Gamer Merch: A Profitable Niche
The gaming industry is massive. It is even larger than the movie industry – can you imagine? And that means there’s some serious money to be made – more and more gamers are selling their merchandise online with great success. Gamer merch print-on-demand dropshipping has especially boomed during the coronavirus outbreak, and its popularity remains at the highest level and is not going away anytime soon.
In this piece, we’ll look at the most successful gamers who sell their merchandise like hotcakes, as well as get you inspired with some merch ideas. You’ll learn which are the most popular products you can add to your online storefront and, in more detail, how well the gaming industry is doing as a whole. So, let’s begin!
In This Article
- Why Sell Gaming Merchandise Online?
- The World of Gaming in Numbers and Figures
- What Are the Most Popular Products?
- What Is the Top 5 Best-Selling Gamer Merchandise?
- What About the Colors on Gamer Merch?
- Take a Look at Some Gamer Merch Stores
- Top 30 Gaming Influencers
- Gamer Shirt Ideas
- Printify vs. Old-School Printing Partners for Gaming Merchandise
- Design Your Merchandise Today
Why Sell Gaming Merchandise Online?
Nowadays, every company is selling their company merch, and every gamer out there seems to have personalized gamer merch. They have their own stores where they sell products that their loving fans can buy. It’s a genius way of maximizing revenue and capitalizing on their brand while creating a stronger connection with fans.
If you are a gamer with a solid fanbase, it’s time to start selling your merchandise and earning a nice passive income.
Before you start, it helps to learn what gamer merch sells well, the top colors, and other valuable intel. Basically – how to make money as an artist. We’ve compiled all the necessary information in the following few paragraphs. We’ll also look at some of the most successful gamer merch stores out there.
Learn more about print on demand and starting a print-on-demand business.
The World of Gaming in Numbers and Figures
The increasing popularity of mobile devices and the massive availability of games online, plus innovations in both hardware and software, are driving the increase of the global gaming market. Additionally, the adoption of mobile and browser games that offer free-to-play business models is another trend gaining traction in the gaming market.
Fact: According to the 2021 report, “Gaming market – growth, trends, COVID-19 impact, and forecast 2022 – 2027”, the global gaming market value reached $173.70 billion in 2021.
Also, with the growing popularity of eSports adds even more significant growth. The global market of gaming is expected to reach a value of $287.1 bn by 2026, presenting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.64% (0.4% increase since 2020) during 2021-2027.
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What Are the Most Popular Products?
We analyzed the best gaming merchandise, and there are no surprises: t-shirts and hoodies are the absolute winners. Who doesn’t love a t-shirt? The same goes with sweatshirts and hoodies, the supreme grandmaster when it comes to gamer merch.
What Is the Top 5 Best-Selling Gamer Merchandise?
- Comfort above all: t-shirts, hoodies, custom sweatshirts, and custom sweatpants;
- Accessories: stickers, phone cases;
- Hats, socks, and face masks;
- Custom Drinkware: Mugs, water bottles;
- Home decor: Posters, cushions & blankets
Considering the pandemic, it’s not surprising that alongside t-shirts and other custom fitness apparel, home decor items such as pillows, cushions, and printed fleece blankets are among the most popular gamer merch. Let’s also not forget personalized water bottles and stickers. Stickers that your fans can use to adorn their gaming laptops, phones, and every place imaginable.
What About the Colors on Gamer Merch?
What’s the first color that pops into your head when thinking of gamers and streamers? Black, of course. And neon. So there you go, black + neon, and white + neon, or other bright colors are the top sellers. Let’s not forget the sublimation or all-over-print, where the garment is covered in design seam to seam.
And the most popular designs to smash onto your merchandise are logos, graphics, of course, catchphrases, and channel opening lines. Also, gamers often incorporate pride merch designs in their products to show support to the LGBTQ+ community.
Take a Look at Some Gamer Merch Stores
Andre Rebelo, better known online as Typical Gamer, is a Canadian YouTuber and a competitive eSports gamer well known for his Fortnite and GTA 5 videos and live streams. With over 11M subscribers on YouTube, his store contains various comfy apparel and accessories – bags, hats, and glasses. You can see his line of gaming merchandise isn’t too broad; It consists of the most popular items, adorned with different versions of his logo.
Despite the grumpy name, GameGrumps is a comedy gaming show hosted by Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan. Their channel has over 5 million subscribers, and they run a pretty strong gaming merchandise side hustle. In their online store, you’ll find merchandise that stands out: personalized body pillows, custom keychains, bandaids, stickers, and some apparel, of course. Their designs are super unique and wonderfully represent Arin and Dan’s online personalities – fun and whimsical with just a smidge of grumpy.
Austin Hargrave, or PeanutButterGamer, with 2.05 million YouTube subscribers, is another online gamer with a successful line of gaming merchandise. Austin sells t-shirts, posters, and face masks with his signature artwork.
This Dutch gamer Evelien’ Gab’ Smolders, with over 700K subscribers on Youtube and more than 200K on Twitch, sells cutesy stickers and t-shirts in her gaming merchandise store, even though she’s known as a badass horror game lover. Everything about her designs screams, “OMG SO CUTE.” Gab has spent some time in Japan, which shows in her artwork.
Croatian gamer and actor Marko KOFS (King Of Fails Show) has over one million subscribers on YouTube. He also has an amazing line of gaming merchandise that is literally the epitome of gamer merch: he’s selling t-shirts in black, white, and red colors. In his designs, he has used his YouTube channel logo.
Another gamer, Janet Rose or xchocobars from Canada, runs a successful YouTube streaming channel with over 200K subscribers and over 900K subscribers on Twitch. She also has a line of gaming merchandise that consists of sweatshirts and mugs. For designs she has chosen her tagline “When you’re happy, I’m happy,” as well as drawings of her pets as the central motif.
Karina (also known as Gamer Girl) is arguably YouTube’s most famous female streamer. Some of Karina’s favorite games include Minecraft and Roblox. Despite her massive 5.94 million followers, Karina’s line of gaming merchandise is rather humble: two brightly colored t-shirts. But sometimes less is more, as they say.
Now that we’ve looked at some gamers’ magical creations, you’re probably thinking, who are the TOP gaming influencers, the creme de la creme of the gamers’ realm?
Top 30 Gaming Influencers
The list begins with the gamer king himself: PewDiePie or Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg. This Swede has over 111 MILLION subscribers on YouTube. His “PewDiePie News” often gets more views than network news broadcasters in the United States. It’s not often that a YouTuber becomes more popular than traditional media sources, but PewDiePie has done it.
Needless to say, besides running this mammoth of a YouTube channel, he also runs a successful merchandise biz. He has truly mastered the answer to the question of how to sell art online. His official store has an impressive line of products, from branded zip hoodies to hats and t-shirts to yoyos and tambourines – his YouTuber merch is selling like hotcakes.
From a design point of view, PewDiePie is a textbook gamer: the color palette consists of black, white, red, and some neon. The merchandise is printed and embroidered with his logo, various catchphrases, and other relevant writings.
We’re not going to be scrutinizing each of the top streamers; this article then would be gigantic, and, I have to be honest, I need to leave some time in my day for a Sims 4 and Last Of Us therapy – that PlayStation isn’t going to play itself, amirite?
Here’s a list of the next 29 TOP gaming streamers:
- VanossGaming
- Markiplier
- Ninja
- Jacksepticeye
- DanTDM
- KSI
- SSSniperWolf
- W2S
- Syndicate
- TFue
- IHasCupquake
- Shroud
- tsm_myth
- Gaming With Jen
- LDShadowLady
- Aphmau
- Summit1g
- Tim The Tat Man
- Dakotaz
- Riot Games
- Pokimane
- DrDisrespect
- DrLupo
- Little Kelly Minecraft
- Nightblue3
- ImaQTpie
- LIRIK
- StacyPlays
- KittyPlays
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Gamer Shirt Ideas
The best gamer merchandise is one that people actually want to wear, not just stuff in the back of the closet. Just like with band merch – people love showing association with a community, wearing t-shirts and hoodies of their favorite musical artists and gamers, so create products that not only show off your brand but are also stunning. If you feel like you’re a bit stuck when it comes to figuring out best-selling designs, we’ve prepared a list of the five most popular gamer shirt design ideas for you to place on our high-quality blanks.
Gamer Shirts With Logos
Who doesn’t love a good logo shirt? Capitalize on your brand by slapping your logo on gamer merch. Design a gamer shirt, hoodie, and accessories that represent your brand and create a lasting connection with your fanbase.
If you don’t have a personal brand just yet, we suggest you start working on that since it will be an essential step to selling your merchandise. If you don’t know how to draw, you can find people on Fiverr that can draw a logo for your streaming career, starting from just five bucks.
Graphic Gamer Shirts
A logo isn’t the only thing you can place on your merchandise. Cool, eye-catching graphics will definitely end up being worn and loved, not just used as pajamas when your cousin comes to visit.
Think of designs that suit your brand: a cartoon version of yourself maybe? Do you wear any distinct accessories while streaming? Is there food that your fans know you for? Slap that bowl of ramen on a shirt – it makes cool gaming merchandise!
Take inspo from podcast merch sellers – they print their catchphrases, show names, and other distinct words and graphics associated with their show.
Funny Gamer Shirts
No list of gamer shirt ideas would be complete without some fun. Go crazy with funny designs, hilarious sayings, and other forms of digital art that will make your fans love your merchandise. “I’m not procrastinating. I’m doing side quests” “Video games don’t make me violent. Lag does.”
Play around with the text tool in our Mockup Generator or create stunning-looking art to upload to our design tool and adjust to your liking. “What’s my craft? Minecraft!” Think of hilarious graphics and texts to appeal to your fans.
Gamer Shirts With Quotes
Do you by any chance have a catchphrase? Playing around with sayings, quotes, and catchphrases is a winning strategy. Famous game quotes like “For the horde!”, “Finish him!” and other relatable content always works great. Also, “Player 3 has entered the game” is great when a streamer welcomes a newborn baby.
All Over Print Gamer Shirts
If you want to spoil your fans rotten, come up with all-over-print t-shirts and hoodies. Go wild with tie-dye prints or cover the garment seam to seam with your logos… it’s completely up to you. AOP garments are super cool and usually sell quite well.
If you’re a gaming console freak, try covering cool gaming merchandise with stylised controllers or your favorite characters, or… you know – anything you want!
Printify vs. Old-School Printing Partners for Gaming Merchandise
Let’s talk business. Let me introduce you to Printify – one of the biggest print-on-demand platforms, with over 850 customizable products for you to offer to your fans and friends. You will find not only apparel and accessories in our vast Catalog but also home decor items, pet products, and a customizable lamp. With our easy-to-use merch maker, create stunning products in minutes, no matter whether it’s a simple t-shirt or an elaborate all-over-print design for custom socks.
Design Your Merchandise Today
We deliver to 220 countries from various printing locations worldwide. Our network has more than 80 Print Providers. Printify is a fully transparent network so that you can manage your gamer merch online business hassle-free: you come up with the designs, and we do the rest.
The outstanding Printify merchant support will gladly help you with any order issue if one should occur – with Printify, you’re in safe and caring hands. Like we always say – we’re here to help you earn more by doing less.
Browse through our catalog, pick the items you’d love to offer your fans, and design away – your line of gaming merchandise is mere hours away!
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Written by
Zane Bratuskina
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