[APAC] Korea is back... But where the f is Gen.G?
- BSEN
- 34 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The 2026 season has officially begun, with the first East Asia Monthly Final now concluded, and it is clear that it is much more competitive than in years past. While Japanese players have traditionally dominated the scene, February brought a surprise for viewers: WWL Esports. Comprised of ex-GEN.G player Cookie, ex-NIWA player NenNe, and newcomer Minzzun, this Korean trio shocked the world with an intense but dominant reverse sweep over second seed, and 2025 World Finalists, REJECT, winning six straight games to take Korea into the semifinals for the first time since 2022.
It’s clear that for the first time in years, Korea could be back at the top of Brawl Stars - but notably, partnered organization Gen.G is still missing. After having received partner last year, the organization has seemingly vanished out of thin air. So, without any official confirmation, the question becomes: where are they now?
Korean Esports? Big. Korean BS? Not So Much…
South Korea is arguably the most successful country of all time when it comes to esports. They are known to have dominated League of Legends for over a decade and produced esports’ most iconic figure Faker, an icon of gaming overall. Despite a rich culture in tenured titles, like LoL and Valorant, Korea hasn’t been as dominant in mobile esports.
With games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Honor of Kings, and Call of Duty Mobile being dominated by the Chinese and SEA scenes, Korea has struggled to find its footing in the world of mobile esports, and Brawl Stars is no exception. The last time Korea qualified to a global event was the 2019 World Finals, the first BSC event ever, where 3Bears qualified through the Korean Circuit Finals. With a close loss in the semi-finals to their Japanese rivals Animal Chanpuru, a team consisting of now World Champion Milkreo and legendary Japanese players Ponkotsu and Hagego, the future looked bright for Korea. However, despite early signs of promise, they failed to come close in the following year.
The 2020 season was rough for SK Miracle, a Korean roster in a region of giants, losing out and ending the year in fourth under teams with Sitetampo, Tensai, and the future World Champions, PSG. Since then, the country has consistently floated under the radar and out of the spotlight, as Japan has claimed three World Championships in their run on the World Stage.
A Rough Start
Gen.G Esports entered BSC in a largely unnoticed signing at the end of 2024, signing Korean caster and player Boni to get their roster started, joining forces with coach OPrime to begin the Korean legacy’s journey in the BSC. When they began looking for 2 more players, the organisation held an in person LAN event where the winners of the tournament would get a spot on their main roster. They ended up signing Mingyu and Siro, along with the existing roster of Boni and coach OPrime. Sadly, this roster wasn’t as successful as when the organization joined the BSC Partner Program and ultimately started competing, as the roster ended up not doing all too well, not even qualifying for the first Monthly Final. After a few more months, the roster finally got what they were chasing and reached the April Monthly Finals but in an unexpected way. With F/A team Come Next being found ineligible to play the tournament due to fair play checks, Gen.G Esports advanced to the Monthly Finals as the victor of the four team tiebreaker bracket played between the teams who were one step short of qualifying to the Monthly Finals. Sadly, they were not able to win their debut match in the BSC and ended up falling short in the quarterfinals.
Rebuilding
Now with the April Monthly Finals behind their back, player Siro decided to split with the team and was replaced with legendary Korean player Moding, one of the three players from Animal Champarau in the 2019 World Finals. This, however, wasn’t enough, and they once again were unable to qualify. Consequently, the roster decided to also split with player Mingyu, who was eventually replaced by Cookie from NIWA. This roster ended up staying until the end and managed to make the July and August Monthly Finals, beating ZETA DIVISION in the upper bracket of the July Monthly Qualifiers, but falling short and far from any post-season qualifications.
Where Are They Now?
After not managing to qualify for any of the major events, Gen.G Esports has decided to split up with their roster. With Korea back to relevance after WWL’s surprise performance in February, fans have expected Gen.G to sign Cookie once again - required, in fact, as partnered organizations get fined for not having an active roster during the season. Rumors aside, it seems that Gen.G will not be returning for the 2026 season, despite no formal announcement as with organizations leaving in years past. In their most recent post, BSC noted that partnership cosmetics would be leaving the shop to make way for new additions to the rebranded “Club Program,” but notably omitted any mention of Gen.G in graphics and only showcased their cosmetics in the in-game screenshot, where it would be impossible to remove.
Gen.G’s departure marks yet another quick removal of a partnered organization after a miserable competitive year. Despite efforts to rekindle the competitive scene in Korea, Gen.G’s approaches ultimately fell short, with open tryouts starting off the season poorly, leading into a hole they could not drag themselves out of. With NAVI’s return to EMEA, Asia only has one partnered organization remaining in ZETA DIVISION, and BSC will likely look to add new strategic partners in the region for future years of competition.
BSEN reached out to BLAST on Gen.G’s partnership status. They declined to comment at this time.