Fanatical (formerly Bundle Stars) is a company based in the United Kingdom that sells and distributes digital products online. It specializes in selling video game keys, software, e-books, and online learning courses.
Fanatical is owned by Focus Multimedia Limited, which was bought by Fandom, Inc. in February 2021. The company is located in Rugeley, Staffordshire, and focuses on selling only official keys that are bought directly from game publishers and developers.
History
Fanatical was created by its parent company, Focus Multimedia Limited, a British publisher of PC CD-ROM software and games that started in 1995.
Focus Multimedia Limited was founded in October 1995 by Craig Johnson and Lawrence Reeves, who are family relatives. The company operated from Rugeley, England, and sold PC CD-ROM software and games. One of its main products was Driving Test Success, a popular CD-ROM tool used by people learning to drive in the UK. The company sold its products through major stores around the world.
In 2012, Focus Multimedia launched an online game store called Bundle Stars to meet the growing demand for digital games. The store became well-known for offering bundles of games at lower prices, mostly for the Steam platform.
On November 1, 2017, Bundle Stars changed its name to Fanatical. This change happened because the company wanted to focus not only on selling game bundles but also on offering a wide selection of single games, new releases, and titles from both large and small game developers. At that time, Bundle Stars had sold more than 45 million game keys to over one million customers. The company added more employees, redesigned its website to work faster, and improved its search tools. Customers kept their login details and previously purchased game keys after the change.
In February 2021, Focus Multimedia Limited (and Fanatical) was bought by Fandom, Inc., a digital media company based in San Francisco. The purchase amount was not announced. At the time of the purchase, Fanatical had sold over 80 million game keys and e-books to more than two million customers in 200 countries. Fandom said the purchase was part of its plan to increase income by connecting its large audience to online game purchases. Fanatical kept its own brand and continued to operate from the United Kingdom.
Products and Services
Fanatical runs an online store that sells officially approved PC game activation codes, mostly for Steam. These codes are bought or licensed directly from game developers and publishers. Recently, the company reported selling more than 145 million game keys to over 4 million customers worldwide. It has also started selling ebooks, graphic novels, and software.
The company’s collection includes more than 16,000 officially approved titles from over 1,800 publishers and developers. Important partnerships include Bethesda Softworks, SEGA, Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Konami.
In November 2024, Fanatical launched Fantasyverse, a special area for digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and tabletop games. This added more types of digital entertainment to the company’s offerings.