UK merchandise push for Square

Square Enix has beefed up its merchandising offer in the UK – with designs on selling toys and figures through all major retailers.

The firm established an in-house toys and merchandise offer five years ago, but only last year brought it to Europe, with a range of products rolling out in France.

Now the publisher wants to expand to the UK, with a range of items based on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and other key franchises.

Square Enix has even opened an online direct-to-consumer mail order site at square-enix-shop.com to drive awareness of the line-up.

The range includes products based on Square Enix franchises – and key alliances with Sega, Capcom and Konami mean figures based on the Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil franchises are also available.

These are high-end, limited edition and unique items,” Square Enix Europe’s merchandiser Akihiro Ichimura told MCV. They are certainly not cheap figures.”

But we want to sell into retail more,” he said. The products are already available in HMV and Forbidden Planet.

Ichimura reckons the items spice up retail displays, and are perfectly suited to the passionate audiences that flock to Square Enix’s many franchises such as fans of the Final Fantasy series.

The Square Enix Products label is also sponsoring a new Japanese celebration and culture expo, Hyper Japan, to further raise awareness.

In addition, Square Enix plans to make figures based on Eidos’ range of gaming properties such as Lara Croft and Hitman, Ichimura added.