Mugs, T-shirts, caps, figurines, watches – all with your favorite video game characters. And what is this way to make money on a popular product?? Or creating “merch” for the delight of fans? Let’s try to understand this variety of logos, icons and other things.

Let’s look into history. What is this “merch”??

And why do so many people go crazy about it??

"Merch" – this is absolutely any type official products with a certain symbolism, released in support of any main product for the company (anything, from a film to a music album).

It turns out that Chinese fakes with some Mario, "merch" we can’t name it.To. this is not an official product, which means that not all fan items belong to it, but only those produced by the company that has the rights to the hero.

In general, this is a rather strange word, let’s figure out where it came from:

Originally in English the word sounds like this: "merchandise", and is translated as “products/goods”. Since languages ​​are constantly being simplified, in Russia or American countries, such an inconvenient word as merchandise has been shortened to "merch" (and this is essentially "slang" since any spell checker, even a browser, will indicate that the word is misspelled).

And few people know what its distant history is, because merch gained particular popularity in America in the hippie era, and this is around the late 60s of the last century. American businessmen realized that good money could be made by selling paraphernalia of the most popular rock bands of that time, so they presented entire lines of merch from the Beatles, The Doors and other popular performers.

If we talk about our country, then the fashion for music merch appeared only in the late 80s. (At that time, the “Iron Curtain” of the USSR opened slightly and a wave of Western rock music swept across the Soviet expanses.)

It is logical that merch https://tedbingocasino.co.uk/bonus/ for games began to appear almost immediately after the appearance of the games themselves. And why did he type this? popular? After all, such things are not very cheap. And still, a fan is ready to buy even a poster with his favorite hero for 5,000-15,000 thousand rubles.

Popularity

It all started again in the distant eighties, this period in the states is called: “Golden age of arcade video games” (the golden age of computer arcade games) – the appearance of such films as “Tron”, the release of the games Space Invaders and Asteroids, all this entered the culture en masse and for some time was the dominant force in it. Even President Ronald Reagan congratulated the player for achieving a record number of points in Pac-Man (the popularity of the game was so high).

At that time, the states had already developed a “merch” culture for fans of cinema, comics and television. The Comic-Con event has been held in San Diego since 1975, and just over 150 thousand geeks took part in it every year. And at that time the states very much resembled Russia in the period since 2000.

This was all “pampering” and was very often perceived by the parents there as “an unhealthy passion for children’s science fiction”. There was a demand for fan products, but, more often than not, you could buy something you wanted once or twice a year at thematic conventions, and most of the time such goods were sold in special stores, like the same "Games Workshop". And high prices do not stop buyers, because these products simply cannot be found.

Since we have already mentioned Comic-Con, let’s remember other gaming events, because in fact they are the main promotion of this product:

Eannual exhibition of the computer games industry held by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). At the exhibition, developers, publishers, software and hardware manufacturers present computer and video games, game consoles, computer electronics and accessories.

/////Wikipedia/////

The exhibition, as we see, is not limited to displaying games and software; there are also accessories or, as we began to call them, “merch”

Igromir

“You can still read rave reviews or comments from visitors to the IgroMir exhibition who received a figurine, cap or T-shirt with a print of their favorite game as a gift, about how happy they were (especially those who visited it for the first time). And at this moment someone is perplexed. what’s wrong with that? Why are you so happy?» Indeed, why are there those who adore even a simple cap with a logo, while others don’t understand its meaning?? Let’s try to find the answer.

Dust bin or collection?

In fact, the answer to this question is quite simple, we are all different:

Someone loves movies and would be over the moon to receive an autograph from their favorite actor.

Someone loves books and, upon receiving a limited edition of a work read 7 times, jumps to the ceiling

And there are us, those who love to play, and for US, even the simplest things that remind us of an amazing game are simply necessary.

This is why manufacturers such as FUNKO POP, This is why such exhibitions are held as Comic-Con, and for this purpose millions of people buy things that we call "merch".

This topic can be discussed for a long time, if you want to continue or express your opinion, leave a comment, this will not only help promote the blog, but also help you understand which part of the topic can be studied better, thank you!

Best comments

There could have been more mention of the fan community, such as Mass Effect or Star Wars fan meetings. Personally, I liked the article, although it was quite short, thank you.