Merchandise and Eve are not two words you are likely to see together. Getting a merchandising deal together has so far proved to be beyond the wit of CCP. We were promised something at Eve Vegas which wasn't very overwhelming but that seems so have fallen through. We were then told the New Year would herald a new beginning and now presumably we are into fanfest territory for any sort of announcement. So maybe by Eve Vegas this year you might be able to buy a Amarr keyring. But then again, maybe not.
Meanwhile in China, Eve's partners Tiancity don't mess about and you can actually buy official merchandise there. I bought a Laptop Backpack late last year for example. In fact, their whole approach to marketing has been innovative. Now the Chinese New Year is finally over a new promotion has just been announced. This one like the last one is a something that the CCP Iceland crew fully know about if only because it needed Dev time. I'll come to that bit later, but first let's look at the latest product that is being offered.
First thing to say it that "Terrans Force" is a brand name of a Taiwanese Laptop manufacturer well known in Asia - sort of an Alienware tribute band but probably more powerful and cheaper. They are sponsoring and selling this Eve product. But what is it?
Its a limited edition commemorative stamp album. Actually a bit more than stamps..metal stamps
and 3D postcards
and envelopes
and there are some medals too.
Clearly a lot of work has gone into creating this. It costs about $90 or £60. BUT THAT IS NOT ALL. I mentioned the Iceland dev link. Well in some way this promotion appears to be integrated into Eve Online itself. I am indebted to @darkblad for pointing out an asset he found on Schildwall Playground. What he found was this:
The rough translation I could do isn't that reliable, but talks about "Terrans force(future humanity) have been given official rights", and then "momentoes for future humans", that "witnesses every captain's emotional journey through the infinite universe filled with stars" and "There's never been a memento like this before and it's of great value to collectors" The button in German says "Show Market Details". I had a look on SISI last night but could see this but there have been several builds since this first appeared so it may have been removed now that it is on Serenity.
So this poses an interesting tinfoil question. Is it or will it be possible to buy a virtual object in the game market that can then somehow be turned into a real and tangible object - like a medal lets say - that then gets sent to you for you collection? Possibly they are dual promotions and have no hard connection whatsoever. Either way, the Eve players in China are continuing to get a much better set of goodies than we are.
UPDATE:
Darkblad has kindly provided more information about this and the skins I talked about in SP Serenity gifts in comments resulting from his probing. Top guy!
UPDATE:
Darkblad has kindly provided more information about this and the skins I talked about in SP Serenity gifts in comments resulting from his probing. Top guy!