Here's to hoping they'll get it sent soon... It can't possibly be that much further, right...?

I have a character in a game that should have a long section of downtime (in-character) in like a month or so (out-of-character)... I was hoping I could justify my character becoming more Jedi-like than she already is during this downtime, but to do that I need the books. Or at least the careers

I saw someone on another thread speculate that the books failed some quality assurance in the US and thus FFG had to do another print run (and thus another boat-run too), but they apparantly don't update the tracker when this happens... I really wish they'd at least tell us what's going on

12 minutes ago, TheJack said:

Here's to hoping they'll get it sent soon... It can't possibly be that much further, right...?

I have a character in a game that should have a long section of downtime (in-character) in like a month or so (out-of-character)... I was hoping I could justify my character becoming more Jedi-like than she already is during this downtime, but to do that I need the books. Or at least the careers

I saw someone on another thread speculate that the books failed some quality assurance in the US and thus FFG had to do another print run (and thus another boat-run too), but they apparantly don't update the tracker when this happens... I really wish they'd at least tell us what's going on

That's purely speculation, and highly doubtful. More than likely, they're holding off until Star Wars Celebration this April. That would be my guess.

17 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

That's purely speculation, and highly doubtful. More than likely, they're holding off until Star Wars Celebration this April. That would be my guess.

Why would his pure speculation be highly doubtful and yours not?

That was rhetorical, I don't atually need an answer.

12 hours ago, Maelora said:

You know, considering he has nearly nine thousand posts and reputation, it might make sense to stop sniping and listen. You might learn something, even if you disagree.

And this from someone who's had plenty of disagreements with Mr Morningfire over the years, but can still respect him.

And from someone who thinks 'canon' arguments sound like discussions about angels dancing on the heads of pins.

Anyway, how about them Seperatists? Do we know when they might be Rising? The third and final season of the MarcyVerse awaits it.

It's a Marcy!! Hi, Marcy!!!

I hope they Rise soon; I can say the book is EXCEPTIONALLY cool, and I can't wait for it to be out!

I had a thought on how the new Jedi career might fit into the MarcyVerse, too, but I think from a comment you made you've already figured out something .

3 minutes ago, Absol197 said:

It's a Marcy!! Hi, Marcy!!!

I hope they Rise soon; I can say the book is EXCEPTIONALLY cool, and I can't wait for it to be out!

I had a thought on how the new Jedi career might fit into the MarcyVerse, too, but I think from a comment you made you've already figured out something .

2!..........2 comments on topic!!.....ah ah ah..............

I don't feel like their holding off till celebration.

I mean, they MIGHT be, and it's certainly on the table, but I just don't see why they'd say nothing for so long then hold it off till April.

Maybe it's just me but I don't like the radio silence on it. I get suspicious too easily.

First time at this rodeo, so I'm sure I'll be jaded eventually.

Well, on the one hand, they’ve said in the past that the only convention they ever sell product at is GenCon, preferring to drive sales traffic to retailers.

On the other hand, they’ve also said in the past that they preferred not to stat out named characters.

Which loops us right back to “Who knows?”

1 hour ago, Nytwyng said:

Well, on the one hand, they’ve said in the past that the only convention they ever sell product at is GenCon, preferring to drive sales traffic to retailers.

On the other hand, they’ve also said in the past that they preferred not to stat out named characters.

Which loops us right back to “Who knows?”

If only they would change their minds on pdfs.

2 hours ago, 2P51 said:

2!..........2 comments on topic!!.....ah ah ah..............

I know, right? Who would have thought!

I will say that I'm very sad that this book still hasn't released . I haven't been keeping track of the data very well, but it seems like the status hasn't changed in a very long time. It makes me sad, 'cause it's such a good book... Well, you know!

1 hour ago, Eoen said:

If only they would change their minds on pdfs.

They probably want to, but as I understand they can't. IIRC because of some stupid formulations in copyright law, if they make PDFs then the game suddenly counts as a "digital game", and EA as exclusive rights to those. Hence, no PDFs allowed

18 minutes ago, TheJack said:

They probably want to, but as I understand they can't. IIRC because of some stupid formulations in copyright law, if they make PDFs then the game suddenly counts as a "digital game", and EA as exclusive rights to those. Hence, no PDFs allowed

Any contract can be negotiated.

5 hours ago, Eoen said:

Any contract can be negotiated.

Negotiate with EA?!?!?!?

As others have said, FFG would very much love to sell PDFs. Only problem is that the Star Wars license is, quite frankly, a fragmented mess (thank you West End Games management for that state of affairs ).

In the past, the issue with having PDFs of the RPG books was that it required a separate license with the LucasArts division of the larger Lucasfilm corporate entity, and the price asked was too high, even for Wizards of the Coast (who was riding high on D&D success at the time).

There's also the matter of expense in re-negotiating the contract, especially now that "electronic rights" is sitting with EA, who is notoriously money-hungry (micro-transactions anyone?) and is probably not willing to let go of an opportunity to generate more money for themselves (they've apparently long since given up on making quality games) and just let go of the portion of the license that would permit FFG to publish PDFs. Then you've got Disney, the license owners, and they're certainly not going to let an opportunity for revenue pass them by; George Lucas may have made the notion of merchandising your IP feasible, but Disney perfected it. Ideally, the best time to re-negotiate terms would be when the license comes up for renewal, but it seems the gaming rights and electronic rights come up for renewal at different times, making it more difficult to get all three parties to sit down at the table at the same time and hash things out.

Contract law is a very messy and convoluted thing, since you've got two parties that both want to come out ahead. And as Jedi Ronin noted, negotiating with EA isn't going to be cheap, be it in terms of legal staff or potentially licensing fees, which as I understand for Star Wars are already pretty high for any RPG company, which themselves run on fairly slim profit margins (most RPG companies hope to at least break even, with only the larger entities like WotC and Paizo having a realistic chance of reliably turning an above-average profit). As the old industry joke goes, "how do you earn a small fortune? Take a large fortune and start an RPG company!"

5 hours ago, Eoen said:

Any contract can be negotiated.

Sure.

But doing so requires at least one party having to renegotiate their contract off-cycle, which most parties are disinclined to do. Meanwhile, EA has nothing to gain by renegotiating to free up PDFs for FFG (or any possible future RPG license holder), but could lose if LFL were to say, “As long as we’re making this change to the contract, let’s make some more.” (A possibility that FFG could face, too.) Something similar happened with the toy license once upon a time.

Considering that FFG is Lando and Disney is Vader, how do you see those negotiations going down?

Speaking of odd LFL licensing structure and the toy license(s)....

Ever wonder why the Star Wars Funko Pops are the only Pops with a base and bobble heads? The way the contracts are written, if they were like the other Pops, they’d be considered “action figures,” which Hasbro has the license for.

Now...Rise of the Separatists? I doubt it could be mistaken for an action figure or a bobble head. But I can’t be certain until it’s in my hands. 🤣

I hear what your saying, but even if FFG was charged a fee for each pdf from EA, they could keep their same profit margins simply by passing on the fee to the customer. I own all of the hard bound books and would buy the entire line again if it was available on pdf. I suspect many people who want PDFs would eat the fee. I know FFG is willing to release PDFs because I own some of them.

I’m not sure which contract comes up first but there is some talk in the video game sites that Disney is not happy with EA only releasing two games in the last six years.

2 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Considering that FFG is Lando and Disney is Vader, how do you see those negotiations going down?

5 hours ago, Varlie said:

Negotiate with EA?!?!?!?

This Source book will make a fine addition to my collection

5 hours ago, Eoen said:

I hear what your saying, but even if FFG was charged a fee for each pdf from EA, they could keep their same profit margins simply by passing on the fee to the customer. I own all of the hard bound books and would buy the entire line again if it was available on pdf. I suspect many people who want PDFs would eat the fee. I know FFG is willing to release PDFs because I own some of them.

I’m not sure which contract comes up first but there is some talk in the video game sites that Disney is not happy with EA only releasing two games in the last six years.

As customers we have even less insight into the intricacies of Disney/Lucasfilm/EA/FFG licensing negotiations than we do the release date of this book.

Na fairly sure I could more easily find out about licensing than I could this things release date.

58 minutes ago, Kualan said:

As customers we have even less insight into the intricacies of Disney/Lucasfilm/EA/FFG licensing negotiations than we do the release date of this book.

Pretty much this. Folks like Eoen can armchair quarterback the whys and what-fors of the licensing arrangements/negotiations until the cows come home, and still have zero clue what's actually going down since none of us on these boards are privy to the behind-the scenes goings-ons of the companies involved.

I'd be surprised if FFG's legal department didn't at some point do a cost analysis to see if the revenue from PDF sales of the Star Wars books would be worth whatever legal processes would be required to get both the relevant contracts re-negotiated presuming that EA even wanted to come to the table in the first place. Could be it wasn't deemed cost effective (especially if you factor in freely available PDFs coming with an increase of pirated material) or that EA simply isn't interested in negotiating an arrangement that FFG is willing to shell money out for.

@Donovan Morningfire it’s not armchair quarterbacking it’s called lobbying. The next strep in lobbying is putting pressure on Lucas Arts the a write in campaign.

10 hours ago, Eoen said:

@Donovan Morningfire it’s not armchair quarterbacking it’s called lobbying. The next strep in lobbying is putting pressure on Lucas Arts the a write in campaign.

Yes, because write-in campaigns to have The Last Jedi removed from the Star Wars canon or to have it reshoot into a glorified dude-fest have worked soooo well

This may come as a shock, but FFG is a for-profit business. And if the chief owners/operators don't see enough of a return on investment for getting the contract renegotiated, then they as a business aren't going to do it no matter how many write-in campaigns happen.

People have been asking for PDFs since the EotE Beta launched (something FFG is very well aware of), and the fact there aren't PDFs says that getting the rights isn't nearly as cut and dry of an issue as you'd like to think it is.

EotE Beta was a pdf. I still have it on the HD I use to saves things from my PC's HD. It's that pdf I used to start playing EotE 6 years ago.