Remedy Entertainment has officially closed its online store and merch shop due to the ongoing costs of running such a venture and the simple fact that without much larger orders, it can’t afford to support the side business while also crafting brilliant games like Alan Wake 2.
The store was closed on June 19, 2024, taking with it quite the collection of incredible Remedy game-themed merch. Among clothes sporting the developer’s logo were products like the Night Falls Blend coffee. However, the most popular products, such as the Oh Deer Diner Thermos, were created in partnership with other companies and will be available again in the future. For now, though, anyone with a Remedy Entertainment sweater or t-shirt has a piece of wearable history.
Hold your Remedy Entertainment merch close now the official store is closed
The closure of Remedy Entertainment’s merch store was announced well in advance. Following the closure, Thomas Puha, the developer’s communications director, provided some context about the realities of running a merch store.
The post is honest about the challenges even a developer with the reputation Remedy Entertainment has faced while running a merch store. “It’s near impossible to make merch break even unless you have a large volume and order from China.” This feels like an impossible situation because the store could have made large volume orders to bring costs down and sit on stock, but I don’t know many game developers with space to spare for hundreds of boxes of clothes.
Puha goes on to say, “While people think we are leaving money on the table, we really aren’t. You need massive volumes for this to work. For now the way is to find great partners to collaborate with like Airam and Makia and not having us worrying about stock, shipping logistics, customer service, etc, etc.” It’s important to note here that the best and easiest products to produce and sell from Remedy’s point of view were those that involved a third-party who handled shipping, production, and storage.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Remedy Entertainment is a game developer, first and foremost, and always will be. But the closure of the merch store doesn’t mean merch is off the table forever. Puha added alongside this explanation. “Still, we definitely want to do merch, for sure, it sucks that we don’t have more of it for all of you and at reasonable prices and shipping. We’ll get to it sooner rather than later.”
I love video game shirts and sweaters. Most of them tend to be incredibly well made, with logos and details printed onto clothing that fits well and stands the test of time. At the time of writing, I don’t own a thing with the Remedy Entertainment logo on it, but I really hope the studio lets me change that one day.
Published: Jun 20, 2024 12:13 pm