The value of game licenses

[Krug]

Ancient history, but interesting read:
http://www.costik.com/weblog/

Now, there are licenses and licenses. To give you an example, twenty years ago, when I was at West End Games, I negotiated for and obtained the rights to do paper RPGs based on Star Wars. One of the competing bidders for the rights was TSR. We paid $100k. They offered $70k.

That same year, TSR licensed the rights to do games based on Buck Rogers. They paid $100k. In their clear commercial judgment, the Buck Rogers license was obviously more valuable than the Star Wars license. I'm sure their decision was not influenced by the fact that the then-president of TSR was the literary heir of the creator of Buck Rogers, owned the IP, and happily pocketed the money. It was purely an unbiased business judment. Sure.

 

[Harlock]

Hey Krug, great find! What's sad is I really liked WEG SW a lot, but admittedly, that was before Lucas lost his mind and started changing canon. I imagine WotC SW could be good if it went back to the old ways.

 

[Ranger REG]

But that would go against the creator and IP owner himself, George Lucas, even if he is certified. Wizards should not deviate from Lucas' version, unless they have permission to do so. Otherwise, they can lose the license and the privilege to bid for it in the future.