D&D's Forgotten Realms Books Hit With Delays in Europe and Asia

The upcoming Forgotten Realms books won't be released until December in Europe, with an even longer delay expected in Asia. Rumored several weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast officially confirmed that Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun are facing significant delays internationally. The books' physical release in Europe is now December 12 in the EMEA region, while Asia will not receive the books until late January. Digital versions of the books will continue to be released on its original date of November 11th. No reason was given for the delays in either region.

Additionally, Wizards of the Coast stated that they'll "advise on the status" of Eberron: Forge of the Artificer's European and Asian release closer to that book's December 9th release. The Eberron book was previously delayed from August to December in all regions due to printing errors.

 

[GreyLord]

The political situation that has caused this is much bigger than a game of D&D. In the long run, the vulnerability of a world economic system based around quick and easy global transport has been clearly shown.

This is reflective of my thoughts as well, but I don't think we can go into much detail on this for obvious reasons on these forums.

 

[Cergorach]

What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. I get a lot of European rpgs faster and cheaper so I can’t complain that the American ones take longer. At least I’m not paying import taxes on this stuff.

That's because most pnp rpg companies are local companies, be that in the US or in Europe. But WotC/Hasbro isn't, it's a multinational, and while it might be American, they are active all over the world. This is weird and the political situation shouldn't be an issue either, as they have production capabilities outside of the US and have traditionally heavily used those non-US facilities to produce their goods. Other examples of tabletop game multinationals would be Asmodee and probably these days Games Workshop (which is a more recent development).

I highly doubt the delays are due to non-Americans being considered "second class citizens". The delays are more likely due to printing, shipping, or even tariffs.

You would be surprised, some of the older smaller pnp RPG companies based in the US do consider the rest of the world less important, often by a large margin. You can clearly see that in their (business) actions. But the same is true for many European pnp RPG companies that mostly focus locally.

In the US Catalyst Game Labs is a good example of being very US centric with their European product pipeline being a mess and a non-priority for 18+ years, and only now are they looking at improving that situation because they had too. A perfect combination of incompetence and ignorance.

Even if we ignore all the European game companies that only produce in their native tongue, and thus have an almost non-existent market in the US, something like Ulisses Spiele from Germany, have a US division, but their English product output is tiny compared to their German output for things like The Dark Eye...

 

[Cerbere]

I was given a gift card for my FLGS for my birthday back in March. I decided to hang on to it and use it to buy the alt cover Eberron book in August ... I am still waiting, and it sounds like I'll have to wait even longer. Maybe I should just use my gift card for something else. I could get the new box set, for instance.

Eberron Alt cover should land in UK and EU Dec 9th so less than a month now... but i feel your pain on the wait

 

[TheSword]

That's because most pnp rpg companies are local companies, be that in the US or in Europe. But WotC/Hasbro isn't, it's a multinational, and while it might be American, they are active all over the world. This is weird and the political situation shouldn't be an issue either, as they have production capabilities outside of the US and have traditionally heavily used those non-US facilities to produce their goods. Other examples of tabletop game multinationals would be Asmodee and probably these days Games Workshop (which is a more recent development).

You would be surprised, some of the older smaller pnp RPG companies based in the US do consider the rest of the world less important, often by a large margin. You can clearly see that in their (business) actions. But the same is true for many European pnp RPG companies that mostly focus locally.

In the US Catalyst Game Labs is a good example of being very US centric with their European product pipeline being a mess and a non-priority for 18+ years, and only now are they looking at improving that situation because they had too. A perfect combination of incompetence and ignorance.

Even if we ignore all the European game companies that only produce in their native tongue, and thus have an almost non-existent market in the US, something like Ulisses Spiele from Germany, have a US division, but their English product output is tiny compared to their German output for things like The Dark Eye...

I don’t know about that. I do know that companies I buy from, Free League, Cubicle 7, Modiphus are international but based in Europe. I get stuff earlier from them. I know because we chat about it on the discord and I see updates on Kickstarters about distribution.

I certainly don’t feel like a second class citizen. Particularly as I buy twice as much stuff from those companies as I do from WotC.

I’m also pretty pragmatic about these things. The hardback is for my convenience not for me to learn the rules… which are already out there. Either through discussions/influencers or through Beyond.

What I would like is the Foundry update ASAP.

 

[Cergorach]

I don’t know about that. I do know that companies I buy from, Free League, Cubicle 7, Modiphus are international but based in Europe. I get stuff earlier from them. I know because we chat about it on the discord and I see updates on Kickstarters about distribution.

I certainly don’t feel like a second class citizen. Particularly as I buy twice as much stuff from those companies as I do from WotC.

I’m also pretty pragmatic about these things. The hardback is for my convenience not for me to learn the rules… which are already out there. Either through discussions/influencers or through Beyond.

What I would like is the Foundry update ASAP.

Cubicle 7 and Modiphus are both based in the UK, so primarily English product. Free League is Swedish, but produces mostly English (licensed) works. FL apparently prints their books in Eastern Europe, so not that strange that they would show up earlier in Europe then in the US. C7 apparently prints in the UK these days...

I think that WotC missed quite a few sales due to the delays to Europe...

Ask and you'll receive:
Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn | Foundry Virtual Tabletop $30
Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn | Foundry Virtual Tabletop $40

Especially Adventures is quite expensive!

 

[Dire Bare]

You would be surprised, some of the older smaller pnp RPG companies based in the US do consider the rest of the world less important, often by a large margin. You can clearly see that in their (business) actions. But the same is true for many European pnp RPG companies that mostly focus locally.

I'll pushback on US companies considering the rest of the world "less important", it certainly isn't a case of "second class citizens".

Do some companies FOCUS on their home markets? Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't they? Do some companies expand and try and focus more globally? Sure! But, do some of those companies struggle to serve THE ENTIRE WORLD to the same level! Certainly.

It's nothing nefarious or discriminatory, it's not even always incompetence . . . sometimes it's just printing/production delays, or shipping delays, or tariff delays. Sometimes "stuff" just happens.

As far as consumers go . . . I have zero sympathy for folks who have to wait a little longer for their pretend elf games. I have more sympathy for game stores who might lose out on sales with impatient customers. But, it's still not an intentional slight.

I'm still waiting for my Eberron Forge of the Artificer book. And I live in the US! But don't worry, I'll be okay. I just have to wait a bit longer than initially expected.