“It was my first time making merch — I never expected this kind of response” — a game creator's merch project success story

Many creators want to connect more deeply with their fans, but in practice, far fewer actually make it all the way to producing merch. That's because merch isn't simply about making a product — it requires a complex process spanning product planning, design, selecting a manufacturer, building a sales page, and handling shipping and customer service.

This game creator faced the same dilemma. They already had a sizable subscriber base, but had never produced merch before, and there were too many practical hurdles to take it on alone — so they hadn't been able to try.

Treasure Hunter analyzed the fandom's characteristics and the content's tone, then first planned together a merch direction that fans would genuinely want to own. From there, we handled the overall execution — communicating with manufacturers, managing the schedule, setting up the sales page, and running the pre-order.

In particular, to reduce the risk of initial inventory, we designed the project as a pre-order, which allowed us to build a more stable sales structure.

The results exceeded expectations. The fandom's response spread quickly, sales were strong throughout the pre-order period, and the creator secured a new revenue model on top of their existing YouTube ad income. Above all, what satisfied the creator most was being able to focus solely on creating content.

A merch business is not simply about production — it's a matter of operations. Treasure Hunter runs the full execution alongside creators, so even a business area they're trying for the first time can be carried out reliably.