3 hours ago, Khazadune said:I've heard the same rumours regarding potential issues including a ship sinking at sea, a ship fire that destroyed books, a printer who went out of business, customs seizure of the materials, Chinese government crackdown on content in books and a bevy of other "issues." Some seem possible, some seem ludicrous, none have been officially put forth by FFG to explain any of the huge and terrible lapses in content.
All I can say is I have never experienced any of these problems from the sorcerers by the sea or the Paizo people, and I've been dealing with them much longer.
WotC and Paizo are big enough companies that they can afford to be chooser, or even be able to print their products on this side of the ocean instead of using an overseas company. Even generally successful smaller-size companies such as Evil Hat Games and Green Ronin operate on very slim profit margins. FFG is a larger company, but the RPG department is a very small branch in comparison to their far more lucrative board game and card game divisions.
With FFG losing a portion of their potential profits to cover the various licensing fees, they probably don't have as many higher-end options to choose from in terms of printing companies. Though FFG was (as I understand it) able to have the Genesys books printed here in the states, but what helps there is they own the IP, and thus don't have to pay out a portion of their profits. Lucasfilm has shown that if they don't get their money, the license gets yanked, as West End Games found out after sinking too much of their finances into a failing shoe company and not paying the piper their due.