Funko Fusion Design Director Wants Everyone to Find Something They Love and Teases More Franchises to Come

Funko is synonymous with pop culture, which is embodied in its Funko Pops line. Franchises big and small have been immortalized in Pop form, and now Funko is moving that Pop style to the frontier of video games. Funko has branched into mobile games before, but its latest project is heading to consoles and PC, and is known as Funko Fusion. Funko Fusion is the first game from 10:10 Games, which was formed by former members of TT Games, and the studio has created a 4-player adventure that takes advantage of Funko's unique style and vast relationship with IP. Franchises like Masters of the Universe, Jurassic World, Umbrella Academy, Chucky, and more will be in the mix, but that's just the start. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with Design Director Arthur Parsons all about Funko Fusions, and they are making a game and experience that gets everyone in on the fun.

The Funko and video games partnership is so perfect that it seems like something that should have already happened. That's what 10:10 thought as well, and it didn't take long for the ideas to get rolling. "That's what we thought in June, July in 2021. It literally was a piece of paper. We thought that there was an opportunity with Funko that it could become the next big video game franchise because, the great thing about Funko Pops!, if you're into them, which obviously I am, you can see, the great thing about Funko Pops! is that they give you the ability to celebrate the things that you're into," Parsons said. 

"They give you that kind of tokenistic way of going, "Hey, look, I'm into He-Man, or I'm into the Goonies, the Boys," bizarrely, "Duran, Duran." I'm pointing around, you can't see, Andy Taylor's over there, as is Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. But it's one of those things that's just... It's a terrific way of people being able to kind of extend their engagement with the things that they love," Parsons said.

"And for us, when 10:10 Games first came about, it was, 'What are we going to do?' We had this great vision, John, myself, and Paul of forming a new studio and doing something that kind of is in our wheelhouse," Parsons said. "John's obviously the original founder of Traveller's Tales, TT Games. I worked for 23 years at TT games. We always made games that celebrated IP and games that really celebrated movies and TV shows that people loved, and so we knew that's what we wanted to do."

In addition to the immediately recognizable Pop styling, Funko's adorable characters also lend themselves to comedy, and 10:10 is definitely utilizing that throughout the game. "And then we were like, 'We have to work with Funko' because they have this incredible aesthetic that could be something exciting that brings something different to the table in terms of not just the visual aesthetic, but it's like there is something undeniably cute about Funko Pops. There's also, the actual anatomy of a Funko Pop! means that we can have a lot of fun there. Because they've got big heads, because they've got small bodies, we can add a load of humor into the game that's almost unwritten. It naturally comes from that sort of anatomy," Parsons said.

Funko appeals to collectors and fans of all ages, and it was important that Funko Fusions embraced that wide reach. That's partly done through the game's use of IP, but also the mix-and-matching nature of how fans can approach the game's diverse roster of franchises and characters.

"And when we actually sort of were looking at the type of game we want to make, we looked who we thought we would be targeting in terms of... Who are the people that are going to play this video game? And it turned out that it's actually an incredibly broad audience. Funko resonates with pretty much everyone from teenagers through to people like myself in my late 40s. And as such, you then have to go, 'Right. Well, if we want as many people as possible to come with us on this journey and have a great time playing the game, we have to kind of have a little bit of something for everyone.' because no two people are alike. No two people like the same stuff. And that's something we kind of realized very early," Parsons said.

When it came time to figure out which franchises would be on the game's initial roster, there were a bevy of choices to choose from. It would end up being NBCUniversal up to bat first, and that allows a mix of franchises that includes everything from Umbrella Academy and Jurassic World to Battlestar Galactica and Shaun of the Dead.

"And then obviously, NBCUniversal was the sort of winner because they have IP like Jurassic World where they've just obviously released the most recent movie in that franchise, but they go all the way back to classics, something like Jaws or Battlestar Galactica from the '70s. You mentioned Masters of the Universe. I grew up on Saturday mornings in the '80s watching He-Man, and that was my childhood. Then in between that you have... I'll be very careful, trying not to mention IPs we haven't revealed yet, but you have everything in between. So Umbrella Academy is still current, still massively popular. People are waiting for the new season with bated breath to see what happens next. So I think they were the perfect partners because they have something for everyone. Whether it is the sort of, I guess, what could be called the obscurity of something like the Thing, which has that cult-movie following, or whether it's stuff that has never been celebrated in video game form like Shaun of the Dead," Parsons said.

"And as we sort of pieced together the IP roster, it was like, 'This is great.' We've got horror franchises, action franchises. We've got the kind of more fantasy cartoon elements in there. We've got the big-budget action sort of blockbusters. We've obviously revealed... I think there was nine different IP that were revealed in the teaser, but there's a whole roster of other IP that we've yet to reveal," Parsons said."

"I think when people see that mix, you'll find that there really will be something for everyone, and that's the great thing about Funko Fusion. We can all play together, but we can all celebrate the things that we love, that someone else maybe doesn't love," Parsons said. "I can be playing as one of my favorite Masters of the Universe characters with someone that has no interest in that franchise but loves Umbrella Academy, and so we're going to be bringing people together into, I guess, that social hangout, which is what games are becoming now, and they can all celebrate the things that they love. I think that is just a really refreshing take on video games."

Funko Fusion will accommodate four players online, though you can just play it solo if you so choose. If you do decide to team-up, you should see some fun and unique combinations, and that's part of the fun of playing in this type of franchise-wide sandbox.

"It is, yeah. The game's been built so that it can be played four-players online, but at the same time there is the scope for people to just play it on their own. It doesn't rely on four players, but it's up to four players, playing online. And the cool thing that we've done, the way we've designed it is that you're able to enjoy the game, and you're able to enjoy the content regardless of who you are and who you're playing because of the way that we are sort of layering the mechanics and the gameplay depth," Parsons said.

"And I think it's going to be so exciting. I can just squint and fast-forward and look at those Let's Play videos in the future where you've got that lineup of someone's rocking around as He-Man. Someone's there as Shaun from Shaun of the Dead. Someone's going to be doing cool stuff as Five from Umbrella Academy, and then someone will be running around as Chucky, And the mix of groups of four is just going to be mind-blowing," Parsons said. "Obviously, we've worked on big IP in the past, but this is just a whole other level because it's going to be so sort of free for people to do different things. It's going to be super exciting, and yeah, we're doing what we do best. We're doing deep-cut IP Easter eggs, and super-deep fan service. So I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed with what they play."

We'll keep you up to date on Funko Fusion's release date and updates, and right now Funko Fusion is heading to PC and consoles in 2024. 

Let us know which franchises you are most excited to see in the game in the comments, and you can also talk all things Funko with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!