I've taken meticulous notes from FFG's In-Flight Report at GenCon, and here they are:

• ...
• ...
• ...

?

Thankfully, somebody asked about IA during the Q&A session. The response?

• "I can tell you that we're working on the app, and we'll have more campaigns coming."
• "Right now we're focusing more on the app."
• "We'll have more to announce when we have more to announce."

Then the other guy said something to the effect that "Just because we didn't mention anything in the report doesn't mean we don't have anything; we only have so much time to talk." Sure, so there might be something in the pipeline, beyond the next app update. However, your selections about what to include (and not to include) in your biggest fan-interaction presentation of the YEAR say a lot about where you're putting your creative energies.

Comments? Questions?

Kinda upset that we get shafted two years in a row at GenCon.

20 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

Kinda upset that we get shafted   two years in a row at GenCon. 

Same for me ?

*tinfoil hat*

So maybe that is why the next skirmish map (now in rotation) is an ageold map?

2 hours ago, subtrendy2 said:

Kinda upset that we get shafted two years in a row at GenCon.

hey consider that were better off than Armada

Considering the content IA has received despite getting the cold shoulder at GenCon, I'd say we're not looking too bad if they repeat the cycle.

12 minutes ago, The Archangel said:

Considering the content IA has received despite getting the cold shoulder at GenCon, I'd say we're not looking too bad if they repeat the cycle.

I at least appreciate the optimism.

Definitely not what we wanted to see... but at least we know we've got new physical and app content announced.. with hints at more. I know it sucks but we should kind of be used to this by now lol

Maybe it is the other way around, maybe IA is SO healthy that they don't need to promote it as much as the other games.

4 minutes ago, FrogTrigger said:

Maybe it is the other way around, maybe IA is SO healthy that they don't need to promote it as much as the other games.

That's is not how capitalism works!

I'm seeing two basic scenarios for 2019.

#1 - We get a figure pack announced just after the new year for a spring release and get an app update to go with it which could be a paid DLC. Then we get a boxed expansion, which is likely to be the final one. I don't care to guess what size that box will be. Could never materalize.

#2 - The JR app update makes JR sales go through the roof and we get a final big box expansion in 2019 and an app update to go with it.

I suppose we could see a resurgence - a blister wave, a boxed expansion with it's own wave, and two app updates all between now and Dec 2019, but I feel like if we were going to see that FFG would have given IA more attention at Gencon.

(Note: this post will be addressing skirmish specifically - the app has been confirmed to be going strong and realistically there is already plenty of campaign content for 99% of groups)

The problem with them not supporting IA skirmish at events like these is that the rumours of IA being near-death become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't know how many people I've seen post in the various social media groups that start with some variation of "Hey! So I've been looking at getting into IA, but just want to make sure: are they still releasing content for this or is it pretty much dead?". And how many potential players are not even asking those questions, but rather just assume that they've missed the boat on skirmish and that it's not worth joining at this stage? Even an FFG die-hard who plays multiple games might be asking themself whether it's worth keeping up with the IA scene if it's not going to be supported much longer when their money could instead go towards something like X-Wing or *shudder* Legion.

And really, I don't think we even need that much support . I get that they're not going to be releasing content at the rate that they did when the game launched - they've got a limited staff and a lot of games to make, and they can't be full-out on all of them. So say they've only got a small team who's going to be able to put out one expansion box a year. It's not ideal, sure, but I'd think that even that would be enough to sustain the community provided they actually gave some sort of indication that more was coming .

And I'm not even talking about big spoiler articles or anything - they don't need to have anything designed or any release dates. What if, before Lothal hits, they did something as simple as posting a logo on their twitter account that says "Imperial Assault: Ghosts of Malachor" or whatever. It doesn't take up any time in the in-flight report, and they can answer any questions with "we're working on it, we'll let you know more when we're ready" (just like they already do). It would take almost no resources on their part whatsoever. But boy oh boy would that ever go a long way towards dispelling rumours like those in the post above about how this or that expansion will be the last.

Seriously FFG, it would be so much better (for us and for you) if you could just throw us a little bone every now and again. You've made a truly fantastic skirmish game - you've already done the hard part. Why not just put in the smallest amount of leg-work to keep it from falling by the wayside?

We got our gencon announcement 2 months ago. It would be weird if we got a new expansion announcement while we already have unreleased content. This isn't X-Wing after all. Be glad we're not Armada, I'll give up a gencon nod if it means getting a full wave of content and digital support instead of just a single ship.

13 minutes ago, ManateeX said:

(Note: this post will be addressing skirmish specifically - the app has been confirmed to be going strong and realistically there is already plenty of campaign content for 99% of groups)

The problem with them not supporting IA skirmish at events like these is that the rumours of IA being near-death become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't know how many people I've seen post in the various social media groups that start with some variation of "Hey! So I've been looking at getting into IA, but just want to make sure: are they still releasing content for this or is it pretty much dead?". And how many potential players are not even asking those questions, but rather just assume that they've missed the boat on skirmish and that it's not worth joining at this stage? Even an FFG die-hard who plays multiple games might be asking themself whether it's worth keeping up with the IA scene if it's not going to be supported much longer when their money could instead go towards something like X-Wing or *shudder* Legion.

And really, I don't think we even need that much support . I get that they're not going to be releasing content at the rate that they did when the game launched - they've got a limited staff and a lot of games to make, and they can't be full-out on all of them. So say they've only got a small team who's going to be able to put out one expansion box a year. It's not ideal, sure, but I'd think that even that would be enough to sustain the community provided they actually gave some sort of indication that more was coming .

And I'm not even talking about big spoiler articles or anything - they don't need to have anything designed or any release dates. What if, before Lothal hits, they did something as simple as posting a logo on their twitter account that says "Imperial Assault: Ghosts of Malachor" or whatever. It doesn't take up any time in the in-flight report, and they can answer any questions with "we're working on it, we'll let you know more when we're ready" (just like they already do). It would take almost no resources on their part whatsoever. But boy oh boy would that ever go a long way towards dispelling rumours like those in the post above about how this or that expansion will be the last.

Seriously FFG, it would be so much better (for us and for you) if you could just throw us a little bone every now and again. You've made a truly fantastic skirmish game - you've already done the hard part. Why not just put in the smallest amount of leg-work to keep it from falling by the wayside?

I really think a lot of the future of the game hinges on whether the JR app update makes sales of the JR box and the Core box go up enough to warrant more content.

As far as Skirmish goes, I think blister waves are much better for sustaining skirmish than box expansions. I get that boxes hit both sides, but if you are promoting expansion sales through the app (like expansion specific campaigns, Jabba's Realm, Hoth, Lothal etc..) then you already have that side covered.

Blisters allow your skirmish to gain new content (there is no shortage of map tiles and honestly having core only maps helps grow the player base anyway) and it also adds more physical content to the campaign side of things.

14 minutes ago, Pollux85 said:

I really think a lot of the future of the game hinges on whether the JR app update makes sales of the JR box and the Core box go up enough to warrant more content.

You are possibly right. But to enjoy JR'app campaign you need to buy the Core and JR's expansion. That is a big commitment for 2, 5-mission campaigns. Yes both boxes open up competitive skirmish plays, an offer the 1vsall campaign mode, but like @ManateeX said, without FFG showing they will support IA skirmish on long term, it's hard to believe that JR app will bring in a lot of new players on board.

And in a sense, if one is waiting for app campaign releases to jump into the game, chances are they are not interested in the physical campaign nor the skirmish mode, because these 2 modes are already there on the shelves.

24 minutes ago, Tvboy said:

We got our gencon announcement 2 months ago. It would be weird if we got a new expansion announcement while we already have unreleased content. This isn't X-Wing after all. Be glad we're not Armada, I'll give up a gencon nod if it means getting a full wave of content and digital support instead of just a single ship.

We're on the same page. Geez everyone. We're getting a whole new wave a few weeks from now. Just because they decide not to fit in any "new stuff" announcements at Gencon doesn't mean they're not working on material. The game is clearly not their highest priority, but why would it be? They don't own the licence and a small number of people play it.

I'm going to enjoy for however long it lasts. I'm not going to SIMPLY switch to another FFG star wars game if that happens. So far none of them interest me the way IA does.

I'm going to post an interview with a designer and get some answers for us. I'm not afraid to ask tough questions.

1 minute ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

We're on the same page. Geez everyone. We're getting a whole new wave a few weeks from now. Just because they decide not to fit in any "new stuff" announcements at Gencon doesn't mean they're not working on material. The game is clearly not their highest priority, but why would it be? They don't own the licence and a small number of people play it.

I'm going to enjoy for however long it lasts. I'm not going to SIMPLY switch to another FFG star wars game if that happens. So far none of them interest me the way IA does.

I'm going to post an interview with a designer and get some answers for us. I'm not afraid to ask tough questions.

We have ToL expansion box on the boat and JR app campaign releasing in a few days and more app campaigns in the making ... but no big news from GenCon which should be enough to revive the "Is IA dying?" thread :p

10 minutes ago, IanSolo_FFG said:

And in a sense, if one is waiting for app campaign releases to jump into the game, chances are they are not interested in the physical campaign nor the skirmish mode, because these 2 modes are already there on the shelves.

Sometimes people don't know what they're missing. I've had players that thought they would only like the campaign get hooked on skirmish after trying it.

The hope is that the app exposes more people to the awesomeness that is IA, and after they finish the app they're left craving more and start exploring the other game modes in that big box that they now own.

1 hour ago, ManateeX said:

(Note: this post will be addressing skirmish specifically - the app has been confirmed to be going strong and realistically there is already plenty of campaign content for 99% of groups)

The problem with them not supporting IA skirmish at events like these is that the rumours of IA being near-death become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't know how many people I've seen post in the various social media groups that start with some variation of "Hey! So I've been looking at getting into IA, but just want to make sure: are they still releasing content for this or is it pretty much dead?". And how many potential players are not even asking those questions, but rather just assume that they've missed the boat on skirmish and that it's not worth joining at this stage? Even an FFG die-hard who plays multiple games might be asking themself whether it's worth keeping up with the IA scene if it's not going to be supported much longer when their money could instead go towards something like X-Wing or *shudder* Legion.

And really, I don't think we even need that much support . I get that they're not going to be releasing content at the rate that they did when the game launched - they've got a limited staff and a lot of games to make, and they can't be full-out on all of them. So say they've only got a small team who's going to be able to put out one expansion box a year. It's not ideal, sure, but I'd think that even that would be enough to sustain the community provided they actually gave some sort of indication that more was coming .

And I'm not even talking about big spoiler articles or anything - they don't need to have anything designed or any release dates. What if, before Lothal hits, they did something as simple as posting a logo on their twitter account that says "Imperial Assault: Ghosts of Malachor" or whatever. It doesn't take up any time in the in-flight report, and they can answer any questions with "we're working on it, we'll let you know more when we're ready" (just like they already do). It would take almost no resources on their part whatsoever. But boy oh boy would that ever go a long way towards dispelling rumours like those in the post above about how this or that expansion will be the last.

Seriously FFG, it would be so much better (for us and for you) if you could just throw us a little bone every now and again. You've made a truly fantastic skirmish game - you've already done the hard part. Why not just put in the smallest amount of leg-work to keep it from falling by the wayside?

What would you expect from a game whose expansions aren't all available at stores and whenever you go on FFG website you can read "Not Available"? I would expect it's dead...

52 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

We're on the same page. Geez everyone. We're getting a whole new wave a few weeks from now. Just because they decide not to fit in any "new stuff" announcements at Gencon doesn't mean they're not working on material. The game is clearly not their highest priority, but why would it be? They don't own the licence and a small number of people play it.

I'm going to enjoy for however long it lasts. I'm not going to SIMPLY switch to another FFG star wars game if that happens. So far none of them interest me the way IA does.

I'm going to post an interview with a designer and get some answers for us. I'm not afraid to ask tough questions.

Despite my giant rant I actually don't disagree with you . I don't think they're done with IA, and I don't expect them to keep up a constant news cycle. Lack of news at GenCon on its own is actually not that concerning to me, especially with an unreleased wave on the way.

But context is key here. We went over 6 months between the release of Heart of the Empire and an announcement article for Tyrants of Lothal. For a board game that's fine, but for a competitive skirmish game that's a loooooong time to go not knowing whether there will ever be anything else forthcoming. All of the "sky is falling" posts started piling up during that time, and while I was pretty convinced that they would continue to support the game (and still am) it doesn't change the fact that for a new player, logging on to the forum for a game you're potentially interested in and seeing some variation of "IS IA DEAD??!?!?" as half of the first ten thread titles doesn't fill you with a lot of confidence.

And again, all of this could be avoided if one guy at FFG was allowed to take 15 seconds from his day to open up the company twitter account and post "IA skirmish expansion? Stay tuned in the coming months.....". It's just that I feel they're shooting themselves in the foot a little bit when it comes to trying to build up their own skirmish game by being so unnecessarily cloistered.

[As I start this post, I should comment that I'm primarily a Skirmish player, so the Campaign stuff is kinda peripheral for me. The statements I make here reflect my desire to see IA Skirmish receive future support and development.]

I'm very aware that Lothal is coming soon, along with the Jabba app update. That's good, and I'm happy about that. But the In-Flight report isn't talking about what's available now ...it's talking about what's coming in the future , about what FFG is working on now for future releases. And apparently IA doesn't make the cut; that's what concerns me when I think about the future of the IA Skirmish game. It's also really odd (read: discouraging) to me that SW:IA was the ONLY one of their expandable Star Wars games NOT to get a mention during the In-Flight Report . If nothing else was said, that communicates plenty.

And even the answers they gave during Q&A were all focused on the Campaign , with no hint at all of Skirmish: "I can tell you that we're working on the app, and we'll have more campaigns coming."  Does 'more campaigns coming' mean more campaigns on the app , or more boxed expansions (ie, a "Ghosts of Malachor" big box campaign, or something)? It's hard to tell for sure because of the ambiguity of the statement, but given the context, it sounds to me that he's talking about 'more campaigns coming [for the app].' I'd like to be wrong there, and I don't want to give too much weight to this statement, but I'll just say that even this statement about future development isn't very confidence-inducing for me. Even if he had said, "We have another new box in the works but we can't give you any details right now" that would be plenty of info at this point.

I'm not one of those "sky is falling" guys--I think this is the first time I've posted a 'game is dying' comment--but given what we've heard (and not heard!) in this Report, maybe there's reason to be one. I hope I'm wrong.

31 minutes ago, ManateeX said:

Despite my giant rant I actually don't disagree with you . I don't think they're done with IA, and I don't expect them to keep up a constant news cycle. Lack of news at GenCon on its own is actually not that concerning to me, especially with an unreleased wave on the way.

But context is key here. We went over 6 months between the release of Heart of the Empire and an announcement article for Tyrants of Lothal. For a board game that's fine, but for a competitive skirmish game that's a loooooong time to go not knowing whether there will ever be anything else forthcoming. All of the "sky is falling" posts started piling up during that time, and while I was pretty convinced that they would continue to support the game (and still am) it doesn't change the fact that for a new player, logging on to the forum for a game you're potentially interested in and seeing some variation of "IS IA DEAD??!?!?" as half of the first ten thread titles doesn't fill you with a lot of confidence.

And again, all of this could be avoided if one guy at FFG was allowed to take 15 seconds from his day to open up the company twitter account and post "IA skirmish expansion? Stay tuned in the coming months.....". It's just that I feel they're shooting themselves in the foot a little bit when it comes to trying to build up their own skirmish game by being so unnecessarily cloistered.

You make really good points. It's fine for us to defend the game because we know it's awesome, but if people keep posting negative s#it all the time, it may scare away new players. I honestly am starting to wonder if FFG is even allowed to present any IA information at a public forum like Gencon? We already see that they cannot advertise it for sale on their own website, and that it has to go through a distributor?

I hit up the google machine and found this. It's been talked about since 2014. Wow this old girl is fighting for dear life (sarcastic tone).

https://imgur.com/a/50EqBmj

Yeah, I'm with @ManateeX on this one.

I love FFG, and obviously they can't bow to every customer demand, but morale is pretty low on several of these games' forums. A little bit of transparency could do them miracles.

Even that totally hypothetical example of tweeting a pic with a "Ghost of Malachor" thing- I'm hyped just thinking about that!

I've been a bit involved with some customer relations stuff in the video game industry, and I realize they're different mediums, but given my experience I find FFG's way of handling this stuff simply cringeworthy.

What is sad is instead of discussing our excitement about the upcoming ToL expansion box and JR app campaign over and over and over, or what expansion box the next app campaign might be built around and which character(s) might receive the next skirmish fix, we are back again on that downward spiral discussion about if IA has a future in FFG's long-term plans. And like others have pointed out, just the magical words "we're working on it" would 1) Reassure the existing community that the game they love is still on FFG's work table and 2) appeal to the potential new players.

Funny that I reported in the "Friday..." thread that the forum of the French publisher (Edge Entertainement … English name, now that's a real French company ) has a moderator that is also a staff member who goes on (and most importantly is allowed) to provide those "we're working on it" answers here and there on the forum. No date commitment, no deep promises, just "we're working on it". The "Mouse" does have more power in the USA I suppose ...

I dont mind, i have a bunch of Imperial assault stuff. working on digital content and maybe a new campaign booklet would be great for all the stuff i already own.

22 hours ago, IanSolo_FFG said:

What is sad is instead of discussing our excitement about the upcoming ToL expansion box and JR app campaign over and over and over, or what expansion box the next app campaign might be built around and which character(s) might receive the next skirmish fix, we are back again on that downward spiral discussion about if IA has a future in FFG's long-term plans. And like others have pointed out, just the magical words "we're working on it" would 1) Reassure the existing community that the game they love is still on FFG's work table and 2) appeal to the potential new players.

It is sad, but I don't think it's unreasonable for fans to be upset that, for the second year in a row, the only recognition we really get at GenCon is vague (and this year, less than promising) answers to questions in the Q&A segment.

And I'd love to discuss more of what the next expansion box might be- mindless speculation is one of my favorite things here- but without even the promise of even getting a new box in the future, that just seems kinda sad right now.

I just don't know why they seem so afraid to stoke the fires a little more often.