For some gamers, seeing a favorite game on the screen isn’t enough. It needs to be on shirts, coffee mugs, pillowcases, you get it.
Game video game merchandise has been around almost as long video games, but personalized video game merch made with your own hand-directed shot? There’s a way to do this too.
What Is Zakeke?
You’ve probably heard of Ubisoft, but you may not have heard of Zakeke. Zakeke is a “3D Product configurator & customizer for eCommerce.” In other words, the company helps online retailers create and market products.
It is a business-to-business solution, so you can’t go to Zakeke and order products as an individual. However, if you regularly preview and buy products from online retailers, you may have encountered Zakeke’s software on those websites and purchased goods created through retailer partnerships with Zakeke.
How Will Zakeke and Ubisoft Personalize Your Merch?
Ubisoft has partnerships with eCommerce platform BigCommerce to sell merchandise and with Printful which actually fabricates the products. Zakeke created integrations between all of these platforms to allow Ubisoft fans to create their own custom merchandise that they can buy online all through one place: the Ubisoft Store.
Of course, letting gamers create truly personal merchandise took Ubisoft’s own gaming magic. In Ubisoft games with Photo Mode, gamers can take their own custom images and upload them to the Ubisoft store to customize their own art prints, phone cases, or coffee mugs.
Right now, the only supported games are Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and Immortals: Fenyx Rising. But this list is likely to grow. More on that later.
How to Use Photo Mode to Customize Your Merch
The whole process of creating your own customized gaming merch starts with one of the supported Ubisoft games. Within that game, use the Photo Mode setting to snap a shot that is then saved to your Ubisoft account.
Next, go to the Ubisoft Store. Hover your cursor over OUR WORLDS from the selections just under the black banner menu at the top of the page. This reveals a drop-down menu. In the drop-down menu, select Photo Mode from the FOCUS ON column on the far left.
On this page, you can see all the items that you can personalize with your Photo Mode images. Select one that speaks to you.
On the far left, you can see different thumbnails for sample images of the product and on the far right, you can customize the size, color, and number of items that you want to order. When you’re ready, select the big red CUSTOMIZE button.
Select the icon on the upper right with the upload arrow and follow the prompts to log into your Ubisoft account to access your saved Photo Mode images. Then, select the image you want.
Using the tools on the page, you can scale and move your image on the item and then share a preview on social media, save the design for later, or complete it by selecting the ADD TO CART button on the bottom right.
Why Ubisoft Is the Perfect Partner for Zakeke
This would be an exciting integration with any gaming company. However, Ubisoft is a contender for “perfect partner.” Ubisoft is among the AAA gaming studios most dedicated to creating games with not only high-quality graphics, but also beautiful scenery and impactful artistic direction.
The recent additions to the Assassin’s Creed series and Immortals: Fenyx Rising are a great place to start. However, it would be great to see titles from other picturesque Ubisoft collections like Watch Dogs and Far Cry join the list. On the wishlist: updates that make Photo Mode compatible with older but still beautiful and scenic Ubisoft games.
Who Knows What’s Next?
Ubisoft really is a superb partner for this kind of integration, but it isn’t the only one out there making beautiful games. Maybe similar partnerships and integrations will bring customizable gaming merch to studios like Bethesda and the Microsoft properties.
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