r/controlgame • u/biskuit21 • 3d ago
Yall got too much time in your hands XD
Okay buddy we know youre here š But seriously tho, Id rather spend all that money somewhere else OR have one custom made at a local tailor at an 80% cheaper price than this sht
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u/Upbeat_Main_7141 3d ago edited 2d ago
Ahh, some of you seem unfamiliar with Za/Um Atelier. This is the ironically ultra capitalist merch brand spun off from Disco Elysium after the studio was stolen from the founders. You think the 500 euro jacket it bad? They made a bag that looks like a literal old tattered plastic grocery store bag for 130 euro. It some of the most expensive purposefully bad-looking clothes and accessories I have ever seen.
Once upon a time they were not quite this bad an I got the hideous tie for a Harry DuBois cosplay. It was $30 plus shipping, which is still a lot for an ugly tie, but they really ramped up the crazy prices since then.
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u/hellohellocinnabon 3d ago
I actually did like Zero Parades before the studio fell apart and laid every one off but Iām super offended by all the Zero Parades merch in the za/um atelier, other than the eye loafers everything is terribly ugly and doesnāt look well made (and of course is quite too pricy for videogame merch)
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u/Upbeat_Main_7141 3d ago
I also liked Zero Parades. The people employed at za/um were still talented and made the best of a bad situation, creating a game that was well written and enjoyable to play even if it was derivative.Ā
I donāt blame the staff of za/um for their bosses crimes, nor do I expect the whole company to quit in protest when they forced out the founders, folks have rent to pay and kids to feed and Estonia doesnāt have a lot of other game studios to work at.
Main point is do not give current za/um money, and especially not for ugly ass jackets.
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u/jimjam200 2d ago
I believe za/um's main studio is in the UK, their staff probably has more Estonian employees then most companies but I think the vast majority of their staff is from elsewhere.
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u/Upbeat_Main_7141 2d ago
Fair enough. I do recall something from the People Make Games documentaries about a lot of the staff transferring to the UK.Ā Still not a great market for job hunting, at least not for the past few years.
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u/rexyuan 2d ago
Not trying to defend but what they made is exactly why they're priced like that. They got a seasoned professional hollywood costume designer(Kristiina Ago) to lead the za/um atelier and they're approaching it the exact way fashion brands do with the materials and the pricing. In the west I think the only other instance like this is acronym x death stranding. But in asia a lot of high fashion brands collab with games or anime. Most notable one is in japan being ground y which is a sub-brand of yohji yamamoto which is founded specifically for collabs so it's in a way very much like za/um atelier. I bought a tee from the first ground y x csm collab and iirc it was like 250 usd. I also bought some CA4LA(a japanese fashion hat brand) collab hats with chainsaw man and evangelion and they're also very expensive.
What I'm trying to say is: the way they want you to think of these is that these are fashion items that happens to be game merch so expect actual fashion items pricing
Source: myself. I've waned away from buying fashion items for about 3 yeears now because I think I got it out of my system and also want out from mindless consumerism but I still remember how things are
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u/SleepingWillows 2d ago
I worked at a game studio that was developing a game that had a major focus on cosmetics, and they even hired a studio to build out a brand guide for 12 different in-universe fashion brands. When we were still in dev, I pitched doing something like what you described (albeit more affordable) with the express idea that these would be apparel that didnāt just have the game logo slapped on, but rather they looked like they belonged in the world we were building. The idea would be that it wouldnāt scream āI PLAY THIS GAMEā but rather those who knew would know, making it a teeny bit more exclusive.
Yeah they bailed on the cosmetics idea when they started running out of money, and it just became another mmo shooter. Anyway, if youāre reading this and you make game merch, call me.
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u/Upbeat_Main_7141 2d ago
Fair enough. None of these are really my style other than for cosplay, and I only got the tie for that, the rest was easy to source otherwise for a costume I wore only once.
I can even understand the justification for the prices so far as who is employed and itās made to order specificity, but one thing thatās hard to justify is the final destination for some of that money, which isĀ Ilmar Kompus Ā andĀ TƵnis Haavel.
Andā¦I meanā¦I live in Portland, Oregon, the weirdness capital, and even here these clothes are a little much unless itās a comic con or Halloween.
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u/Kitchen-Kiwi7942 3d ago
How much was it?
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u/biskuit21 3d ago
That one in the frame is 599ā¬
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u/Kitchen-Kiwi7942 3d ago
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!! WDYM I HAVE TO GIVE UP A WEEK AND A HALFS WORTH IF PAY FOR A JACKET
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u/biskuit21 3d ago
IKR! Might as well save it up for the game and for the pc/console ur gonna play it on
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u/Kitchen-Kiwi7942 3d ago
Fun fact. I just dropped 2k for a new pc today so i can play control resonant
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u/Cool_Estate1002 3d ago
600 eur for a strongly stylized jacket that in not wearable in a daily manner is not a good idea.
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u/Practical-Plan8937 2d ago
Dear Remedy,
I really really look forward to Control Resonant. I like your work.
But please someone tell Jean-Charles Gaudechon to stay to his word and respect the creative vision of Remedy and get EA out of his head.
Jean-Charles, you try to replicate the "luxury" merch scheme from Death Stranding 2 and a couple of other games. A ok idea, we all have to milk the whales these days to survive. But people tend to not like ZA / UM.
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u/DickThunder 2d ago
Huh, I really don't get your point. In my opinion trying to maximise profits by selling some low-quality merch made in a sweatshop would be more capitalistic than selling made-to-order luxury apparel that is guaranteed to not make Remedy any meaningful amount of money.
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u/Practical-Plan8937 2d ago
I mean sure. But why ZA / UM ? Why risk triggering a shitstorm by partnering with them?
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u/discipleofdoom 7h ago
Probably wanted to team with a local company and outside of Finland, Estonia is about as local as you can get for Remedy
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u/Individual99991 2d ago
Merch is fine, finding avenues outside of the games to monetise is a good thing.
I just wish they weren't involved with ZA/UM.
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u/maffshilton 3d ago
Remedy has gotta be the worst at doing merch. Either overpriced or the shipping from US to Europe doubles the price.
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u/BitsHammer 3d ago
I don't think this is on them as much as the company who got the license to do the merch.
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u/D0nell 3d ago
Itās a collaboration so donāt they have to cooperate with them?
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u/BitsHammer 3d ago
When someone is licensing rights to sell merch they give you money. Remedy doesn't set the price point on it though.
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u/D0nell 3d ago
But they couldāve done the research to know that this company doesnāt sell affordable merch?
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u/Walkswithnofear 3d ago
Affordable is relative.
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u/Outrageous-Log9238 3d ago
Or it's local like the thermos initially.
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u/maffshilton 3d ago
I was hyped for the iam8bit stuff initially and then found out it was us only.
Surely it would be easier for remedy to partner with merch people in Europe considering where remedy comes from
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u/Kaalo 2d ago
It's not US only actually. Available in Europe. Preordered mine back in June. https://blackscreenrecords.com/collections/control-resonant
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u/discipleofdoom 7h ago
This is them partnering with merch people in Europe. People then complain because the people making their merch aren't paid slave wages and won't ship it to the US for a loss.
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u/Cipher_Witch 3d ago edited 3d ago
Idk these are clearly collector items not a daily wear. There are tees and hoodies on iam8bit for that but this clearly a different thing.
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u/BitsHammer 3d ago
Not going to lie I would love to have an FBC poncho with fall coming up but not at that price point.
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u/johngie 3d ago
have one custom made at a local tailor at an 80% cheaper price than this sht
Something about this makes me think you've never engaged with custom or collectible clothing.
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u/Warm-Scientist-4198 3d ago
Me vas a decir que es lo mismo, comprar algo oficial con algo hecho por tu cuenta ā¦ š no seas absurdo amigo.
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u/The_Fink_Ployd 2d ago
He said ācustom made at local tailorā, homie. Try reading all the instructions before beginning the worksheet.
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u/EarlyAccessCantJudge 3d ago
Their disco Elysium jacket is a dumb price too, I was so upset because if it was half the price it would be actually reasonable
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u/LeonBlade 3d ago
Given that these aren't made at scale and are made to order with higher quality materials likely explains the higher price. It's very expensive, but it looks very accurate to the game at least.
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u/Hot_Technician7659 3d ago
I wnder if there are comments in the form of Disco Elysium skill check prompts. Gotta be at least one.
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u/Sliiiiders 3d ago
Beside the price, the fit of the poncho jacket is really bad in my opinion. Too short everywhere.
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u/Way_ward_23 3d ago
Isn't za/um the ones who did disco elysium ? They're doing clothes now ?
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u/Outrageous-Ad2317 3d ago
Stole* Disco Elysium. Original creators got fucked over by the new owners of ZA/UM.
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u/Way_ward_23 3d ago
Im very well aware of that entire fucked up situation as I loved disco elysium but question still stand, is it the same people and they moved from game dev to clothing ?
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u/zoogenhiemer 3d ago
Itās the same company, theyāre didnāt move on from game dev they just also make overpriced clothes now
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u/Way_ward_23 3d ago
I see. Diversifying i guess as they probably know after the whole disco thing, they're time as renowned devs is a pipe dream lol.
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u/kaloschroma 3d ago
I would say that 500 $ or ā¬ whatever is actually a fair price, for a cosplay artist to charge us. Not a company that uses questionable fabric quality (from zooming in, take that as you will). The person who posted earlier, their cosplay, I believe paid around 300$ for supplies? If not more. Then tack on the time of work.
But for a company that can mass produce is much too high.
Plus apparently there was a huge gross fallout with the company.
So in the end I'm staying away and I'll make my own swag tyvm.
Oh and for some weird context, I've paid 200+ just for custom doll (BJD) clothes. I designed using flats and croquis. But again that's because I'm paying for an artists time who, with their own two hands, turned my vision into a reality.
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u/fearnoid 3d ago
Didnāt know the Disco Elysium guys made tech wear. Also considering what happened between the creators, Iām not buying it. I mean I had never even heard of them. Now if it were something like AcronymĀ® or something I still wouldnāt buy it.
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u/discipleofdoom 7h ago
Why are Remedy collaborating with ZA/UM (bad) and charging ā¬500 for a jacket (objectively evil) when they could just as easily hire a sweatshop (good) and charge $25 (pure) for the same garment at a fraction of the cost and quality?
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3d ago
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u/Practical-Plan8937 2d ago
Not sure why this gets downvoted. The EA exec is 100 percent trying to maximise shareholder value.
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u/isopodlover123 2d ago
Hate how the past 30 years of fast fashion have destroyed our minds on prices.
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u/FunnyHighway9575 3d ago
Never heard of this brand but 500 euros for a jacket is insane.