Dear Mr. Litzsinger,

I love the wonderful card/dice game that you the rest of your design team have created. It is such an elegantly simple game, with a depth of strategy not seen in a CCG since "the card game that shall not be named." I look forward to playing this game with my friends for many years to come.

Unfortunately, at the moment it is impossible to get any of my friends interested in a game that they are unable to buy... There are some online retailers out there who are making choices that value short-term profits over long-term growth. This mentality, while well-within the scope of capitalism, I fear may become a detriment to the longevity of your game. Mainly, these actions include (but are not limited to) the opening of sealed product to resell on the secondary "singles" market, rather than providing stock for the customers to purchase. One retailer in particular has had no booster packs listed for purchase in almost a month, while their stock of singles was "miraculously" refilled just today. We are unable to buy any booster boxes, but we can buy Darth Vader for $50...

I am not writing this to make some appeal to ethics, but rather to your pride in your game. The practice of cracking boosters for their own singles stock is promoting vertical growth over horizontal growth. That is, your game is not able to spread its player base, as only die-hard collectors will be willing to pay the exorbitant prices of the singles. The mass-market will not be willing to "try-out" a new game that has such difficulty reaching the hands of its audience, and as such, I believe that the popularity of the game will decline as players become more and more jaded. This is a dangerous time for Destiny. It is young and has the momentum of novelty to push it forward. For it to last and compete with "the card game that shall not be named," it will take a wide player base with lots of support. With such a high cost of entry, these retailers are doing your game more harm than good. I want millions of people across the globe to enjoy Star Wars Destiny, not just the collectors with disposable income.

In addition to restricting the player base, these practices are allowing the retailers to dictate market value. By restricting supply, they artificially inflate demand and reap all of the benefits. My own personal view is that you, Mr. Litzsinger, your design team, and Fantasy Flight as a whole deserve the benefits of your work, not the opportunists who seek to control the market. I'm sure that Star Wars Destiny was designed for the enjoyment of players, not for the pocketbooks of retailers.

I'm not entirely sure what you are able to do about this, but I felt that bringing this to your attention (or rather adding my voice to the growing chorus) might help to serve the Force. There is a community that loves your game, and we want to bring-in new players. We want a large, strong community with events and tournaments. There has been an awakening, and there are dark powers conspiring to snuff out the light.

Respectfully,

- Brandon Wilson

Solution - buy from a physical FLGS rather than online retailers.

Edit: But I will admit I'm not insensitive to your point, it is a valid one.

Lukas has nothing to do with pricing, production, or distribution of this game. He is a designer. He creates the cards and the dice that go with them. He helps lay out which cards go in which set. He may have a little input into things like how often sets get released and what the rotation schedule will look like, but he also might not. I'm sure he is busy designing cards for the 4th or 5th set by now, as sets 2 and 3 are probably already finalized and sent off for production.

I'm sure he wants everyone to get all the cards they want so they can enjoy his game just as much as you do.

Solution - buy from a physical FLGS rather than online retailers.

Edit: But I will admit I'm not insensitive to your point, it is a valid one.

except the FLGS dont have product to sell

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

They did? Can you point to where? I'm curious to hear what they've said.

Believe the CEO gave a description of their dice issues in this interview.

Believe the CEO gave a description of their dice issues in this interview.

I very much appreciate the video. I especially love the section, starting at 6:49, where Mr. Peterson talks about the "commoditization" of the sports card industry. He then goes on to say that their primary goal, as a company that designs games, is to get the product to the end user...

Just to clarify, however, my letter was not meant to cast blame at FF for manufacturing issues, as those are to be expected with a brand new game. I respect the care that has been put into the quality of dice, and understand the limitations in production.

My letter was meant to condemn the online retailers who are exacerbating these issues by not allowing "the end user" to have access to product. Manufacturing created a limited stock to begin with, and then these retailers are inflating the prices, creating further restrictions to the players. This is exactly the kind of behavior that Mr. Peterson described as being the downfall of the sports card industry.

@Bowser:

Yes, Mr. Litzsinger may be a designer, but this game is kind of like his child. Don't underestimate what a parent is capable of in defense of their children

*** addendum ***

Another great point to be taken from the video is that the CEO of the company has expressed a desire to ensure their customers are able to enjoy their games. What is happening right now is preventing players from doing exactly that. That should mean that Asmodee would be willing to take action against such practices to ensure the longevity of their product.

except the FLGS dont have product to sell Yes! So much of this right now.

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

Yes it will - but the interest in the game is now. In 3-4 months time, there might be more supply, but the number of people playing will have fallen off as the wave of excitement passes.

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

Yes it will - but the interest in the game is now. In 3-4 months time, there might be more supply, but the number of people playing will have fallen off as the wave of excitement passes.

This is true but the lack of product can be a self fulfilling prophecy as lack of product availability will quench excitement.

I think it is obvious the game has been successful, probably well beyond FFG'S expectations. The secondary market has taken advantage of the limited supply. Let's just hope more product gets into the system before players or potential players give up and move on to something else.

Believe the CEO gave a description of their dice issues in this interview.

Gotcha. I guess I've seen that but was hoping for something more directly related to the current situation (though I know dice production is an issue) and where things will be going from here.

OP: I think you don't understand what collectible means.

The product shortage sucks, sure, but it's still a collectible game. In the world of a shortage, who decides where the product goes?

You addressed this to the wrong party. Lead designer does not mean what you think it means.

@mege:

I understand the collectable model far better than you give me credit for. I started playing CCG's in 1994, and miniatures wargames in 1999. Please don't make assumptions about others with incomplete knowledge of them or their backgrounds...

As for the distribution model in general, CEO Christian Peterson himself says that his company's goal as a producer of games is to provide a multitude of avenues for the "end-users" (us, the players) to be able to acquire and enjoy their product (the games). He says a lot of other really great things concerning the history of collectables (specifically sports cards) and how the "commoditization" of these products leads to their decline. The artificial inflation of the secondary market with Destiny is bordering on exactly that issue. It is the prerogative of the product's owner (Asmodee) to dictate the terms of distribution, as they control the flow of product at the highest level. If they don't want you to have product, they can choose not to give you any. Watch the video; it's very informative and might have answered your questions before you asked them

@ScottieATF:

Actually, I addressed the letter to precisely whom I wished. I understand that a "lead designer" is not in charge of shipping and distribution. However, shipping and distribution would not (generally) have any emotional attachment to the product they move. Their job is to shuffle palates of boxes to the places that need to have the boxes. An appeal to emotion would fall on deaf ears there. As the lead designer, Mr. Litzsinger would (presumably) have such an attachment, and might be moved to action in order to prevent the mishandling of the product he created. As a member of the FF family, he has various contacts that I do not have access to, and would do a much better job of persuasion than I. I appreciate the constructive criticism and attempt at guiding my efforts in a better direction, but I assure you I had considered my choice of audience very well.

The lead designer can't do anything about manufacturing. It is Christian Peterson who is in a position to do something about this. He is clearly engaged in his job and knows he has a hit on his hands. I am sure everything with in reason is being done to increase supply. So just R-E-L-A-X.

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

3 people(the main people I game with) I know have already quit the game.

I'm gonna play a tournament I signed up for next week then sell off my collection.

This game may well thrive and go on to be the best selling CCG of all time, I certainly think that, with it's Star Wars nametag and excellent gameplay it has the ability to be up there. As of right now my friends and I are not going to be part of it. There are many other hobbies out there and we'll be spending our time and money on those instead.

Edit-

And I can assure you, I am as relaxed about this decision as one can possibly be. Indeed my relaxed approach to this game is why it's so easy to drop it.

EDIT - never mind, misread the post/poster

See ya Stu!

The lead designer can't do anything about manufacturing. It is Christian Peterson who is in a position to do something about this. He is clearly engaged in his job and knows he has a hit on his hands. I am sure everything with in reason is being done to increase supply. So just R-E-L-A-X.

This...just this. You are barking up the wrong tree...but I do admire your enthuiasm. This game is quite refreshing in its content and simplicity.

First post on the forum. This a FFG run forum correct? I'm guessing this post will get reviewed by someone at FFG. As it is my first post. Are we so nieve to think they don't read our posts. I can imagine it would go something like this. Some one in a cube somewhere stands up and yells across the office. "Hey Lukas they are talking about you again!!! I think someone should schedule a meeting to figure out how to stop our resellers from gouging our customers.. ". I think this is the perfect place to let all of FFG know how we feel. I just wish they would come out and say something to the community on when we will see more stock. Or make a statement about the shenanigans some game stores are pulling on their customers.

FFG is acutely aware of their manufacturing difficulties and have address them many times.

Right now it is time to R-E-L-A-X. It will get better.

3 people(the main people I game with) I know have already quit the game.

I'm gonna play a tournament I signed up for next week then sell off my collection.

This game may well thrive and go on to be the best selling CCG of all time, I certainly think that, with it's Star Wars nametag and excellent gameplay it has the ability to be up there. As of right now my friends and I are not going to be part of it. There are many other hobbies out there and we'll be spending our time and money on those instead.

Edit-

And I can assure you, I am as relaxed about this decision as one can possibly be. Indeed my relaxed approach to this game is why it's so easy to drop it.

If you are going to sell off your cards, now is the time while supply is short. Can always buy back in later at a lower cost.