Since BTS World—a mobile game based on the phenomenal South Korean boy group BTS—hit Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in 2019, it has become quite popular. Now, the company behind it is working on an entirely new game based on a foreign idol group, one who may be familiar to K-Pop fans: AKB48.
In September, Japan’s top all-girl group will release a new game produced by Take One Company. AKB48 World will be somewhat similar to the one based on BTS, in the sense that it will give fans access to a wide variety of content across various platforms. But it will also have certain features BTS World didn’t, such as a competition aspect between gamers.
AKB48 has been characterized as a social phenomenon in Japan. They’re the fifth best-selling girl group in the world. As of April 2019, the group has sold over 60 million records, including at least six million albums. The group has released over 50 singles since its inception in 2005, and around 30 of those singles sold over a million copies each.
In 2018, AKB48’s “Teacher Teacher” earned a triple million certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), making them the first girl group (and third act overall) to sell over three million copies of a single. Aside from the new game, they’ll also be dropping their 58th single “Nemohamo Rumor” in September.
K-Pop fans know AKB48 as the group that joined the third season of the Produce 101 franchise. Honda Hitomi, Miyawaki Sakura, and Yabuki Nako of the AKB48 Group were among the 12 winners, and went on to debut in the project group IZ*ONE. When IZ*ONE disbanded last April, Hitomi and Nako returned to the AKB48 Group, while Sakura is reportedly going to debut in HYBE’s upcoming girl group.
Speaking of HYBE and the artists they handle, Take One Company drew a lot of attention when it released BTS World. They specialize in making what they call “cinematic games,” which their website explains are games that combine the storytelling elements of video content with the gaming world’s profitability.
Take One Company is looking to expand by dipping its toes into dramas, movies, and webtoons. In fact, the webtoon Cell, which is being serialized on Daum Webtoon and Kakao Page, is the work of Take One Company. It’s also collaborating with Studio Dragon on an upcoming drama called Luca, which will be aired on tvN by the end of the year.
It’s planning to go public in the mid- to long-term. In the company’s early days, Take One Company received investments from PI Investment and later raised funds from Hastings Asset Management and IBK (Industrial Bank of Korea). In 2021, it secured 12 billion won from SG Private Equity. Its current accumulated investment amounts to 20 billion won.
Watch a teaser for AKB48 World below:
