Critical Role - leading digital media

Total Licensing talks to Ben Van Der Fluit, SVP of Business Development at Critical Role, a world-leading digital media brand.

Critical Role is one of the most popular story-driven and worldbuilding digital media brand in the world. While it started off as a roleplaying game between a group of friends in 2012, Critical Role has since evolved into a multiplatform entertainment phenomenon that has branched out into a variety of shows and endeavors, including the flagship show Critical Role, comic books, animation, live performances, podcasts, fan art, graphic novels, multiple books on the New York Times Best Sellers list, philanthropy through Critical Role Foundation, original tabletop game publishing through Darrington Press and more. Critical Role currently has licensing partnerships with Usaopoly (The Op), Funko, Penguin Random House, Dark Horse, McFarlane Toys, Ripple Junction. Critical Role works with Collaborations Licensing, a fullservice Los Angeles-based licensing agency with a special focus on cobranding opportunities, for their licensing partnerships.

Critical Role’s tabletop games publishing company, features games in and outside of Exandria, the world created by Darrington Press Creative Advisor, Critical Role’s Chief Creative Officer and Game Master, Matthew Mercer. Darrington Press currently has four games set to be released in 2021, with their very first game, Uk’otoa, set for a Q1 2021 release date.

To find out more, Total Licensing talked to Ben Van Der Fluit, Critical Role’s SVP of Business Development. Tell us about your publishing arm (Darrington Press).

Darrington Press launched last year (2020) and is the natural progression for us as an organization that is

Can you tell us more about Critical Role, some history, etc?

Critical Role initially began in 2012 when a group of successful voice actors came together to play a roleplaying game during a birthday celebration. This was the beautiful start to an ongoing RPG campaign, often played in each others’ living rooms and over brunch, snacks, and epic stores. Given their unique ability to craft and tell fun and meaningful narratives through their campaigns, the idea that a wider audience might be interested in enjoying their adventures alongside them came up and they began taking the proper steps to share these adventures with the world.

The first episode of Critical Role aired online in 2015, and quickly gained an audience and recognition as a truly unique experience. Since then, Critical Role has produced more than 900 hours of original content and has catapulted into a global franchise with a #1 podcast, New York Times Bestselling graphic novels and nonfiction releases, a successful direct-toconsumer business, and a forthcoming animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, premiering exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

Are you internationally known?

Critical Role is known worldwide and we have our own global fulfillment centers that deliver our products directly to our loyal fans. Continued international expansion is a big priority for us in the future. determined to inspire and connect people through play. We put serious thought into a games and publishing imprint of our own for a long time and are so excited to create and share new worlds and stories with

boardgaming and RPG players of all levels of experience and interest around the world.

What areas of licensing do you work in, and which areas would you like to expand into?

We have great partnerships in major categories including apparel (Ripple Junction), toys (McFarlane), collectables (Sideshow, Funko), publishing (Dark Horse, Penguin Random House and Wizards of the Coast), co-branded gaming (USAopoly) and accessories (Surreal Entertainment). Over the past 18 months we have worked hard with our licensing partners at Collaborations Licensing to bring over a dozen partners who aid in the growth and expansion of our brand. That being said, there is still a lot we have a strong desire to get done and we are just getting started in the world of licensed products. Electronics, footwear and food and beverages to name a few are on our future list.