Hi,

As i'm in lost in a far away galaxy (Brittany, France), i have no decent retailer at hand.

I would be very interested by a PDF version.

So do you know when the PDF version will be on sale ?

Sadly, never (unless Lucas redoes how their licensing works). They classify PDFs of stuff under the same category as video games, and well, its just not something FFG is permitted to sell.

Aye, LucasArts didn't give FFG a licence to sell PDF versions of the game, only physical copies. It's the same reason WotC never made a PDF version of D20 or Saga Star Wars.

It's just never going to happen, sadly.

+1 to what the others said.

If you ever find a copy of the game in PDF, you can be 100% sure it's not legal.

So don't complain to FFG either! They can't help it. Even if they could afford an electronic game license (Unlikely), it probably isn't even available to buy.

Write letters to Lucas Arts imploring them to change their policy, still unlikely but with enough they might rethink it.

Arghh…

Unfortunate. Let's take to Twitter to voice our concern/request and use the hash tag #FreeTheForce. I suggest a polite and respectful request to the Official Lucasfilm Star Wars Twitter @starwars. Here's mine:

@starwars Please make the Official Star Wars RPG "Edge of the Empire" available in an electronic edition. #FreeTheForce

Man, I wish there was something out there for this.

bkirchhoff said:

Twitter will have a lot less genuine effect than snail mail campaigns. Twitter is very easy to ignore, snail mail shows a genuine effort into it and is much more likely to be read.

Of course, I'm not a Lawyer, and the wording of the license may be such even LA won't be able to change that element as it could be seen as after the fact stealing rights from the current holder.

Dulahan said:

Aye, it'd require the agreement of both LucasArts and EA/Bioware (the current holders of the Star Wars computer/electronic game licence) to change it, and unless LucasArts gave stuff up, there's literally nothing for EA/Bioware to gain in allowing a change to the licence. The only chance it'd happen is if the licence is one given for a limited time, with renewals set every so many years - if that's the case, LucasArts would be in a position to change it as a term of the renewal, but since they didn't do that for WotC, and WotC had significantly more money than FFG, I doubt they would.

*isn't a lawyer, but does have a degree in law, specialising in intellectual property, and awaiting my results in my Masters in Law, specialising in intellectual property infringement/piracy law in the UK, and its effectiveness on piracy*

Dulahan said:

Just to be clear, the copyright is held by Lucasfilm (not LucasArts) and the license is granted by Lucas Licensing.

bkirchhoff said:

It's hard keeping track of so many Lucas', or is the plural Lucasi?

I will say, having the book makes me realize how spoiled I am by my PDF collection of RPGs. It's kind of a hassle to keep a big softcover book like that open to certain pages, and I can't read it in bed while my wife is trying to sleep, or easily search.

I suppose i have to wait now for the final release.

Too bad FFG didn't communicate about this. I would have ordered the print edition even if shipping is expensive for France…..