KRAFTON and the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) have signed a three-year agreement to promote esports in schools and make it a bigger part of Korea’s official sports system.
The agreement was signed on April 13, 2026, at KeSPA’s headquarters in Seoul. Leaders from both sides attended, including KeSPA Secretary General Kim Cheol-hak and KRAFTON Head of Esports Park Soo-yong.
The stated main goal of this partnership is to help students get involved in esports in a healthy and structured way. The two organisations want young players to learn teamwork and sportsmanship, while also giving them a clear path to become professional players in the future.
Another important part of the plan is to give more recognition to Korean-made games like PUBG: Battlegrounds. The aim is to include such games in official competitions, including national sports events, so esports can be treated more like traditional sports.
KRAFTON and KeSPA also plan to build a strong system that connects school-level players to professional teams and even the national team. This is expected to help Korea continue producing top esports talent. To manage these efforts, both sides will create a joint committee that will oversee school esports programs and improve how they are run.
They are also looking beyond Korea. The partnership includes plans to prepare players and games for global competitions, such as the Olympic Esports Games, so Korean esports can gain more international recognition.
Kim Cheol-hak, Secretary General of the Association, said in a release (translated from Korean), “This agreement will serve as a significant turning point for domestic esports titles to secure an unrivaled status within the institutional sports systems both domestically and internationally. Together with Krafton, we will strengthen the substance of school esports programs and build a solid pipeline extending from amateurs to national representatives, thereby laying the groundwork for our players to grow into global talents.”
Park Soo-yong, Head of the PUBG Esports Division at Krafton, said (translated from Korean), “I am pleased to step forward to revitalise school esports based on the seven years of trust built between PUBG: Battlegrounds and the Association. I hope to create a systematic environment where students can learn healthy sportsmanship through esports and, furthermore, grow into professional players. We will also do our utmost to ensure that PUBG: Battlegrounds, a domestic IP, establishes itself as an official global sport.”
This agreement builds on a seven-year relationship between KRAFTON and KeSPA, mainly through PUBG esports events. In order to further promote the esports industry in South Korea, the authorities are also considering expanding tax benefits for the esports sector, following a new policy study released by the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA).
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