Have some of you noticed the prices of Descent games/H&M's on Amazon slowly inching upwards over the last week? Also I find it interesting that Amazon doesn't have any inventory of Stewards of the Secret yet. Is this Asmodee cracking down?

Cool Stuff Inc also has seen some of Asmodee's price fixing. The new Bespin Gambit is $36 (MSRP $40), whereas the older Twin Shadows (also MSRP $40) sells for $30.

Both of these Imperial Assault expansions are the same type expansion (small box, like Manor of Ravens for example), but one was released before Asmodee, and the other was released after.

In fact, all the new Bespin products have very low online discounts (Blaise, Bossk, Lando, ISB Agents), only about $1 saved for these.

I hope this isn't the start of Asmodee's iron grip squeezing out our pennies.

Yeah, they announced this months ago, unfortunately.

Because increasing prices will encourage more people to buy them...

Because increasing prices will encourage more people to buy them...

I'm not defending the practice by any means, but calling it "increased prices" is misleading. It's actually reduced discounts- holding retailers to the MSRP. The price of the H&M packs (~$35) has not changed.

Ive just bought 2 h&m packs on amazon for $23 and $26. Not the latest ones though, guardians & visions

Because increasing prices will encourage more people to buy them...

I'm not defending the practice by any means, but calling it "increased prices" is misleading. It's actually reduced discounts- holding retailers to the MSRP. The price of the H&M packs (~$35) has not changed.

Also, what most people always seem to forget is: we HAVE an inflatation rate in every good working economy.... And you also "have" to use prices with .99 at the end, because of reasons (or, as some may call it: "marketing")

But from what I hear Amazon (and some other online stores as well) always had a problem with the MSRP and too early releases.... sometimes even, when they are bound to it with a contract...

So it's no wonder they kinda want to try to enforce these more (and bigger companies have better chances to do so).

Because increasing prices will encourage more people to buy them...

It's only online prices that are increasing, the aim is to get more people to buy games from local gaming stores.

I guess all I can really say is that I'm SO glad I started purchasing Descent two years ago. I got some huge discounts which has helped me to nearly complete my collection. If I would have had to pay full retail then honestly I don't think I would have allowed this addiction to begin in the first place. There is no way I could have afforded $80 plus tax for the base game. Getting it for $49 is what allowed me to start.

Not sure what the story with Amazon and FFG products is right now. Been trying to figure that out myself. All of the upcoming FFG products were listed for pre-order on Amazon as of about a month ago. Then, they all switched to "Currently Unavailable" with no indication that they would ever be in stock.. Now, back when ANA/FFG first announced their new sales terms, Christian Petersen claimed in an interview that large retailers like Amazon (which he named specifically) would be treated differently via a separate sales channel than other online retailers (like CSI and MM). The indication given was that ANA/FFG recognized that these re-sellers provided them with a different class of sales (mass market) and was therefore not going to change the wholesale terms with them like they were doing with the smaller online, specialty retailers (again, CSI and MM).

However, something has clearly changed. Could be that ANA/FFG changed their minds and have now pulled the plug on Amazon as a re-seller. Could also be that they tried to raise the wholesale price for products sold to Amazon and, as they often do in these situations, Amazon decided to drop their products (those not already in stock) in retaliations. They might have also done this because ANA/FFG pulled the plug on Amazon's third-party marketplace re-sellers. Amazon has no problem dropping a publishers product if they don't agree to their terms as Amazon knows that in the long run, a publisher has more to loose than Amazon does. One other possibility is that ANA/FFG has enforced some sort of delayed re-sale window with Amazon in order to push initial sales though traditional retailers. That would be unusual but is not without precedent (the movie and book industry do this all the time).

As for the drop in discounts in general and the raising prices...this topic has been discussed numerous times since ANA/FFG announced the change in their sales at the start of the year that was going into effect on April 1. While they claimed at the time that it was to "protect local game stores" and improve local gaming communities, we all know what it really was: a way to raise prices without actually raising the MSRP.

@Otakuon I think you're right. I can't even find the Signs of Carcoas expansion for Eldritch Horror on Amazon . It's like all of ANA/FFG's new products are not being listed on Amazon on purpose.

@Otakuon I think you're right. I can't even find the Signs of Carcoas expansion for Eldritch Horror on Amazon . It's like all of ANA/FFG's new products are not being listed on Amazon on purpose.

Or online distributors are choosing not to sell them. The effort to protect local game stores may hurt online sales to the point that online retailers don't carry the product as heavily.

@Otakuon I think you're right. I can't even find the Signs of Carcoas expansion for Eldritch Horror on Amazon . It's like all of ANA/FFG's new products are not being listed on Amazon on purpose.

Or online distributors are choosing not to sell them. The effort to protect local game stores may hurt online sales to the point that online retailers don't carry the product as heavily.

But again, Amazon was supposed to be treated as a different sales channel by ANA/FFG. It looks like there is some sort of behind the scenes bickering between Amazon and ANA/FFG. The products don't even show up in search results anymore even though they did previously (I can only see them because they were on my wish list). Here is Bespin gambit for instance: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Imperial-Assault-Bespin-Gambit/dp/B01D1GR0KM?ie=UTF8&qid=1464716751&ref_=sxr_pd_sm_se2&sr=2

Anyway, this is very strange and without any comment from either side, all we can do is guess at this point.

I can see the latest ffg releases on Amazon for both imperial assault and eldrich horror.

I can see the latest ffg releases on Amazon for both imperial assault and eldrich horror.

Maybe you are in a different region than us. Here in the USA, if you type into the search say, "signs of carcosa" or "bossk villain pack" you get no results where as about a month ago you did. Also, Stewards of the Secret does show up but it is being sold by an independent retailer who is asking $10 OVER the MSRP. All of the previous Descent H&M packs were sold direct from Amazon.

I can see the latest ffg releases on Amazon for both imperial assault and eldrich horror.

Maybe you are in a different region than us. Here in the USA, if you type into the search say, "signs of carcosa" or "bossk villain pack" you get no results where as about a month ago you did. Also, Stewards of the Secret does show up but it is being sold by an independent retailer who is asking $10 OVER the MSRP. All of the previous Descent H&M packs were sold direct from Amazon.

I searched for Bespin in the US and it came up right away. Single seller, $65, so certainly not where I would pick it up from, but it seems to be there. Same with Lando.

I can see the latest ffg releases on Amazon for both imperial assault and eldrich horror.

Maybe you are in a different region than us. Here in the USA, if you type into the search say, "signs of carcosa" or "bossk villain pack" you get no results where as about a month ago you did. Also, Stewards of the Secret does show up but it is being sold by an independent retailer who is asking $10 OVER the MSRP. All of the previous Descent H&M packs were sold direct from Amazon.

I searched for Bespin in the US and it came up right away. Single seller, $65, so certainly not where I would pick it up from, but it seems to be there. Same with Lando.

Yes, they do...again, because they are being sold by a third party, non-prime enabled re-seller. And they are being sold at prices way above MSRP. Last week, neither of those products even showed up while about a month ago, Bespin, all the associated villain/hero packs and Stewards of the Secret were listed for pre-order direct FROM Amazon (as in, Amazon was the SELLER not a third party affiliated store).

Oh well, doesn't really matter to me personally right now. I ordered them from MM last week and they will all be here tomorrow. This new "sales" scheme implemented by ANA/FFG is doing nothing but causing headaches for the people that they should consider to be the most important: their customers. What good does it do if prospective customers can't even find their products to buy in the first place (and at reasonable prices)?

I don't know if price ranges have increased, as it has always seemed to me liked they were skyhigh already.

I paid 42$ for the new H&M pack. I can find it for cheaper, but then shipping costs make up for the difference and go beyond.

A little comparison for those of you not in the USA. I've annotated where the prices have changed in the last week.

Got my copy of Stewards of the Secret for $32.73