Fangamer LLC is an American video game merchandising company and game publisher based in Tucson, Arizona. Fangamer was originally spun out from Starmen.net, an EarthBound online forum.[1] It operates an online store that sells licensed indie game merchandise items such as hats, pins, vinyl records, t-shirts and other products. In recent years the company has also begun publishing physical editions of independent video games.

Fangamer LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryManufacturing
Founded2007
Headquarters,
Number of locations
3 offices
Key people
Reid Young (CEO)
Websitefangamer.com

History edit

Starmen.net, an online forum, began selling T-shirts and mugs in 2007 as a way to pay for the server costs of the site. One of the creators of the site stated, "Well, the ads weren't paying the bills, so we thought, 'What if we took the kinda-crappy print-on-demand stuff we’re making on CafePress, and we did it at a much higher-quality?'". The next year, Fangamer was launched with an initial offering of "two t-shirts, a pin set, and a mug" based on EarthBound.[2] After the success of this initial run of merchandise, Fangamer started to expand into creating items for other games such as Phoenix Wright and Chrono Trigger. To avoid infringement of the various video game properties they were creating items for at the time, the site avoided using designs with any copyrighted symbols.[1] Fangamer also produced physical copies of Starmen.net's unofficial player's guide for Mother 3.[3][4]

In the mid-2010's Fangamer became known as a fulfillment partner for video game Kickstarters, providing merchandise for the campaigns of games such as Broken Age and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.[5][6] After partnering with Toby Fox to create merchandise for Undertale,[7] the site experienced a higher number of sales, with a cofounder saying "I thought there was a glitch in Shopify... Undertale had become just an incredible phenomenon.”. This success allowed Fangamer to expand into acquiring licenses for other video game proprieties, going on to create merchandise for games such as Hollow Knight and Banjo-Kazooie.[1][8][9]

Games published edit

Title Original release year Developer(s) Genre(s) Platforms Release Date(s) Ref
Baba is You 2019 Hempuli, MP2 Games Puzzle Nintendo Switch June 14, 2022 [10]
Bugsnax 2020 Young Horses Adventure PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2021–2022 [11]
Celeste 2018 Maddy Makes Games, Extremely OK Games Platform PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch June 30, 2023 [12]
Hollow Knight 2017 Team Cherry, Shark Jump Studios Metroidvania PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC May 31, 2019 [13]
Hypnospace Outlaw 2019 Tendershoot Simulation Nintendo Switch September 24, 2021 [14]
Into the Breach 2018 Subset Games Turn-based strategy Nintendo Switch October 21, 2022 [15]
Later Alligator 2019 Pillow Fight Adventure Nintendo Switch April 16, 2021 [16]
Omori 2020 Omocat, MP2 Games Role-playing PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch July 17, 2022 [17]
Ooblets 2022 Glumberland Life simulation Nintendo Switch 2022 [18]
Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition 2021 Monomi Park Life simulation, adventure Nintendo Switch October 27, 2022 [19]
Stardew Valley 2016 ConcernedApe Simulation, role-playing Nintendo Switch, PC November 6, 2020 [20]
Tunic 2022 Finji Action-adventure PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch July 28, 2023 [21]
Undertale 2015 Toby Fox, 8-4 Role-playing PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC 2017–2021 [22][23][24][25]
World of Horror 2020 Panstasz Role-playing Nintendo Switch October 19, 2023 [26]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "How Fangamer Leveled Up Gaming Merch". EGM. 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  2. ^ "Feature: How Fangamer Changed The World Of Video Game Merchandise Forever". Nintendo Life. 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  3. ^ "Fan-made Mother 3 Guide is All Kinds of Awesome". Nintendo Life. 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  4. ^ "Fan-made Mother 3 Handbook Freely Available To Read". Nintendo Life. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  5. ^ "Broken Age". Fangamer. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  6. ^ "Fangamer – Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night". fulfillment.fangamer.com. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  7. ^ "Make Love, Not War: Five Years Of 'Undertale'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  8. ^ "Hollow Knight's European Physical Release Has Been Delayed". Nintendo Life. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  9. ^ "Fangamer's New Range Of Banjo-Kazooie Merch Is Tough To Resist". Nintendo Life. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  10. ^ "Baba is You Switch Physical Edition Revealed, Now Up for Pre-Order". Nintendo Soup.
  11. ^ "Bugsnax for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4". Fangamer. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  12. ^ Gray, Kate (January 25, 2023). "Celeste Gets Beautiful New Collector's Edition For Fifth Anniversary". Nintendo Life.
  13. ^ "Hollow Knight is Finally Getting a Physical Release and Collector's Edition from Fangamer; Pre-Orders Now Open". 13 March 2019. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  14. ^ Gray, Kate (June 9, 2021). "Hypnospace Outlaw Gets A Neat Retro-Styled Physical Release (With A Bonus CD!)". Nintendo Life.
  15. ^ Gray, Kate (June 23, 2022). "Into The Breach Now Has A Physical Edition, Available For Pre-Order". Nintendo Life.
  16. ^ "Later Alligator for Nintendo Switch™". Fangamer. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  17. ^ "OMORI physical edition pre-orders for PS4 and Switch are live". Final Weapon. March 1, 2022.
  18. ^ "Ooblets Nintendo Switch Physical Edition Announced, Pre-Orders Now Live". Nintendo Soup.
  19. ^ "Slime Rancher Plortable Edition for Nintendo Switch™". Fangamer.
  20. ^ Marshall, Cass (2020-07-30). "This adorable physical copy of Stardew Valley comes with your own deed". Polygon. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  21. ^ Norman, Jim (March 8, 2023). "Tunic Goes Physical With Special Deluxe Edition Releasing Later This Year". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  22. ^ "UNDERTALE Game Physical Edition". Fangamer. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  23. ^ "First Look at Undertale PS4 Theme, Closer Look at Physical Editions". PlayStation.Blog. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  24. ^ "Pre-orders Open For Undertale Nintendo Switch Physical Copies". Siliconera. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  25. ^ "Undertale Is Coming To Xbox Game Pass And Getting A Nifty Collector's Edition". Press Start. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  26. ^ "World Of Horror Nintendo Switch Physical Edition Announced, Pre-Orders Now Live". NintendoSoup. 2023-07-12. Retrieved 2023-08-08.