[비즈한국] Lotte World is embarking on a mission to strengthen its intellectual property (IP) business. The plan is to aggressively cultivate its own characters, which were previously confined within the amusement park, and to diversify park facilities—often criticized for being monotonous compared to global theme parks—by utilizing external IPs. With Lotte World positioning itself as a platform for overseas kids' business and leveraging its own MZ-targeted characters, attention is focused on whether it can successfully expand its influence using IP as a stepping stone.
Active Introduction of External IP, MapleStory Dedicated Zone Set for 2026
In its 36th year, Lotte World is seeking to expand its competitiveness by strengthening its content offerings. Recently, Lotte World has been focusing on increasing visitor numbers through major collaborations with domestic and international IP companies.
As a short-term strategy, collaborations with external IPs are held every season. Currently, the inside of the park has been transformed into a "Pokemon World" concept applying the Pokemon IP. While previous collaborations were conducted as short, seasonal festivals (spring, summer, autumn, winter), this project spans eight months across three seasons. Last year, Lotte World incorporated Naver Webtoon’s "A Late Debut, A Late Love" in March, the anime "Detective Conan" in July, and the "Snoopy" universe in September into the park.
In the theme park industry, IP is considered a core factor that determines competitiveness rather than just a marketing element. The effort to diversify IP within amusement parks is being pursued regardless of borders. Global theme parks like Disneyland have also actively utilized new IPs acquired through corporate acquisitions alongside their original animation IPs in their park facilities.
The reason Lotte World is actively engaging in collaborations is along the same lines. Collaborating with popular external IPs is the most effective way to generate immediate results. Lotte World, whose themes were previously considered relatively simple, faced urgent calls to strengthen its appeal to attract visitors. Critics argued that the lack of organic connection between attractions, restaurants, shops, and performances created a noticeable limit in immersion.
A new theme zone has also been recently announced. The strategy is to replace aging facilities and provide fresh changes in the long term. According to Lotte World and Nexon, a large-scale theme zone using Nexon's "MapleStory" IP will open in the first half of 2026 at Magic Island, Lotte World's outdoor site in Jamsil. This marks Lotte World's first attempt at building a large-scale theme zone through collaboration with external IP, and it is also the first time a dedicated game IP theme zone is being established in a domestic theme park.
The scale is significant. The approximately 1,983㎡ (about 600 pyeong) theme zone will feature one roller coaster, two family attractions, a gift shop, and F&B outlets centered around three worldviews. While there was a previous instance of incorporating Nexon’s "KartRider" IP into an indoor racing attraction, this collaboration is distinct in that it extends to the entire experience area.
Lotte World Sets Sights on Becoming a "Platform"... Subsidiaries Join Forces to Strengthen Content Business
Beyond its offline business, Lotte World is also cultivating its identity as a content platform. This involves operating a content business using "Lorry and Friends"—characters previously only encountered inside the theme park—as the source material. While characters like Lorry and Lory are frequently seen from the entrance of Lotte World through various attractions, souvenirs, and parades, they lacked attractiveness due to the absence of a defined story or worldview.
Lotte World views its long-standing mascots as available assets and is accelerating the development and distribution of its own IP through world-building. Currently, the company is focusing on the early childhood play-education content "Lorry Friends" and the MZ-targeted IP "Morris & Boris."
Launched on YouTube in July 2021, Lorry Friends is evaluated as having expanded its influence in the kids' market. The channel uses the young raccoon character Lorry to provide content such as color and language study, and songs for learning daily habits. Last February, its English channel became the first in the Lotte Group to reach 1 million subscribers. Currently, the English and Korean channels have 1.81 million and 730,000 subscribers, respectively. For comparison, the educational content "Kongsoonie," which launched its YouTube channel in 2011, has 1.51 million English and 5.68 million Korean subscribers. While there are differences in target audiences and content, Lorry Friends is maintaining a high growth rate even when compared to the well-established Kongsoonie.
Lorry Friends is preparing to launch a series animation. Considering the cooling domestic kids' market and overseas response, it is understood that the company is considering simultaneous broadcasts in Southeast Asian regions such as Vietnam and Indonesia. It is expected to air on broadcast television and OTT platforms in the fourth quarter of this year.
Another in-house IP, "Morris," utilizes Instagram "Instatoons" and YouTube shorts as its main channels. Morris started as one of 12 sub-characters besides Lorry and Lory. The company explains that it is rebuilding the worldview around Morris, who runs a cafe, and his nephew-turned-part-timer, Boris, creating a narrative that MZ-generation workers can relate to regarding "kkondae" (bossy/out-of-touch) bosses and part-time workers. Since last year, it has also conducted marketing through short-form videos featuring broadcaster Yoo Byung-jae.
Although there are evaluations that it is "ambiguous" for content aiming for "B-grade humor" and it hasn't shown significant results yet, the company plans to expand into areas like Instagram short-form content this year.
The background to Lotte World’s focus on the IP business lies in the group-wide strengthening of content business. Last April, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin ordered the expansion of the content business, including global IP collaborations, stating, "Please work hard to develop sustainable mid-to-long-term models that can increase Lotte's asset value." The perspective is that utilizing popular IPs, such as Lotte Home Shopping’s "Belly Gom," can create linkage effects across various fields including food, retail, and services within the group.
Since then, a dedicated organization within Lotte Corporation has been acting as the control tower for the group's IP business. Lotte World’s in-house IP development strategy is also being carried out in collaboration with the holding company.
An industry insider stated, "Lotte has many areas to try based on the content production capabilities it has accumulated so far," adding, "If they build a structure favorable for creating various touchpoints with users and approach them in a friendly manner, they will be able to achieve results."