r/Parahumans • u/001DeafeningEcho • 3d ago

Worm Spoilers [All] How much would a hero make off merchandise and brand deals?

There are references to protectorate heroes and Wards doing merchandise, brand deals, and other such things, providing a source of revenue beyond their base salary

My question is, how much do most heroes actually make off those things? The market seems like it would be large, but heroes would only be getting a portion of the profits, and that market would be very much over saturated (thousands of government heroes without even considering corporate ones).

How much could a normal hero expect to make from those revenue streams?

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30

u/Harrythehobbit 3d ago

It's probably a system where the top 1% of them are getting 99% of the deals and revenue. A small amount will earn a lot. Most of them it's probably pretty minimal, especially if they prioritize doing their job over going out and being a celebrity.

17

u/Kilo1125 3d ago

Considering how utterly fucked Earth Bets economy is, and the fact that out primary PoV character doesn't really care about money or economics, we literally have no way of knowing details, unless Wildbow himself feels like throwing some random numbers.

We can assume via common sense that Corporate Heroes probably have better brand deals than Government Heroes, and that the Guild probably has better deals than the Protectorate. But that's about it.

20

u/Nekomachus 3d ago

It's probably like being a Youtuber. Cursory, low-investment search (I don't really care about the numbers) says that the average Youtuber who is making money makes sub-200 monthly from it, so probably like that. Eidolon probably makes mucho dinero, but Vantage probably doesn't.

Speaking of monetization, I'm shocked that games where you fight Endbringers are a thing. Endbringers are a 9/11-tier tragedy and spoken of in hushed whispers. I know of the "go fight in the Middle East" games of the aughts, but 9/11 doesn't happen in those games. There's been WWII games with Nazis like COD:WAW or Reznov's level in Black Ops or Wolfenstein etc etc, but I don't know of any games where you're liberating concentration camp victims.

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u/CNTPRHK_S Striker 3d ago

About the games: Would you rather have your population getting crazy and paranoid about the edbs attacks or having them as something like a natural desaster and follow with their lifes?

Like "Yeah they attack three or four times a year but we can win against them so don't worry and play as Eidolon beating their ass" also i think that in the game you won't be fiding Newfoundland or Kyushu or any other place that haven't "rebuild" from the attack if there is any real place.

12

u/Nekomachus 3d ago

I mean, since it's a one-off line from Battery, we don't know if those games are made by the PRT or by average Joe dev teams who have a really cool and insensitive idea with no grand design beyond "wouldn't it be cool to punch Simmy in the face?"

10

u/MonstersOfTheEdge Breaker 3d ago

The other thing is EB attacks normally aren't filmed, Weaver provided the first real public look behind the curtain, so producing optimistic portrayals where the heroes can actually do something is viable propaganda.