Fanatical is nearing its 8th anniversary as a leading e-commerce retailer, providing customers with fantastic savings on the latest games, exclusive game bundles as well as comics and eBooks within Fantasyverse - but this year marks an even bigger birthday, one that some of you may not know about.
We're so excited that the parent company behind Fanatical, Focus Multimedia Limited, is celebrating a massive milestone this November: its 30th anniversary!
While you know and love us as Fanatical, Focus Multimedia has been our parent company since our inception as Bundle Stars in 2012 and is now also part of the Fandom family, the world's largest fan platform.
Fanatical is in good company with our sister brands Metacritic, Gamespot, and TV Guide also being part of Fandom.
Rewind to the beginning - Focus Multimedia
August bank holiday 1995, Caerleon, Wales. Focus Multimedia co-founders and family relatives Craig Johnson and Lawrence Reeves met to discuss a potential business plan for creating a company that would take the lead in PC entertainment and gaming.
Two months later Focus Multimedia was founded and made its home in the small English mining town of Rugeley where we are still based to this day! Talk about consistency!
Back in the 90s it was all about CD-ROMS, and in year 1 the first bundle was created, That's Multimedia Volume 1. With 15 titles such as International Sensible Soccer, Lombard RAC Rally, Jack Nicklaus Golf and F-15 Strike Eagle II as well as edutainment and MIDI products, there was something for everyone!
Rise of the 'alternative media' - and into the Millennium
Focus released a fantastic variety of CD-ROMs throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Beyond the popular Driving Test Success, they offered awesome educational titles like the Mind of Knowledge Series, proudly endorsed by Mastermind's Magnus Magnusson, and the Interactive Atlas of Great Britain.
For fun, they brought us games like Quiz Time, Beano Brain Teaser Quiz, and 5th Realm Tarot. Hobbyists loved software such as Jane Greenoff’s CrossStitch Pattern Creator, while practical tools included Glitter & Gloss Total Style Makeover and their handy Teaching-you Microsoft Office series.
By the late 2000s, Focus had created over 2,000 CD-ROMs, which were enjoyed by people all over the world thanks to major retailers including Blockbuster, GAME, PC World, GameStop, Toys R Us, Dick Smith, JB Hi-Fi, Makro, Woolworths and many more!
Into the digital age
With the internet becoming ever more prevalent, new, digital products were needed and our answer to this was Fanatical’s predecessor Bundle Stars which launched in 2012.
This new brand offered curated game bundles with Steam keys at great prices (sound familiar?) and offered a great opportunity for gamers to expand their digital collections for less.
From the very start, Bundle Stars worked with officially licensed partners, something we proudly carry on with Fanatical to this day. No grey keys in sight!
A new era
After 5 years of Bundle Stars a change was afoot. The product range had expanded beyond bundles and now also included a huge range of single games, both newly released titles and fan favourites.
That’s why Fanatical was born on November 1st, 2017 and we haven’t stopped since! We built on the legacy of Bundle Stars and our flagship products now include:
- Build your own bundles
- Themed bundles
- Regular bundles such as the Platinum Collection
- Mystery Bundles
- Charity bundles with all proceeds supporting the partner charity
- The best new game releases
- A huge back catalogue of AAA and indie game
The Fandom Connection
In February 2021 Fandom, the world’s largest fan-generated entertainment & gaming platform, acquired Fanatical. We’re sure you’ve looked up how to find a specific item in a game before and it’s very likely you landed on Fandom!
Starting with around 1,500 pages from a core group of fan contributors, Fandom has grown over 15 years to encompass over 40 million content pages in 80+ languages across 250,000 wikis, covering every fictional universe. Fandom is a judgment-free space where fans connect with entertainment and each other, exploring virtually any entertainment or gaming property.
Beyond Gaming
In November 2024 we expanded our offering with Fantasyverse, selling digital comics, graphic novels, tabletop games as well as manga for all fans of pop culture! The ultimate destination for fantasy, manga, sci-fi, horror, and RPG fans.
We’ve been going from strength to strength and are now working directly with well known publishers such as SEGA, Capcom and Bethesda to bring you the best deals and bundles. To date we have sold over 144m games, served over 4m customers and worked with 1800 publishers, all while maintaining an excellent Trustpilot rating. We’re excited to keep bringing you the best deals and games in the future!