If FFG prints in China any new books they print will be tariffed (which recently increased). Has there been any release about this? If so can you point me to it?

Nothing stated, but then FFG tends to play things close to the vest in terms of their business model.

But yeah, odds are that since FFG does a decent portion of their printing in China, we the customers are going to see a price hike as a result of the tariffs. Of course, if FFG is able to shift to a printing company based in North America, that'd avoid the tariff but might still result in a price increase simply due to increased publishing costs.

Books and paper are covered under the new tariff changes. It's hard to track down specifics, but the best info I can find shows an increase from 10% tariffs to 20% tariffs on books/paper.

This means that books produced in China will be more expensive. If FFG switches to US production (which they did for Genesys), you can expect price hikes as high if not higher. China is also the global leader in paper production, so even books published in the US are likely to be made with Chinese paper. On top of that, US labor tends to be higher. So publishing in the US could suffer an even bigger price hike.

FFG is not likely to absorb that extra cost. It would cut pretty deeply into their budget.

Keep in mind that it's not just books affected. Board games, dice, and miniature games could jump up to a 25% tariff (from what I believe is currently at 10%, although I was unable to confirm that). So everything FFG produces is getting hit. They can't just accept a 10% loss in profits.

Existing books/products will probably remain at the current prices. It's hard to increase prices on existing products and not tick of customers. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a $5-$10 increase on all new products. Smaller things like dice packs might only go up a buck or two, but if there is a new core book created for Ep 7-9 after the next movie, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 64.95 price instead of 59.95.

Remember, tariffs are paid by the people buying the products, not by the companies/countries producing the product.

I didn't realize that the tariffs would be on all aspects of gaming. The next few years could be expensive.

Something else to consider is that LFL has to approve of whatever printer/factory that FFG wants to use for Star Wars products.

1 hour ago, BannerGuard said:

I didn't realize that the tariffs would be on all aspects of gaming. The next few years could be expensive.

For most games, electronic copies might become even more attractive.

Maybe this will be the push that gets FFG and LFL to add pdf's as an option for the RPG...

I know: Don't hold my breath. 😋

1 hour ago, salamar_dree said:

Maybe this will be the push that gets FFG and LFL to add pdf's as an option for the RPG...

I know: Don't hold my breath. 😋

Yeah, that won’t happen until or unless EA gives up or loses the electronic games license, which, unfortunately, PDFs of game books falls under.

1 hour ago, salamar_dree said:

Maybe this will be the push that gets FFG and LFL to add pdf's as an option for the RPG...

I know: Don't hold my breath. 😋

Sadly, baring a major shake-up in how the licensing contracts are currently arranged and written, not likely to ever happen. EA just loves money too much to give up even a small portion of the licensing pie if they think there's a chance to squeeze a few more pennies out of the consumers.

1 hour ago, salamar_dree said:

Maybe this will be the push that gets FFG and LFL to add pdf's as an option for the RPG...

I know: Don't hold my breath. 😋

It still gives EA absolutely no incentive to sit down to renegotiate their contract to break RPG PDFs away from the “electronic games” license, when it would open the door to LFL also calling for changes that would directly impact EA.

For an idea of how that can happen, watch the Star Wars episode of The Toys That Made Us . The original Kenner toy contract was a license to print money, with LFL getting a small cut. It had to be renegotiated down the line, and LFL took a bigger slice of the pie (and, as I recall, more direct influence over the toy line).

What I find interesting about the digital front is that FFG was able to produce a for profit Dice Roller App for Star Wars.

Also, I own several Star Wars eBooks. Legally licensed and purchased.

How is it that these items are exempt?

🤔

16 minutes ago, salamar_dree said:

What I find interesting about the digital front is that FFG was able to produce a for profit Dice Roller App for Star Wars.

Also, I own several Star Wars eBooks. Legally licensed and purchased.

How is it that these items are exempt?

🤔

The dice roller app is useless without the game itself. It falls through a loophole, as it is not digital distribution of the game. (Likewise the PDFs of characters and adventures to supplement the Beginner Games don’t include rules.)

The novels are not games, and thus digital distribution doesn’t fall under the “electronic games” definition found in the license.

Distinctions of the finer points of the contracts are why, for example. Funko’s Star Wars Pops are molded to bases and have bobble-heads: without these features (not found on most Pops), they would be “action figures,” as defined by the terms of the contract with Hasbro.

Interesting.

Yeah, it’s kinda weird.

As I understand it, the terms of the various licenses remain essentially unchanged from their earliest days. So, FFG is working from the same terms that WEG did all the way back in 1987 when the first SWRPG came out. Meanwhile, EA is still operating under the same basic terms as the original video games license. Back then, PDFs didn’t exist, let alone the sort of portability that makes them effective for this sort of use. So, the way the terms are defined, digital distribution of a game (which is what PDFs of the RPG would be) falls under the umbrella of the video game license.

To get them untied from that license, all three parties - LFL, FFG, and EA - would have to come together and renegotiate the terms of the contracts. At least one party would be likely doing that outside of the normal renewal cycle, and both licensees would also be open to having other changes proposed by LFL. FFG could potentially gain from renegotiating, assuming nothing else changes. But EA has no incentive to let go of something from the contract that doesn’t impact them positively or negatively.

Which is why we would have to wait until EA loses the video game license.

...and assume FFG would want to go to the expense of renegotiating off-cycle (if it’s off-cycle, which odds are it would be).

10 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

...and assume FFG would want to go to the expense of renegotiating off-cycle (if it’s off-cycle, which odds are it would be).

And that's the big sticking point right there, is the costs involved in renegotiating.

While Sam as head of the RPG department would love to renegotiate the contract to include PDFs, the decision to do so is above his head (probably with FFG's legal department) and they'd do a cost-analysis to see of the perceived additional revenue is worth the costs of negotiating the terms of the license not only with Disney but also EA.

For all that we know, it well be that FFG has tried to renegotiate the contract to include for-sale PDFs, only to find that the new terms Disney and/or EA wanted something else (likely a higher cut of the profits) that made further pursuit of those negotiations untenable.

On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 3:23 PM, Tramp Graphics said:

Which is why we would have to wait until EA loses the video game license.

A day that will be glorious

I think getting the PDF license would just require planning like Hey Lucas can we put a clause in our license that when the digital game license is renewed PDF switch to our license? Because the game license is not using PDFs and we.could make you more money if we had it. I dont thinknot would be as hard as people think. But it would require thinking ahead.

7 hours ago, Daeglan said:

I think getting the PDF license would just require planning like Hey Lucas can we put a clause in our license that when the digital game license is renewed PDF switch to our license? Because the game license is not using PDFs and we.could make you more money if we had it. I dont thinknot would be as hard as people think. But it would require thinking ahead.

I'm no lawyer, but I'd guess the danger is that renegotiating the RPG and card game license at all might be a scary proposition, especially if the terms haven't changed much since the WOTC and WEG days. In other words, asking for PDF rights might be a Pandora's box toward renegotiating other parts of the license that are currently favorable.

1 hour ago, SavageBob said:

I'm no lawyer, but I'd guess the danger is that renegotiating the RPG and card game license at all might be a scary proposition, especially if the terms haven't changed much since the WOTC and WEG days. In other words, asking for PDF rights might be a Pandora's box toward renegotiating other parts of the license that are currently favorable.

And the same applies to the other contract involved: untying the PDF rights from the video game license would open that contract to modification, as well, with the same sort of unfavorable changes for EA. As long as LFL is content to let the existing terms ride, any licensees are probably more than happy to do the same.

14 hours ago, Archlyte said:

A day that will be glorious

And, with the reformation of Lucasfilm’s in-house game studio, hopefully not that far off.

On 5/18/2019 at 7:38 AM, Nytwyng said:

And the same applies to the other contract involved: untying the PDF rights from the video game license would open that contract to modification, as well, with the same sort of unfavorable changes for EA. As long as LFL is content to let the existing terms ride, any licensees are probably more than happy to do the same.

Asmodee needs to buy EA or at least merge and then we can have pdf's.