anyone else notice that both Kingdom Hearts and UFS have been shut down for good by FFG. They aren't even making them an LCG.

It reminds my how close we came and how thankful i truly am for Nate, Luke, Christian, and the LCG format (even though i get frustrated by it at times).

Yes but on the bright side for the LCG's: "We will instead focus on our other categories where we are experiencing much greater success, including our LCG category which has beaten our most optimistic expectations." So perhaps we will see some more big expansions for AGOT.

The writing was on the wall for Kingdom Hearts when all of its products were part of the Holiday blowout clearance sale on FFG and also showed up on another site, Tanga (which is similar to Woot, with a tendency to feature games). Out of curiosity I poked around the Kingdom Hearts forum and saw that for quite some time the game had been in limbo. I hadn't picked up UFS being canceled; is there an announcement out about that? I never tried either game as the licenses did nothing for me and what I had read about the game play left me cold. I get the sense that W:I has leapt out of the gates and is off to a good start (that's just my impression from seeing how people have talked about the game here and on BGG.com) perhaps the LCG model has proven itself enough that the cost/benefit of a traditional CCG game that isn't a runaway success pales in comparison.

I suspect this means that there won't be much by way of a company-driven OP program for any of the LCGs, which I've suspected all along since the transition. To me, it just seems the more time/effort efficient thing for FFG to do is what it has this year: provide players and shop owners who want to collaborate on running leagues or events with some support materials, give them a lot of latitude in what the leagues/events look like, and provide some exposure on the FFG site from time to time.

LetsGoRed said:

yup

both them and KH at once, with more specifics on each games forum.

Lars said:

Keep in mind that FFG distributed and supported these games. They did not produce or develop them. There were no people sitting in MN designing KH or UFS cards.

So FFG probably didn't even have the option to make them LCGs.

As a retailer, I have to agree with alot of what Steve said about the future of ccgs. The only "successful" ccgs that we sell are magic and Yu-Gi-Oh!. World of Warcraft has diminished in sales over the last 12-18 months, and Pokemon is just a trickle in sales, though they do still sell, and are apparently better sellers at Big box stores which explains why Magic is becoming more prominent at the local Targets and Wal-Marts, much to the sadness of hobby game stores.

LCGs, however, have done fairly well for us though there sales do not come anywhere close to that of ccgs. A serious Magic player will hundreds of dollars on a new expansion, plus singles, plus random boosters for events, etc. I will have customers that when Worldwake releases will buy multiple boxes. With Thrones or Warhammer, the best I can expect from any given player in the course of a month is $30. So our approach to how we manage LCGs vs. ccgs are very different, and our expectations are also lower. What makes LCGs a great investment is the definite lower cost to play the games. Some players may only spend $10 a month, some $20, some $30, but with the exception of Call of Cthulhu our player bases for LCGs are steady, with gradual growth. With most ccgs including Yu-Gi-Oh! the trend is almost always lower from month to month. Heck, YGO released so many products in November that they cannibalized their own sales, and we actually saw YGO sales drop.

I am saddened to see UFS end that was a fun game, and we have some very dedicated players at our store but none of them were serious players, and as such we couldn't make alot of money off of them, and so FFG couldn't make alot of money off of us. But I am glad to see they kept up the game as long as they did, and wish there was some way they could keep the game going in some form as an LCG.

As a new player, who toyed with Magic and other CCGs, I would be rather pleased to learn that LCGs were ascendant and CCGs were going the way of the dodo, which I always felt they should. That system is an anathema to an honest sportsman's gaming in my view, and the model kept me away for years. The LCG still has some grrr inducing $$$-grabbing aspects to it, but it was still a MAJOR step in the right direction, and is palatable enough to me to start playing. As it is, AGoT and Warhammer are still massively overshadowed by Magic everywhere I go. But store owners tell me the LCGs are doing well. I hope it grows, and grows appropriately.

I don't see how a CCGer can complain either. The system is still allowing you to blow ridiculous amounts of cash...