First, please forgive me if this topic has been broached. I had to sell all my RPG books this time last year, so I've been out of touch. I have a group who wants to play Star Wars, and I'm seeing information that it might now be cancelled? I just sold a guitar to fund purchase of all the books. It's difficult to find them and those on eBay are listed for a lot ($300 for EotE Core, for example). I'm curious if there is confirmed news about the future of the line. I saw where the development team was laid off, which is really sad. I can also say I'd be sad to see this game go, or as it is now become unaffordable, because I've had more fun playing it than any other RPG over the last 20 years of playing table tops.
No more Star Wars (apologies...coming back)
The RPG department at FFG was fired and the game's development stopped. Asmodee, the company owning FFG, has tasked another of its owned companies (Edge Entertainment) with continuing the game line.
We *might* see more reprints of existing books from FFG, but no way to know for sure aside from being involved with the companies.
Google *Asmodee FFG Edge* or something like that and you'll find out more.
The FFG RPG department was laid off in January, and a former member of the RPG team (who’d left last year) who was hired as FFG’s Creative Director of Story and Setting commented via Twitter that RPG development was “not part of FFG’s long term business plan.” This led to much speculation that all of FFG’s RPGs were dead, and caused a run on all of the books...not just Star Wars, but Genesys and Legend of the Five Rings. Meanwhile, an anonymous moderator for an FFG online event replied to a question by saying the RPGs would continue, and that news was forthcoming. The only official statement at that point was that any RPG books already in the pipeline would be published.
In March, at the GAMA expo, Asmodee formally announced their internal restructuring. FFG was being refocused on board and card games (including tabletop miniature games), while RPGs were being shifted to another Asmodee imprint, Edge Studios. Based in Europe, to date Edge has been responsible for European translation of Asmodee/FFG’s games and development of The End of the World RPG (published by FFG in North America). The implication in the announcement was that, at the very least, the existing books would see continued publication. Unfortunately, GAMA was held just prior to the world hunkering down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, so no additional word has come out. Just last week, FFG began to stir, announcing that new product is shipping, including the new Keyforge sourcebook for Genesys, scheduled to go on sale 6/5. (The sourcebook was one of those products already in the works and announced prior to the January RPG layoffs.)
Still waiting on more word from Edge.
Well, all this is certainly disconcerting. If I had any idea I'd jump back in, I would've kept all my books and dice. It's sad, too, seeing such an amazing game (one of the best imho) shelved until further notice. I hope Edge Studios will reprint the older books as well. Surely, with the rush on books, many of us would like to rebuild our collections.
Personally, I think it's a safe bet that they'll at least reprint. The changeover just happened to have some really horrible timing. I know that the store near me has been able to begin restocking; I was there two weeks ago, and the Star Wars and L5R areas that had been emptied out prior to their temporary shutdown weren't full, but did have product again. I'm also cautiously optimistic about future development, too. Asmodee's got the Star Wars tabletop license, and has continuing plans for X-Wing, Armada, Legion, and even - according to one long-form interview - Imperial Assault, so it seems reasonable to continue RPG development, as well, albeit probably on the reduced scale that many of us were already expecting from FFG. But, only time will tell. Hopefully, now that the world's slowly reemerging, some news will be forthcoming.
You might want to try the second hand bookstores. i have a chain near me called half priced books that tends to have RPG books. Don't know where you are, but there likely is a similar store near you.
51 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:Personally, I think it's a safe bet that they'll at least reprint. The changeover just happened to have some really horrible timing. I know that the store near me has been able to begin restocking; I was there two weeks ago, and the Star Wars and L5R areas that had been emptied out prior to their temporary shutdown weren't full, but did have product again. I'm also cautiously optimistic about future development, too. Asmodee's got the Star Wars tabletop license, and has continuing plans for X-Wing, Armada, Legion, and even - according to one long-form interview - Imperial Assault, so it seems reasonable to continue RPG development, as well, albeit probably on the reduced scale that many of us were already expecting from FFG. But, only time will tell. Hopefully, now that the world's slowly reemerging, some news will be forthcoming.
That's better than I thought might happen. I've been out of the loop due to family stuff. I don't even care if it's worth as much as the originals if I can get some reprints. I'd be interested in talking to your local store if they have many of the books.
12 minutes ago, chrisrivers said:You might want to try the second hand bookstores. i have a chain near me called half priced books that tends to have RPG books. Don't know where you are, but there likely is a similar store near you.
We have a used book store here as well, but it's 30 minutes away and I have my 4 y.o. at home for the summer. Technically, she's been home with me for three months now. I'm still leery about getting her out in public with the numbers as they are. If I could find some stores that had the books, I'd be happy to order them via mail. I'm in upstate South Carolina.
Just an hour or two ago, Sam Gregor-Stewart, former lead developer and RPG Manager for FFG announced that next week will see him begin his new position as...RPG Manager for Edge Studios.
Sounds like we may start hearing more news after that, and I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of familiar names in the credits. (It also sounds like my supposition that the pandemic conditions stopped the establishment of Edge’s RPG infrastructure in its tracks may have had some merit to it.)
24 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:Just an hour or two ago, Sam Gregor-Stewart, former lead developer and RPG Manager for FFG announced that next week will see him begin his new position as...RPG Manager for Edge Studios.
Sounds like we may start hearing more news after that, and I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of familiar names in the credits. (It also sounds like my supposition that the pandemic conditions stopped the establishment of Edge’s RPG infrastructure in its tracks may have had some merit to it.)
This is really good news! I hope you are right that the pandemic halted it and it wasn't some other issue. Now, if they'd just reprint what's out there, that'd be awesome.
Just now, monkeybooby said:This is really good news! I hope you are right that the pandemic halted it and it wasn't some other issue. Now, if they'd just reprint what's out there, that'd be awesome.
Well, as I recall from the interview I saw filmed from GAMA, Asmodee said that they would. (They have the license, and the game’s a good seller, consistently in the top 5 selling RPGs each month...why wouldn’t they?) But if there was no full RPG department in place at Edge yet (as suggested by Sam not starting til next week), there was no one at Edge to get that ball rolling, plus no active distribution or retail line to get it through. Even with Sam starting next week, I imagine it might take some time to get things up and running. If they continue to use the printers in China, we’re still looking at a few months to get reprinted books Stateside.
1 minute ago, Nytwyng said:Well, as I recall from the interview I saw filmed from GAMA, Asmodee said that they would. (They have the license, and the game’s a good seller, consistently in the top 5 selling RPGs each month...why wouldn’t they?) But if there was no full RPG department in place at Edge yet (as suggested by Sam not starting til next week), there was no one at Edge to get that ball rolling, plus no active distribution or retail line to get it through. Even with Sam starting next week, I imagine it might take some time to get things up and running. If they continue to use the printers in China, we’re still looking at a few months to get reprinted books Stateside.
I read "months," and then I thought of Vader going, "Nooooooooooooo!!!!!"
4 minutes ago, monkeybooby said:I read "months," and then I thought of Vader going, "Nooooooooooooo!!!!!"
For what it’s worth, that’s about the time it’s historically taken to print in China, ship (literally, by cargo ship), get through Customs, get from the docks to the warehouse, from the warehouse to the distributors, then from the distributors to the stores.
2 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:For what it’s worth, that’s about the time it’s historically taken to print in China, ship (literally, by cargo ship), get through Customs, get from the docks to the warehouse, from the warehouse to the distributors, then from the distributors to the stores.
I guess at the very least, if I can be patient, I can pick up copies of the books I need at a reasonable price. I hope they use the same art, do hardcover, etc. If not, it might be worth it to get the reprints as the wouldn't match the old versions. If they look and feel the same, that would be aweseome.
21 minutes ago, monkeybooby said:I guess at the very least, if I can be patient, I can pick up copies of the books I need at a reasonable price. I hope they use the same art, do hardcover, etc. If not, it might be worth it to get the reprints as the wouldn't match the old versions. If they look and feel the same, that would be aweseome.
I don’t see why they wouldn’t. It’s literally just moving things from one Asmodee imprint to another, and changing the FFG logo to the Edge logo (which, from my understanding, is how they’ve been printed in the European translations, anyway). New art, text, etc, isn’t continuing print, it’s developing a whole new book.
16 hours ago, Nytwyng said:If they continue to use the printers in China, we’re still looking at a few months to get reprinted books Stateside.
They will. From the FFG.fr forum, the talk between Asmodée / Edge and Lucasfilm to print Star Wars books in Europe, for those translated in an European language, received a clear NO from Lucasfilm. All SW RPG will continue to be printed in the same place in China, as they'bve been since the first one was done.
14 minutes ago, WolfRider said:They will. From the FFG.fr forum, the talk between Asmodée / Edge and Lucasfilm to print Star Wars books in Europe, for those translated in an European language, received a clear NO from Lucasfilm. All SW RPG will continue to be printed in the same place in China, as they'bve been since the first one was done.
I figured it would be. I mean, the business relationship is effectively already there.