Source: Netmarble Cultural Foundation

The Netmarble Cultural Foundation (Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk) announced on the 26th that the preliminaries for the 2026 National e-Festival for Students with Disabilities will begin on the 27th. The event is co-hosted by the National Institute of Special Education (Director Kim Sun-mi) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (Acting President Yoo Hyun-seok), and sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The National e-Festival for Students with Disabilities is designed to leverage the functional benefits of gaming to boost the self-esteem and sense of achievement of students with disabilities, while helping them improve their information literacy and establish healthy leisure habits. Netmarble has been a steadfast partner in this meaningful event, co-hosting it continuously since 2009.

This year's event will be held entirely in person, with the preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals all taking place on-site. The preliminaries will run for about a month from May 27 to July 10 across the country, with approximately 3k participants competing for a spot in the semi-finals and finals. The main event, featuring those who advance through the competitive preliminaries, will be held on September 8 and 9 at Sono Felice Vivaldi Park in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province.

The competition features 18 categories in the information technology contest, including robot coding, and 11 categories in the e-sports tournament, which includes games such as MAGUMAGU Remastered and Everybody's Marble. The e-sports tournament has expanded this year from 10 to 11 categories, with the popular soccer game FC Online newly added as an official event, drawing significant interest from participants.

Launched in 2018 with the goal of promoting healthy gaming culture, fostering future creative talent, and spreading a culture of sharing, the Netmarble Cultural Foundation actively conducts diverse and specialized social contribution activities centered on three core areas: building culture, nurturing talent, and sharing hearts.