Funstock’s Ed Gregory is saddling up for Tandem’s impending physical release, while Richie Shoemaker pedals ineffectively behind
Funstock W
Welcome to the house of
ith all the recent talk in games retail focused around the success of digital sales, we often forget that in spite of
the ongoing pandemic, there remains a healthy demand for physical product, not least when it comes to limited runs or special editions of in-demand games. Funstock has been at the forefront of this for some time and is preparing its first release of the year, the perspective-shifting puzzle platformer Tandem: A Tale of Shadows, which comes to Switch and PS4 in March. As well as a brief tour through the history of
the company, we were eager to discover from Ed Gregory, Funstock’s commercial manager, what impact the last two years have wrought, and what the immediate future may hold given that more releases must inevitably follow:
How did Funstock get into the business of physical game products? We have been working on high quality collector’s editions for years via our Rice Digital brand which specialises in Japanese
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culture. We have experienced success with titles such as the Gal*Gun series. Therefore, we decided to bring them under the Funstock brand which allowed us to expand to more types of games and work with new partners.
How successful has the company been at fulfilling demand? Although there were challenges because of Brexit and the overall worldwide supply chain issues, we have managed to cope well and, in most cases, didn’t suffer any significant delays. We continue working closely with all our partners and working on expanding our fulfilment network to reduce the risk of delays in the future.
What is the benefit to a developer of offering a physical special edition of their games? Having a special edition is an incremental business for the developer/publisher; we can offer an additional revenue stream by selling collector’s editions through our B2C retail site in addition to selling the standalone physical game through our B2B distribution partners. Special editions are a great add-on to a physical offering which helps when it comes to marketing and collectors of gaming memorabilia and fans of the games really value them.
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