Digital Couture: Balenciaga Transforms Gaming with Exclusive In-Game Fashion Collection

Balenciaga takes fashion to the digital battlefield. The Kering-owned French luxury house is launching its third video game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, alongside Pubg, a battle royale-style game where up to 100 players compete with guns blazing to be the last to survive. The in-game portfolio features looks and skins (the visual appearance of in-game elements) inspired by original Balenciaga pieces.

The collaboration features exclusive in-game content, a themed map called World of Wonder, prizes in e-sports competitions, as well as a collection of clothing and accessories available in Balenciaga stores.

In the mobile version, which has become one of the biggest hits in the history of video games, players can unlock everything from a Couture Armor look inspired by a 3D couture piece from the French brand, a pink jacket or a sweatshirt with a corset, to extravagant accessories such as a leather helmet, backpacks, branded parachutes or avatars with the brand’s aesthetics.

Balenciaga launched ‘Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow’, its first own video game, in 2021

Balenciaga already collaborated with the gaming universe in 2021, with the famous video game Forntine, creating a digital collection of outfits for characters in the game, integrating pieces inspired by their designs, as well as a physical clothing line.

Also in 2021, the brand launched its first own video game, Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow, to present its fall-winter collection that same year.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was developed, in its mobile version, by Lightspeed Studios, owned by Tencent Games, China’s largest technology company, and Krafton, a South Korean video game company that posted a turnover of around €950 million in 2024 .

In early July this year, Balenciaga held its annual Haute Couture fashion show, with which it fired its creative director after ten years at the brand. Demna joined Gucci, also owned by Kering, taking over from Sabato de Sarno, while Balenciaga signed Pierpaolo Piccioli as creative director.

The dance of creatives took place at a delicate time for Balenciaga, which recorded in the first quarter of 2025, a 14% drop in sales, to €3.885 billion, compared to 4.504 billion in the same period of the previous year. This evolution has led the conglomerate to accelerate its repositioning strategy, both in creative and executive terms.