The biggest mistake you can make with your kickstarter rewards is creating or even forcing them to be a one time run only. In a typical sales cycle of a game, developers familiar with the industry already know that most of a game's lifetime sales happens in the first month and up to the second month tops. The rest is "long tail". After this period, your income depends on either creating more DLC (which usually doesn't sell as well) or the multi year process of creating another game.
From a cashflow standpoint, merch is a lot easier especially if you had to do it as part of a Kickstarter campaign anyway. The onging resale value on anything from Pip-Boys to limited run "tsotchkes" or fully unboxed CE's on eBay should be proof enough of some level of enduring value that game developers are not tapping. International markets are also largely untapped as the majority of CE's are usually for Americans and outside of other anglo territories like UK, most never even have a chance to buy.
We'll create more specific examples and case studies of each type of merch as we work with more clients but here are some starting guiding principles for each category
Papercraft / Custom packaging - It is usually relatively inexpensive to order more of these than you need depending on how "artful" packaging is and how much it contributes to being part of the product itself. However, other than storage and shipping costs, one untapped albeit niche potential revenue source is selling additional "as new" boxes themselves. Whether it be to replace something damaged while moving or as part of an "upgrade" package that someone can add later, this can kill two birds. Turn additional packaging volume requirements into additional revenue. For the truly brave with ears to the ground, you may even be able to sell boxes to pirates themselves and partner with them on distribution as original Doom developers did with Taiwanese pirates!
Toys and Action figures - This should be pretty straightforward to most. In addition to considering character designs that will become iconic, other factors to consider would be signature gameplay mechanics and moves that could be replicated in toy form as well as interchangeable weapons and other accessories. Try to not just think limit design quality only to stand-alone lead characters but ensembles and collections that will fans will want to collect everything of. NPC's, sub-bosses or side characters should have their own uniqueness and stand equally to your main hero characters. Think Transformers or He-Man! Additionally, combinations of toys and electronics are easily doable and potentially inexpensively doable by much of Asia. Nintendo has done this to fantastically profitable acclaim in their Amiibos , the limitation seems to be that developers are not thinking big enough or from this angle in terms of possiblity
Apparel (custom) - Currently the cosplay makers and developers are separate industries when developers could easily vertically integrate into their business especially with the advantage of IP ownership and authority. There is a surplus of untapped garment making and supply all over Asia. Thinking of outfits that are not too outlandish to be worn in normal every day settings, for example Ryo Hazuki's iconic jacket from Shenmue could potentially expand the market from just cosplay and into mainstream style icon wear.
Snacks and Drinks - It is quite the burden to actually create a tasty edible product from something that may start out only being a wink wink, nod nod joke or a parody in most cases but this is where many real world snacks and brands that don't have the muscle to be marketed like any of the big boys i.e. Doritos could come in. You could play it either way, integrate them as product placement or have them stand in for something like say.. South Park's Cheesy Poofs. Fans will get a kick out of eating the "real" thing and frankly, game developers and IP holders should also be continuing to resell them. They should be tasty and delicious enough for your customers and players to fall in love with and continue to want to re-order and eat them! It's a win-win for both sides and since we all eat and drink, this could be one of the easiest reoccuring revenue if done right. South Park made real Cheesy Poofs! and they only scatched the surface
Custom Electronics - We would be remiss if we didn't use ongoing fan designed and improved Fallout Pip-Boys as the holy grail here. We would love to help design and produce a similar or better product. The Pipboy itself isn't that complex from a product standpoint. The hardest part is it's unique UI/UX, other-wise it is largely a plastic shell wrapped around a commodity screen. We would understand the importance of the weight and feel of the product as well as making the knobs and buttons etc give off satisfying mechanical clicks where appropriate and the overall feeling of not having it come off feeling cheap
That should be a good enough starting point for now. Hopefully this has inspired anyone reading this to think bigger and we hope to work with you soon!