Merges are never good. It means one company or both were somehow too weak to sustain themselves.

Hey Cap, the mistake you made was making a statement of such absolute "never". My only concern is the rapid expansion Asmodee has made over the last year. They have picked up 2 power houses in the gaming industry. Often company's don't have the cash flow to buy company's but rather obtain loans against it's own value to acquire the new company's. I have a handful of Asmodee games (Rampage, Concept, 7 Wonders and Splendor). All the games are well made and a lot of fun to play.

Christ almighty this is why I so rarely use absolutes.

Difficult to see, the future is.

We shall be patient.

And, look on the bright side. They didn't merge with WotC.

Christ almighty this is why I so rarely use absolutes.

At least you didn't say you never use absolutes. See? You're improving already!

Christ almighty this is why I so rarely use absolutes.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

Jim

I used to RP a sith guy in SWG, does that count?

(Give me a break i was like 15)

It really does not bode well that Fantasy Flight Games will be answering to not one, but 2 parent companies. X-Wing takes up much of my free time and I’ve been willing to dedicate my time to it because of the quality of the product and the apparent integrity of their leadership team.

I am concerned that it may go the way of Games Workshop, which burned me way back when. And I definitely, don’t want to get burned again.

There are couple things that trouble me about this.

1. Fantasy Flight Games is calling this a merger. But according to other news sources, this was an acquisition.
   
   By all counts, Fantasy Flight Games was a successful game company. A successful company will generally only merge or be acquired by another company to make more money.
   
   This signals a change in direction for the company, which from my outsider’s perspective seems like they always chose quality first, without as much concern over maximizing profits (just an example, I can almost guarantee they would sell just as many copies of their RPG books with a lower weight of paper, saving in material, shipping and more, but they choose a heavier stock while charging less than other companies like Games Workshop).
   
2. Asmodee product library is quite lackluster and maybe there is a reason for this. Their big games are Eclipse and 7 Wonders. They do not have a history of licensing large i.p.s like Star Wars. Their holiding company describes them as “a pioneer in “modern” party games and family games”
   
   Eurazeo the holding company of Asmodee and now Fantasy Fight Games, is a $6 billion company that owns in whole or in part, a truck rental company, hotel chain, food manufacturing, industrial gas supply company and real estate.
   
   They are not an entertainment company by any stretch of the imagination. (On the other hand Disney’s acquisition of LucasFilm may be a benefit overall to the Star Wars fandom, because they are first and foremost an entertainment company)

But I think most of everyone's reaction is because this news came from nowhere.

It would've been much more expected on April 1st:

"EXTRA, EXTRA: FFG acquired by French Party Game Company!"

While I, myself, am not particularly happy with this turn of events, I would like to point out, for those that are concerned and keep bringing it up, that GW took around 20 years of bad management to degrade to its current state. There really isn't any danger that things are going to go massively bad anytime soon. We probably have at least a few more years before we notice anything except changes in the distribution.

@patox

Dude! Do you have ever seen an acquisition, where the CEO of the company stayed? Peterson will stay and also he holds great shares of the company - also the said in an interview, that the work with foreign partners (like Heidelberger in Germany) will continue. That are no signs for a hostile take over

@all

Beside of that - common - all i've read is that FFG acquired by a French Company. Dudes - thats globalization! Asmodee is more of an european company at all. Thats how economy works ...

@patox

Dude! Do you have ever seen an acquisition, where the CEO of the company stayed? Peterson will stay and also he holds great shares of the company

83.5% of Asmodee is owned by Eurazeo, the investment fund patox mentioned, which means that Asmodee has less than 1/6 of its shares to share with Christian T. Petersen. In other words it sounds more as corporate PR than realities when the FFG press release mentions that he will become a "significant shareholder".

I'm not the least worried by the nationalities of any of the entities. However, I am worried about their different incitaments. Of course FFG has and always will exist to make a profit, yet FFGs succes has been built on being smart, on doing thorough designing and testing and keeping publishing at a controlled pace rather than just spit out new untested popular products. Compare Wiz Kids' Attack Wing to the success of X-Wing for instance. FFG has been able to do it smart and think longterm because they know their market and have had their financial independence.

Knowing that Eurazeo has involving yet another two investment firms, European Capital and Tikehau, from which Eurazeo has loaned large sums to finance the recent rapid expansion of Asmodee, FFG is now entangled in an expanded structure led by investors that don't know the specifics of the game industry and that might need to squeeze out a profit on a shorter term to control that debt rather than focus on longterm viability.

Hopefully this will not be the case and the new structure will improve our access to FFG products, Organized Play, etc., but the worries are not unfounded.

I'm relatively new to X-Wing but it seems to me as if FFG has been leaving money on the table by not being able to match supply to demand. At the moment, there are hardly any ships available worldwide and no clear indication as to when earlier waves will be reproduced and distributed. I'm getting desperate for a Falcon and another Firespray ...

Could'nt Asmodee make a positive difference by funding improvements to the scale of production resulting in increased income for the company and greater customer satisfaction? I'm sure I can't be alone in being frustrated by not being able to buy the products that I want ...

This signals a change in direction for the company, which from my outsider’s perspective seems like they always chose quality first, without as much concern over maximizing profits (just an example, I can almost guarantee they would sell just as many copies of their RPG books with a lower weight of paper, saving in material, shipping and more, but they choose a heavier stock while charging less than other companies like Games Workshop).

Why is the most likely change a drop in the quality of the products (which would risk a matching drop in sales)? Why shouldn't we believe the press release when they mention that it's about sales/distribution factors? Bringing FFG's games into the European market with an existing distribution network in place would be a change that wouldn't involve sacrificing quality at all. Same thing with using FFG's existing infrastructure in the US to bring the other company's games into the US market.

They are not an entertainment company by any stretch of the imagination.

So what? All of the relevant FFG employees are going to keep doing their jobs exactly the same way. All the new owners need to do is recognize that FFG has a clear history of success and leave the game design side of the business alone. Not every business is run by the idiots at GW, some people are capable of owning a business without immediately trying to destroy it.

For a good example of this look at WOTC. They were bought by Hasbro, a toy company with no game experience (other than board games for kids, which aren't relevant to the kind of gaming we care about) and yet somehow they're still in business. In fact, MTG is a better game now than it was when WOTC was an independent company.

The only thought that crossed my mind was: "Does this mean that the *boat* will go faster?"

FFG may be responsible for distribution but often they already have delegated the authority to distribute products. I am certain that the acquisition of another game developer won't effect the shipment or release of X-wing products just like next expansion of Eldritch Horror or new set of Android Netrunner doesn't affect them now.

For a good example of this look at WOTC. They were bought by Hasbro, a toy company with no game experience (other than board games for kids, which aren't relevant to the kind of gaming we care about) and yet somehow they're still in business. In fact, MTG is a better game now than it was when WOTC was an independent company.

You mean after how WOTC almost self destructed? Sure, MTG is still doing well. As is D&D, I'm sure. But that is about all they are doing now. Dreamblade nearly killed them. Add in the fact they are licensing their properties now (see Wizkid's D&D miniatures and FFG's use of Netrunner). Yes, they still have 2 big games, but it is really difficult to consider them a true influence on the gaming industry.

We just have to wait and see what the far reaching implications are. They bought a profitable company. I don't expect too many changes to FFG's proven strategies. What, are they going to push MORE expansions? I do think the distribution networks and the library of games is one of the key reasons of purchase. FFG has proven to give up game/licenses that they aren't using, see Dust and Conan. So, I think there are some games that Asmodee wanted in FFG's library. I don't see Asmodee taking any of the tournament games, though.

But on the other hand, WotC buying out TSR was the best possible thing for TSR. D&D as we knew it was on deaths door, and there's no question that WotC saved it.

What happened afterwards was a different matter of course, but by that time Hasbro owned WotC.

And for the record I've seen a number of mergers where I work now that has worked out very favorably for both companies.

It’s entirely possible that nothing will change with FFG. Or it’s also possible, Christian Peterson is going to cash out in a couple years.

In the meantime, this is the type of scenario that worries me:

BEFORE:

Supply chain guy: Hey, Christian Peterson (owner and CEO of FFG), we’re selling out of X-Wing everywhere. The manufacturing plant is maxed out. We’ve assessed 20 other plants, 10 can start producing right away, but their output samples are far below our standards. The 2 that are able to meet our standards will take 1-2 quarters to get ramped up. We may miss our release date and our fiscal numbers.

Owner and CEO: Get going on those 2 other factories, if we don’t make our numbers, then we don’t make our numbers. Quality comes first!

AFTER:

Supply chain guy: Hey, Christian Peterson (CEO of FFG, now employee of Eurazeo), we’re selling out of X-Wing everywhere. . . . (same as above)

CEO, now Eurazeo employee: Quality comes first!

Eurazeo Chairman: Mr. Peterson, I understand that you want a quality product, but the rest of Asmodee did not make their numbers this quarter. Your X-Wing product line makes up 33% of your revenue. And it’s my understanding that your new X-Wing releases are being delayed because of a supply problem. I understand your integrity to your product, but if you don’t meet numbers, we will need to consider drastic measures to reduce overhead costs, including layoffs across your entire business unit.

CEO, now Eurazeo employee: Ummm.

Hopefully it will never come to this and it will be business as usual. Or even better, it will be business as usual and they will be able to expand their market. But the “AFTER” scenario didn't exist before the acquisition.

An entirely plausible scenario, patox.

An entirely plausible scenario, patox.

Possible, but unlikely. A company that has become successful due to quality first, very quickly becomes unprofitable when they stop doing that.

Possible, but unlikely. A company that has become successful due to quality first, very quickly becomes unprofitable when they stop doing that.

But that doesn't mean that corporate management understands that.

Just to address the quality and unprofitability comment:

Star Trek Attack Wing is the #3 selling non-collectible miniatures game. Right behind X-Wing.

(And the BEFORE scenario, in the earlier post is a true story. It was what Christian Peterson said during the in-flight report at GenCo. When they were trying to increase X-Wing production, they only found 2 new factories that met their criteria.)

But that doesn't mean that corporate management understands that.

Most actually do. They don't get to where they are without understanding that the best thing they can do is leave a profitable company running as is. The real issue normally isn't upper management making changes to a profitable company.

It's when the bottom line starts to slip that they get involved, and that quite often can lead to disaster. But again typically they don't interfere as long as things are going well.

Of course, if it does all go bad, there's pretty much jack all we can do about it. The only thing we can do is keep doing what we are now, so FFG says strong and the parent company has little reason to get involved.

no serioulsy, lets wait and see

Just to address the quality and unprofitability comment:

Star Trek Attack Wing is the #3 selling non-collectible miniatures game. Right behind X-Wing.

Where are you getting your numbers? Is it from ICv2? Because they are the only ones I know of doing any kind of research or reporting on this issue and their numbers come from phone surveys of independent retailers (not manufacturers) in the United States saying what their best sellers are.

Except for GW, game companies are privately owned businesses and are not required to (so they don't) release sales figures. So it is extremely difficult to get any sort of accurate picture of how various games are selling globally.

Speaking as a Magic player, I have no issues with Hasbro owning WotC. Hasbro's line of games isn't a great resume for owning a gaming company (Candyland was boring when I was four) but they understand market research and giving players what they want, with WotC being responsible for actual;ly achieving that. The relationship works. It's very possible that Asmodee will handle distribution and marketing while FFG still does all the actual game development.

Stop assuming that every corporate executive is an idiot barely capable of tying his own shoelaces. They get where they are by understanding how to make money, and enraging your existing customer base is not a profitable course of action. They might try to put out more expansions, and we can safely assume they'll put actual engines on the boats from now on. But don't assume that the game is going to instantly implode in a flurry of bad decisions and blatant money-grubbing. All the Marvel fans did that when they got bought by Disney and then it turned out that everything was awesome and their movies have been amazing, so maybe we should all relax a bit?

There is also the side issue of it not exactly being a big market. The difference between #2 and #3 could be rather big.