Netmarble has announced that they will be ending the King of Fighters AllStar (KOFAS) Halloween event early following the tragic Itaewon Stampede in South Korea that caused the deaths of 154 people.

This was announced on the Netmarble forums by CM Yuri who said the following regarding the event:

“There was a sad accident in South Korea last night. KOFAS will pray for the repose of those who died in the accident and pray for those who are injured to recover quickly. KOFAS team would like to express our deep consolation to all those who lost their family and acquaintances due to the unfortunate accident. We decided to close the Halloween-related event early to console the accident in Korea at 10/30 13:00(WIB). We sincerely apologize for all this inconvenience within the game.”

The Itaewom Stampde was an accident that occurred in South Korea’s capital of Seoul on October 29th 2022. Being the first Halloween following the covid-19 Pandemic, many costume-clad partygoers on the streets found themselves packed into a narrow 3.2 meter wide alleyways in the city’s Itaewon Entertainment District. This resulted in a deadly crowd crush with took the lives of over 100 people.

Several comments on the R Gacha Reddit have said that it is quite normal for South Korean companies like Netmarble to cancel celebrations or events in a time of morning especially in light of such as tragedy as this one.

Netmarble and King of Fighters AllStar are not the only companies pulling Halloween events following the news of the Itaewon incident. Reuters says that South Korean tech and mobile game firms like Kakao and NCSOFT as well as the amusement park Everland have also canceled their Halloween promotions.

We would like to give our condolences to the family and friends of the victims of the stampede.