FFG Star Wars & Other Roleplaying Games Aren't Going Away After All

A couple of weeks ago rumours surfaced that Fantasy Flight Games‘ Star Wars and other RPGs were going away permanently (this followed earlier reports of layoffs at the company). It looks like this is quite not the case, however -- instead, according to a presentation they did at the GAMA trade show this week, they'll simply be moving to owner Asmodee's imprint Edge Entertainment. So, Star Wars, Genesys, and L5R are safe!

Asmodee, the owner of FFG, already owns the company called Edge Entertainment based in Europe. This company will continue to print the existing RPG books, and produce new ones. Asmodee acquired the Spanish company in January 2017, which is known for its translations of tabletop RPGs.

photo from I'm Board! Games & Family Fun Facebook page ​

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Sorry, but only the corebook has been published and there is no news about more sourcebooks.

Edit:

Don't you want a English-language linke? Here you are.

Home - Edge Studio

edge-studio.net

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I'm not really interested in more materials for the Star Wars RPG. My collection is rather complete and fully operational at this point. However, it is important to me that the books are still being reprinted so that others may purchase for themselves, and thus the game remains accessible for everyone. Its harder to gain new interest in a system that is no longer supported or active.

 

[Morrus]

Maybe I am being too daredevil to say it, but I wouldn't be too surprised in Hasbro buys Asmodee someday.

That is your favourite topic, after all - Hasbro buying any company that gets mentioned on the forums!

I'm pretty sure I could start a thread about vacuum cleaners, and at some point you'd suggest that Hasbro is going to buy Hoover to make a d20 Modern vacuum cleaner.

 

[cmad1977]

That is your favourite topic, after all - Hasbro buying any company that gets mentioned on the forums!

I'm pretty sure I could start a thread about vacuum cleaners, and at some point you'd suggest that Hasbro is going to buy Hoover to make a d20 Modern vacuum cleaner.

Miele makes a much better vacuum. If Hasbro is gonna buy any vacuum and make an RPG I want it to be Miele. THEN they can do a D&D/vacuum crossover.

 

[Eilathen]

That is good news! In contrast to the TOR/AiME thing I'm glad the system for SW stays. Genesys is also a line that I'm glad we can keep.

We will see how good EE will be with their work. I keep my fingers crossed.

The notion that we are somehow "out of books for SW" is laughable from a content standpoint. Sales of said books might not be satisfactory if they get produced, of course (as always). But there is a naughty word-ton of ground that can still be covered for the SW universe. There is lots and lots of Legend stuff, there is also already new content for comics, novels, games etc. that could all potentially be made into RPG expansions.

So saying that the line of SW books is more or less complete is just not true. Or let me rephrase: If you think the only thing that SW is, is Eps 4-6, than you might have a point. It might also be true if the license only covered the original trilogy (but we already know that that is not the case, the deal covers at least the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series as well).

Anyway...I for one really hope that they will open up new eras and continue producing new SW material. Keeping the existing stuff in print is also good enough for me if it's not meant to be (although I'd be a bit sad about that).

 

[macd21]

As long as Disney keeps making new Star Wars content, there's more room to make supplements for. All the High Republic stuff coming this year, more TV series, eventual movies in a few years (there's still one on their slate for 2022 or 2023). We might not get anything for awhile but I could see something next year around the High Republic stuff.

Generally speaking, I'm really starting to dislike Asmodee.

There’s no end to the amount of material that could be produced for SW - but the issue is whether it would sell well. You only need so many supplements. SW getting less material would have happened regardless of Asmodee. An RPG can only sustain so-many books before the majority of fans are sated, and only the most hardcore continue buying new material.

 

[Raven-2021]

I would like to see what it looks like soon.

 

[aramis erak]

Asmodee has got a lot of own franchises and board games. We aren't talking about only RPGs. It could be a serious rival for Hasbro, and remember this has bought some companies in the past, for example MB or Parker if my memory doesn't fail.

HasBro has to be careful - the US has anti-monopoly laws, and FFG is big enough that direct or indirect acquisition of it's competition could result in breaking the company up for monopolistic practices. This might be just spinning them off into totally independent companies...

Plus, licensing has a strong benefit for the licensor, in that the licensee almost always has a minimum royalties clause and an initial cost. (Exceptions exist: Moorcock had forgotten he'd authorized Chaosium, no down, and low royalties, but since the checks kept cashing...) The licensee takes all the risk, and the licensor gets a (usually strong) share of the profits.