So Star Wars TMG 2.0 confirmed.

I hope this doesn't effect Imperial Huge................

Thats great for europe! With one distributor that will handle organized play, an european championship could be possible!

My biggest problem with this announcement is that it's not the StarViper preview.

^^ this

I've been waiting all day for the same thing. Do we know it's the Starviper preview and not the Scyk?

Really don't like the idea of FFG losing their independence and being accountable to the bottom line of a larger company.

Really don't like the idea of FFG losing their independence and being accountable to the bottom line of a larger company.

Indeed. As others have noted, elsewhere - this is Asmodee's second large acquisition in just a couple months (after Days of Wonder).

If they are funding all these acquisitions through debt from a Private Equity company, there's going to be a point where the board members call for them to switch from "Growth Phase" to "Profit Phase".

And that means changes. Changes to better appeal to the 'mass market'.

FFG's appeal is that they will do what needs to be done to make the game right and have always been strongly independent from other gaming trends.. I don't like them being beholden to a parent company. Especially Asmodee. Eurogames suck.

And **** foreign acquisitions.

I had no idea Asmodee was that big.

The article mentions that Christian will become a significant shareholder in Asmodee, does anyone know if they are publicly traded or remain a private corporation?

Because going public was pretty much the decision that started GW on its long downward spiral.

When a company has the rights to a popular i.p., it's entirely possible to produce an inferior product and just ride on the fandom, while maximizing profit.

Not to point to any game or game company in particular, but I think someone in this thread has already mentioned a company that does that.

I'm sure there are many, many ways to cut corners on the development and production of X-Wing products and they would still sell it by the boatloads. Hopefully, the bean counters will not start ruling the roost.

Disney, ironically enough, may be our best hope to insist that FFG continues with its high quality Star Wars products.

For more information check out this article on the Geek with an interview with Christian T. Petersen.

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/35879/asmodee-acquire-fantasy-flight-games

"IT'S A TRAP!"

Wow, the knee jerk reactions in here are amazing. We have no idea what the overall impact will be on the quality of the game (if any). Let's not all presume the worst.

If anything, I'm hoping our international friends finally get better access to stock that seems scarce overseas.

Let's stop with all this 'sky is falling' crap.

Wow, the knee jerk reactions in here are amazing. We have no idea what the overall impact will be on the quality of the game (if any). Let's not all presume the worst.

If anything, I'm hoping our international friends finally get better access to stock that seems scarce overseas.

Let's stop with all this 'sky is falling' crap.

I haven't seen very much 'sky is falling crap' as you put it.

And **** foreign acquisitions.

That's what we in the UK said about what happened to Cadbury.

Anyone mentioned that the reason Asmodee is able to gobble up company after company in such a short amount of time, is because Asmodee itself was gobbled up by an investment fund, Eurazeo, in January.

I hope they'll not start to squeeze for getting their money's worth out of the investment too soon...

I suspect FFG and Asmodee will be very, very careful. Buying companies with very loyal fanbases is dangerous. Trying to squeeze those companies for all they're worth provokes those fanbases. Let's not forget what happened to BioWare.

I had no idea Asmodee was that big.

The article mentions that Christian will become a significant shareholder in Asmodee, does anyone know if they are publicly traded or remain a private corporation?

Because going public was pretty much the decision that started GW on its long downward spiral.

Asmodee is not publicly traded. It's owned by a private equity firm called Eurazeo.

Almost as bad, really.

Almost as bad, really.

Depends on how much stock Christen gets. If he gets enough then he has a say on what happens, and can block anything he sees as being too bad for FFG.

Having Peterson being a significant shareholder is good news, and calms some of my worries.

Having Peterson being a significant shareholder is good news, and calms some of my worries.

That's what makes me think it's more of an actual merger and not a take over. Where I work, and where I worked before that bought a lot of companies, and none of them that I remember ever involved giving the CEO of the company we bought any meaningful amount of stock, or let them stay as CEO. They became the President of a division, which isn't quite the same thing.

Having Peterson being a significant shareholder is good news, and calms some of my worries.

Eurazeo, the investment fund I mentioned above, owns 83.5% of Asmodee and has a majority of seats on its board, so what significance he will have wont be measurable in shares.

Having Peterson being a significant shareholder is good news, and calms some of my worries.

Eurazeo, the investment fund I mentioned above, owns 83.5% of Asmodee and has a majority of seats on its board, so what significance he will have wont be measurable in shares.

It could just be that Peterson decided to take this as an opportunity to "cash out". He would have been offered a favorable buyout price for him to sell the company that he founded.

Having Peterson being a significant shareholder is good news, and calms some of my worries.

That's what makes me think it's more of an actual merger and not a take over. Where I work, and where I worked before that bought a lot of companies, and none of them that I remember ever involved giving the CEO of the company we bought any meaningful amount of stock, or let them stay as CEO. They became the President of a division, which isn't quite the same thing.

It's also meaningful for FFG's employees for the sake of continuity. Peterson founded the company in 1991 according to Wikipedia. While I don't know his age, he has to be getting to a point where he has to think about the stewardship of the company when he's done. This will help with those transitions.

It's Petersen. And I believe it may have been his comic book import company that started in '91. The game company as we know it was founded in 1995.

I see what you mean with stewardship, though Asmodee is no longer itself an independent hobby game company. It's been able to do this frantic shopping of other gaming companies because it was taken over by a investment fund, taking on further debts to finance the expansion of Asmodee. I think it is more likely, as MajorJuggler pointed out, that this might be about an opportunity to cash in on his work growing FFG to where it is today.