What’s the draw of licensed games?

[MGibster]

I don't know precisely how uncommon it is. You certainly have more experience than I do with licensed games, but allowing licensees to expand upon canon is definitely not unheard of even in modern gaming.

Morrus is right about Star Wars being an odd duck when it comes to licenses. As unimaginable as it sounds, for the better part of a decade, if you wanted new Star Wars material it was likely produced by West End Games. Kenner had stopped producing Star Wars toys in 1985, the Droids/Ewok cartoons ended in 1986, and there didn't seem to be any prospect for a new Star Wars movie anytime soon. There's a reason an dinky RPG company was able to procure the license to a franchise like Star Wars.

When Timothy Zahn was writing his Heir to the Empire trilogy, he was (allegedly) given WEG sourcebooks to use as his bible. There are things that appeared in the RPG first before going on to be seen in movies and television shows. It's not just that WEG's Star War was able to do their own thing, it's that they influenced the franchise as a whole.