Gaming x Collaborations

Due to the pandemic, many businesses had to find new ways to reach players/consumers. We have been seeing a lot more collaborations with gaming and apparels as well as with other industries. Not only are fashion brands (Balenciaga's Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow) finding interests in creating videogames, but videogames are also seeking collaborations with a multitude of industries.

Growing up, I have seen plenty of Nintendo games collaborations (Final Fantasy x Coa-Cola), however I'd like to specifically showcase other noteworthy rising star videogames that were created in the 2000's.

As a League of Legends veteran of over 10 years, it is amazing to see the growth and expansion of my arguably favorite game. League of Legends alone has collaborated with restaurants, apparel companies, other videogame companies and even began their own animated Netflix series.

• Buffalo Wild Wings (Purchase a meal, gives you a free League of Legends loot box)
• Louis Vuitton (Limited edition Apparel collaboration and in-game cosmetic skin collaboration)
• Secret Lair (Magic the Gathering limited edition card set collaboration)
• Among Us game crossover
• and more...

High-end/luxury fashion and celebrities have been the most interesting take in videogame collaborations. (To be continued in a separate post)

• Lightning from the Final Fantasy series x Louis Vuitton (Too beautiful to not add to this list)
• Ariana Grande x Fortnite Concert tour (In-game cosmetics and in-game show)

Latest collaboration has also been done with Lacoste x Minecraft. In 2021, Minecraft had also collaborated with Uniqlo.

• In-game DLC, real-life apparel

Although not exactly gaming related, we're also seeing apparel brands such as Nike buying virtual shoe company in pursuit of expanding into the metaverse.

Over the past years, these possibilities have been endless. My thoughts are that these collaborations should be thought out. Does the collaboration make sense? What is the compatibility?

To me, I don't understand the compatibility between Minecraft players and Lacoste.

Takeaways:

BENEFITS: There are limited releases with collections where gaming can test the waters and expand their business into difference service lines as well as interact with user groups that may not tend to garnish from gaming alone. As for apparel companies, they broaden their target audience to younger people.

DRAWBACK: Issues with such collaborations may be brand's reputation and loyal consumers being turned off by "X" collaboration. Authenticity of what the brand used to be may be lost. Gaming company collaborations just look like an easy cash-grab as some players/consumers may not be able to to afford or there are too many ongoing collaborations (just like when people get sick of constant new events, champion releases, etc.) In the end, what sense of purses are these collaborations giving to the players/consumers? Does it even make sense?