the real thing at BlizzCon, too. The long-sleeve jerseys were inspired by the uniforms competitive “Overwatch” players wear, and we designed the short-sleeve shirt so people can rep being a gamer in everyday life. For the mouse pad, we used the CD mockup design as is, so it looks like a fictional album LE SSERAFIM and “Overwatch” made together, or a retro game CD. We wanted fans to be able to see the things from the game they love but in real life.

Here’s something interesting that went down behind the scenes with the illustrations. This time around, LE SSERAFIM, D.Mon, and D.Va are all drawn in a single art style, and the group’s styling is based on the concept photos for the COMPACT version of the album. We sent the photos to the illustrator and asked them to draw the group members in the same style as the heroes in the game. We first crossed paths with that illustrator at a small book fair in Nagoya last year. We stumbled on an independent publication there called “MAHOU SHOUJOU,” thought it would be a great fit for our project, and reached out, and since the illustrator loved K-pop culture, working together was a blast. We also made a short comic for the pop-up as a leaflet for fans to take when they came by. The way we brought together the visual styles of two different IPs into one art style is one of the most memorable parts of this project.

L) LE SSERAFIM X OVERWATCH mouse pad © SOURCE MUSIC/HYBE R) “Made My Night” Single CD (*US only) © SOURCE MUSIC

The number of ways players can experience LE SSERAFIM within the game have multiplied over years of collaborations. What was most crucial when bringing aspects of K-pop into the gameplay?
Blizzard: It was important that players could feel the appeal of K-pop right inside the game. The first collaboration brought lobby music, simple dance emotes, themed skins, a game mode, challenges, and cosmetic bundles. We kept adding more with each collaboration, with an attempt to capture fan culture and K-pop fashion this time around. We see choreography as a key ingredient of what makes K-pop so cool and fun, so we ended up making emotes that let players bust out LE SSERAFIM’s dance moves right in the game.

Park: K-pop is usually something you take in, whether you’re listening to a three-minute song or watching a performance, but in the game, you can spend hours a day in control of LE SSERAFIM’s music and visuals. Players aren’t just watching content, they’re taking part in it, and that makes for a different experience compared to any other music promotion. That’s also why it was so striking to see gamers around the world who weren’t into K-pop treat LE SSERAFIM as part of the game culture, putting on the skins, doing the victory poses, using the emotes, and waving the light sticks. We also saw players in LE SSERAFIM skins come together and randomly start dancing, and others made highlight videos for the sound effects from the song that play when they use their abilities and posted to short-form apps. It feels like a new play style emerged as players took what we made and enjoyed it their own way.

A collaboration that began with “Perfect Night” has now spawned “Made My Night” and even seen its way to the BlizzCon stage. What was the most meaningful part of the experience when you look back on all three projects?
Park: Over the span of three different collaborations, both we and Blizzard came to understand not just each other’s artists and IPs, but also what each fandom likes and what kind of experiences feel meaningful to them. And this time in particular, we wanted to create one cohesive narrative that started with the physical single and led fans through different content and promotions all the way to the BlizzCon stage. It didn’t stop at enjoying each individual piece—it was about letting people discover the full story of the collab at every interaction. And it was only possible to give that a shot because of the trust and understanding we’d built along the way.

We ultimately hoped the latest collab would go beyond people saying “Oh, they’re collaborating again” and leave them with a feeling of “We’re one big family.” I think the most significant and valuable thing about this collab is that LE SSERAFIM, “Overwatch,” and fans of both are connected and having fun together.

Blizzard: We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to LE SSERAFIM and everyone at SOURCE MUSIC and HYBE who helped make this long collaboration between the group and “Overwatch” a success. It’s been truly special to watch LE SSERAFIM grow into the success they are today, right alongside “Overwatch.” We’re honored to have been part of that journey, and we’re grateful for it.