Love and Deepspace, Pop Mart enter China’s fragrance race

Blockbuster films and television series have long expanded into fragrance in Western markets. Outlander fans can buy scents inspired by Claire and Jamie Fraser, while Wuthering Heights inspired Tokyo Milk’s Drive Me Mad collection. By contrast, blockbuster Chinese dramas such as Blossoms Shanghai have not produced the same wave of licensed fragrances. Instead, otome games, or female-oriented romance simulations, have emerged as one of China’s fastest-growing fragrance channels. Developers are transforming virtual characters into fragrance brands, allowing players to extend their emotional connections beyond the screen. Shanghai-based Paper Games has emerged as one of the category’s most successful players, with fragrance collections inspired by Love and Deepspace and Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice repeatedly selling out within minutes. Meanwhile, Pop Mart has entered the category with fragrances based on its Skullpanda universe. The trend raises an obvious question: Is China’s fragrance market entering a “kidult” era? Jing Li, perfume critic and lecturer at the Shanghai Institute of Fragrance and Flavors, does not think so. “The romantic relationships found in otome games and the personalities embedded within collectible worlds provide a form of emotional refuge,” Li tells Jing Daily. “This should not be interpreted as infantilization. Rather, it reflects how consumers are increasingly willing to pay for emotional companionship.” Li argues that Chinese consumers are discovering fragrance at an earlier age, while their motivations for purchasing scent are also changing. Rather than functioning primarily as status symbols, fragrances are increasingly used to shape mood, express identity, and create emotionally resonant moments. “In the past, luxury consumption was largely centered around social identity,” he says. “Today, younger consumers place much greater emphasis on self-identity.” Turning fandoms into fragrance sales As one Xiaohongshu user writes, “I don’t buy Hermès. I don’t buy Jo Malone. I don’t buy Chanel. I buy Qi Yu’s Siren’s Promise.” Qi Yu, better known as Rafayel, is one of the five romance interests in Love and Deepspace, Paper Games’ flagship otome game. Playful yet emotionally guarded, he is portrayed as an artist whose story is intertwined with a lost underwater civilization. Chinese players frequently describe him as mysterious, romantic, and emotionally complex, characteristics that Paper Games sought to translate into fragrance. When Paper Games subsidiary Paper Presented launched Rafayel’s birthday fragrance, Siren’s Oath, in March, strong demand from Love and Deepspace fans quickly drove the limited-edition perfume to sell out across multiple licensed merchandise platforms. Retailing for 370 RMB ($52) for 50 ml, the fragrance comes in a shimmering shell-shaped bottle topped with a mermaid tail-inspired cap. Described as an aquatic fougère, the scent was created to capture both Rafayel’s connection to the ocean and the more vulnerable aspects of his personality. Paper Games has since expanded the collection with fragrances dedicated to two additional characters, Qin Che (Sylus) and Xia Yizhou (Caleb). Their birthday scents, Dragon’s Firekiss and Midsummer Apple, have generated thousands of comments across Chinese social media. The bottles function as collectible display pieces as much as beauty products, featuring textured glass, engraved detailing, and metallic ornaments. “Fragrance is becoming a form of emotional storytelling rather than simply personal care,” says Vincent Weng, director of Guangzhou’s immersive fragrance museum Xuelei. “Many young consumers are choosing fragrances that allow them to connect with a character, a story, or a world they love. From a museum perspective, this is an exciting shift because scent is becoming a cultural and emotional language. People are no longer simply wearing a fragrance. They are wearing a story.” The popularity of these launches reflects the scale of the gaming ecosystem itself. Since launching in 2024, Love and Deepspace has surpassed 80 million lifetime downloads worldwide and generated an estimated $933.7 million in gross revenue across the App Store and Google Play, according to AppMagic estimates. Although free to download, the game monetizes through in-app purchases that unlock new storylines, character interactions, and limited-time events. China accounts for around 60% of player spending, followed by the U.S. and Japan. Nearly 90% of the game’s Chinese player base is female, many of whom are drawn to the emotional intimacy, attention, and immersive fantasy it offers. Those relationships increasingly extend beyond the game itself. Last year, players celebrated their virtual boyfriends’ birthdays with themed parties, posters, and social media campaigns. This year, many are buying fragrances inspired by those same characters. Emotional attachment replaces nostalgia Branded IP fragrances are not new in China. Earlier examples include Scent Library’s White Rabbit candy perfume, Luzhou Laojiao’s baijiu-inspired fragrance, and Fufusoul’s scented plush toy, which also functions as a car air freshener. “In the past, branded IP fragrance products mainly borrowed recognizable symbols,” Li says. “Many consumers were not traditional fragrance enthusiasts. What they were buying was not simply a perfume but a materialized version of shared cultural memory.” The White Rabbit perfume, for example, appealed to consumers who associated the scent with childhood memories rather than fragrance itself. Consumers were buying another expression of a familiar cultural symbol. Gaming-inspired fragrances operate differently. Rather than relying on logos or nostalgia, they build on emotional bonds cultivated through hundreds of hours of gameplay. The fragrance becomes another way of participating in that fictional world. “Consumers are no longer only curious about what a brand smells like,” Li adds. “They want to know what the character they are emotionally attached to smells like.” New players drive fragrance innovation The commercial success of these launches is also changing who drives fragrance innovation in China. For decades, new fragrance launches were led primarily by fashion houses, beauty groups, and niche perfume brands. Today, some of the country’s most talked-about fragrance collections are coming from gaming studios, entertainment IP owners, and designer toy brands. Pop Mart’s latest Skullpanda fragrance collection, Petals in Four Acts, is a blind box series that pairs four fragrances with collectible figurines inspired by Shakespearean plays. By combining perfume with tactile art objects, the release transforms each piece into an expression of sensory identity rather than a conventional perfume bottle. “I mainly bought it because of Skullpanda,” Xiaohongshu creator Vennie shared in a review. “But it works as décor, Skullpanda merchandise, or simply as a fragrance spray.” For Weng, products like these could change how many young consumers first encounter fragrance. “For many Gen Z consumers, their first fragrance experience may now come through a game or a collectible IP rather than a luxury beauty counter.” Li agrees that IP can spark discovery but argues that long-term success still hinges on the fragrance itself. “IP drives the first purchase, while art perfumery deepens the journey,” he explains. A purchase may start with a favorite character, but over time consumers often develop an interest in perfumers, fragrance houses, and raw materials. Ultimately, Weng suggests the significance of these collaborations lies beyond individual IP longevity. “As a museum curator, what matters most is not whether a particular IP lasts,” Weng says. “It is whether these collaborations help cultivate a generation that appreciates fragrance as culture, not simply as a product.” Antoaneta Becker is the director for consumer economy at the China-Britain Business Council. She is a China brand strategist, working with fragrance, beauty and luxury brands to support their entry and growth in the most dynamic consumer market.

Love and Deepspace, Pop Mart enter China’s fragrance race

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Love and Deepspace, Pop Mart enter China’s fragrance race

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