Indie game devs: here’s a solution for your merchandising needs

Indie game developers in Asia have one persistent problem in common: physical merchandise is hellishly difficult to create when you’re a small company with little to no financial backing. But physical merchandise is useful for when you’re trying to build, or want to cash in on, your brand.

Singapore-based startup Doctor Q wants to change that.

The brainchild of Singaporeans Wilson Chia and Leung Wai-Leng, both ex-game industry players, Doctor Q is, at first glance, a simple e-commerce store. But as you browse its racks online, you soon realize: isn’t that indie gem Dusty Revenge, with an entire sub-storefront for itself?

(See: Dusty Revenge: Co-Op Edition review: South East Asia’s badass bunny is back)

Doctor Q is a merchandising solution created to help indies promote their games through merchandising. How it works, according to co-founder Leung:

When a customer buys something off our store, it triggers a notification to the relevant supplier to produce the item using the respective design[s] from our database. We handle shipping and [order] fulfilment for the IP owners.

Leung added that Doctor Q’s suppliers are primarily based in Singapore, since both Chia and herself believe “it’s important to be able to ensure the quality of the product that is shipped.”

Dusty Revenge was the only indie game with merchandise on the site, but at time of press, Mojoforest’s 2fuse has already joined it.

Though only physical merchandise is available now, Leung told us that the brand eventually intends to tie in-app items to merchandise sales. She also mentioned that Doctor Q will start to wrangle licensing deals with bigger industry players when there’s enough IP available on the site.

Games aren’t the only IP Doctor Q will dabble in—the site currently flaunts merchandise created from local artists’ works as well. It’s also open to working with individuals and companies outside of Singapore. So if you’re an independent artist or developer and want to try putting your work on physical merchandise, Doctor Q might just be the answer.

You can check the website out here.

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