Desk mats with a difference proving popular.

 

A Sydney company has capitalised on the gaming boom with the addition of licensed stationery products.

 

“We work with licensed stationery so there’s always a cool brand or on topic movie release with the likes of  Pokemon, Minecraft, Marvel and Barbie,” Matt Walter, managing director of Impact Merch, told Office Products News.

 

“Our desk mats are exceedingly popular, so much so that we’ve had trouble keeping them in stock,” he said. “Popular brands for Father’s Day include Star Wars, Transformers and Harry Potter.”

 

 “Our ‘merch’ is officially licensed so that means you’re getting a quality item, not some cheap overseas knock-off from eBay,” he added.

 

The cross-over between gaming and stationery was highlighted by ACCO Brands’ US$340 million purchase of gaming products firm PowerA in 2020.

 

Washington state-based PowerA produces third-party hardware and accessories for the console and mobile gaming market, such as controllers, chargers and screen protectors.

 

ACCO also owns Kensington, which makes a variety of accessories for the PC market (including security locks that are compatible with the Xbox Series X), so branching out into the console business isn’t seen as much of a leap as it might initially appear.

 

Already one of the world's largest and fastest-growing entertainment sectors before COVID hit, the digital games industry further expanded during the pandemic. Worth US$240 billion globally in 2020, the market is set to reach US$294 billion in 2024.

 

Australia is home to a growing games industry. In 2021, the sector contributed $226.5 million in revenue, an increase of 22 per cent on 2020, and 83 per cent of revenue is from overseas markets