Need More Bethesda Merchandise (and more money) : Fallout 4

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:52 pm

Seems Bethesda has embraced the idea of smashing merchandise out for the imminent arrival of Fallout 4.
Still, despite the amazing amount of stuff they have released, I think they have failed to capitalise on some of the easy money out there. My suggestions to them would include:

- Mobile Accessories
Tablets, Phones and Laptop sleeves...
(For phones, account for the top 10 most popular phones of this year, with a good established brand. Each should be a Smart Cover if the option is there. No sense in skimping.)
Made available in each of the following styles...

...Nuka Cola
...Vault Boy
...Vault Tec logo
...Enclave logo
...Red Rocket
...Brotherhood of Steel
...Power Armor (one each of T45/T51/T60 series)

- Coffee Mugs with the following logos...

...Cuppa Joe
...Vault Tec (grey or black with logo)
...Vault Boy (blue mug)
...Enclave
...Brotherhood of Steel
...Red Rocket
... and a selection of wasteland creatures
... and one of each S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute being gained (I dunno about you, but my morning coffee increases my Intelligence stat).

- Other Accessories

Pencils!
Teddy Bears!
Garden Gnomes!
... the list goes on!

- Soundtracks
CD and/or Vinyl soundtracks of ALL the radio music found in Fallout 3 (and New Vegas*). Bethesda have the rights to distribute as part of the game, so that wouldn't be hard to extend to a physical soundtrack disc. I know I'd sign up for one if it existed, and the thought of shipping Vinyl to Australia worries me a little so I would prefer CD if it was available.

- Pip Ball Pinball machine
Limited number (5?), releasing one or two for Bethesda's favorite charity as a fundraiser. These things can fetch pretty big numbers, if you can tap into the right market. I don't play pinball myself, but when I showed the machine in Fallout Shelter to a buddy who collects machines, he nearly had a coronary.

Clothing

... RobCo jumpsuit
... Enclave Officer outfit
... Vault Suit (and Armored variant 'extras')
... Scribe Robes
... Regulator Duster + Sherriff's Hat
... Blast Off pyjamas
... Leather Armor

Props
Note the ones suggested don't look like modern weapons to prevent confusion in public.

... Laser Rifle
... Laser Pistol
... Plasma Rifle
... Railway Rifle (extra points for sound, haha)
... Rocket Launcher Nerf Gun (yes, licenced to Hasbro to make the 'real thing')
... CZ53 Minigun Nerf Gun (yes, licenced to Hasbro to make the 'real thing')

Software
- Samsung Galaxy Theme Service themes (Not hard to figure out what would work... http://galaxythemestore.com/global.html)

..."PipBoy"
..."Enclave"
..."Brotherhood of Steel"
..."Nuka Cola"
..."Wasteland"
..."Power Armor".

- Android Live Wallpapers of the same types

- Official Wallpapers for common smartphone resolutions contained in an app (for the Apple people who can't use live stuff)

* Note: Some serious thought should be given to negotiating a deal with Obsidian for releasing New Vegas stuff as well, particularly when it comes to the soundtrack, and some of the clothing as there are even more logos and themes you could go with. Honestly, as long as Bethesda remains the distributor and gets a reasonable cut, I cannot see Obsidian turning down a new income stream that they don't have to fork out money for seeing as Bethesda already have the infrastructure in place - just a matter of slightly altering some designs and adding a few new products. Bethesda don't need to play hardball with Obsidian, and Obsidian don't need to moan about getting every drop of profits. If they both play nice, the community wins, Obsidian gets 'free money' and Bethesda continue to pile on their marketing juggernaut for the next 6 months.

What I've got here isn't exhaustive, but it's pretty much a case of "I'd tick everything there if I had the money" apart from the pinball machine.

Anyone else think they've missed something important?

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:46 am

I don't think we necessarily need MORE Bethesda merchandise. I think we need BETTER Bethesda merchandise.

What I would REALLY like to see is deluxe CD releases - just like Skyrim's CD release - for Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. And of course Fallout 4. Vinyl is too inaccessible for too many people. CD is ideal both as a physical collectible and in terms of audio quality.

It was a huge missed opportunity that http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fallout-Artbook-Soundtrack-Amazon-Exclusive/dp/B013B6H7R8 - at least the idea of that book - wasn't part of the Fallout Anthology. The product title calls it an artbook but the image calls it "The history of Fallout" and the description beneath describes it as a "hardcover book with 80 pages detailing the history of Fallout over the years."

I would love to see a general retail release of a hardcover "History of Fallout" book - not to mention the same idea but for Elder Scrolls.

And I'd pay way too much money for a proper Fallout 3 art book and a proper Oblivion art book. Don't ask me what I mean by "proper" though - as someone who does archival and preservation of computer game artwork, that's an entire essay :wink:

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 9:58 am

I just want some cool NCR Ranger Riot armor, Beth should get to making replicas of that stuff. I'd never wear anything else.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:32 am

Exactly. I want the vinyl myself but don't have a turntable - lucky my dad has a top notch one for all his old stuff.

I also agree with the "better" merch. Most of the things I have suggested are things I'd buy without hesitation, yet half the things in the store I think are quite nice - but not for me. That is likely a personal thing, but almost every Fallout fan out there has a smartphone, good majority of them drink hot beverages, etc. So tapping into that demand is the kind of merch trick you need to do to get the best market penetration.

Clothing is great, but difficult to really extend to everyone. Don't get me wrong - I'm stoked that it's there in the store and it really makes me pleased. But there is missed opportunity everywhere else. The 'everyperson' in the community probaly isn't gunning for hoodies and so on, but would be easily sold on a new phone case, a live theme for it, and a couple of mugs with their favourite logo on.

Bethesda hitting the mobile/tablet accessory marketplace for the best companies in the business and saying "We are willing to licence our logos to you" would be an accessory manufacturer/distributors wet dream. Tech21, Otter of Urban Armor would fall over themselves to get in on the game. All you need take a quarter of the number of Fallout Shelter downloads and reckon that'll be the number of people who would seriously consider buying a Fallout themed case.

Half of this stuff is also so easy that it won't be long till they start turning up in flea markets anyway. Bethesda would be crazy not to beat them to the punch.

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:37 pm

Haha, I don't. It's the one thing I'm in the stone age on. I do have an iPad and a laptop, though.

As you say, it's a personal thing. Some people are all about clothes, some about action figures or statues, some about mobile accessories. For myself personally, I tend not to prefer "functional" merchandise - such as jewelry, mugs or phone cases - or "display" merchandise - such as figures or lithographs - or "collectible (for the sake of being collectible)" merchandise - such as those weird little Pop! figures :tongue:

Mostly, I'm all about soundtracks and books - the type of merchandise that takes a significant amount of content from the game (or from the making of the game) and makes it widely available in a high quality format that preserves it.

Instead of 50 cool t-shirt designs with a t-shirt of the month, I'd rather have a portfolio book that collects all those designs :tongue:

» Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:36 pm

While I agree with most of everything you wrote above. Each item they put on sale in there store, was an investment of there own company money to spend at some factory overseas to produce. Not everything in there store sells fast. Thats why there are discounts like almost every month. They want to get rid of stuff, to open up space for new stuff. Many retail stores do the same, I'm sure you seen the commericals or newspaper ads. Anyways, new suggestions are passed from forum mods/admin to beth people (I assume). But in order to get an idea turned into something real. They need to get votes. I'm guessing its done internally. Why spend time and money on something if it won't sell.

The next step is get someone overseas to make them because its cheaper to produce there than in the states. I imagine they have a business partner/contract with a certain factory. But like with many retailers around the world. Sometimes they use the same factory. I assume Beth has to wait on a waiting list for there turn. While another client has there stuff made. I've read online sometimes clients have to wait months in advance. Assembly line has to change out parts for each order. That requires lots of time. Next, its Beth turn...chinese factory make, package and finish (idk how long that takes). Then Beth has to pay someone to have there stuff transported back to a US port. I don't know how much a cargo container cost but I would say its costly. Also, transport from China to US takes 4 weeks (not 100% sure).

So before going through all that, they need to make sure what there making is worth it and will sell fast. Nobody likes to be stuck with stuff they can't sell. Warehouse space is valuable. Price vs demand is always important.