A was very sad to hear the news today that Dinsey was closing down LucasArts. While the reality is that it has been years (at best) since I last was really enthralled with a a LucasArts title, the notion that a studio that over the years had produced so many great titles still made me sad.

That is until just now, when I realized that it opened the slight possibility that FFG might now be able to (more easily) obtain the licensing rights to produce electronic version of some of their great SW titles. I would LOVE to be able to play version of the LCG or X-Wing on my iPad.

Fun to imagine what if scenarios…

Back to sleeving my cards.

Well, there is a very excellent version of Elder Sign for iOS that I have enjoyed playing for a long time now. It's perfect if you've got to kill 15 minutes in a queue somewhere.

That said, I think any LCG player that doesn't have a regular league or meetup happening would love to have an electronic version of Thrones/Rings/Cthulhu/Warhammer/Netrunner/Star Wars to be able to go online and play randoms in matches similar to Magic Online.

Well, let me back that up and point out that I know about OCTGN and Lackey and other portals, but I mean a FFG-sanctioned piece of software that was available to properly matchmake and build that community. Without getting into debates on business models and viability on that subject, I just wanted to point out that FFG making a digital version of one of their games is not without precedent.

I understand how the loss of LucasArts can give some hope on digital versions of the SW games FFG is producing, but for me, the loss makes me more nervous than anything. First Clone Wars and now LucasArts. What's next? FFG? Table-top games don't seem like the kind of thing Disney supports, and I'm worried that FFG's licence will be short-lived. There's nothing we can do about it, and worrying won't help, but I still wonder if LucasArts' fate isn't a vision of the future for FFG.

Lucasarts will still exist as a brand for licensing. So, if someone went ahead and made an Indiana Jones game, it would still have the Lucasarts logo at the startup, but realistically, nobody on Lucasarts' side (which is Disney now) would be involved. Instead, it would be a developer making the Indy game, and having to pay a substantial licensing fee to Disney for the use of the Lucasarts brand (which would include Indy games).

For Disney, licensing means they don't have to assume the risk of the project's development costs. I would assume they would have licensing guidelines, like the developers of this hypothetical Indy game couldn't do anything unbecoming of the characters, like portray Indiana Jones as a pedophile, but otherwise the developers can make whatever they want to. The developers now assume 100% of the risk involved in making the game, including whether or not it will sell, be released on time, etc.

For FFG's part, they are producing table top Star Wars game, which I imagine are doing quite well. So Disney, via LFL, is going to get that licensing payday, because we are all buying through their Star Wars LCG and X-Wing product. When the RPG starts getting proper releases beyond the introduction game, this will probably follow suit.

The only ways I could see the license getting pulled would be if FFG decided it wasn't profitable for them to retain it, or if another company with even more money came to Disney and wanted that table top exclusivity.

cleardave said:

Doesn't Hasbro already own exclusivity to Star Wars board games?

Yeah, this is just Disney streamlining, winnowing away anything from Lucasfilm that isn't about making the movies. Why financially prop up a faded piece of history like LucasArts when other companies will gladly pay you money to make Star Wars video games? So I don't think FFG (or Dark Horse, for that matter) should be worried about Disney suddenly yanking the license away.

MarthWMaster said:

No idea, but then you'll notice that FFG is only making card/miniatures/roleplaying games off the license, so there you go. They essentially have the same deal that Wizards had previous, although I would argue that at least the card game is demonstrably better. I never played SW miniatures to compare to X-Wing, and I do like the direction FFG went with the RPG mechanics.