GW and FFG Breaking Up?

I'll admit I don't see how this will play out. I can't see FFG wanting to walk away, since they seem to be in the license collecting biz, so I am guessing GW, seeing all the success in boardgames ( albeit several years after everyone else figured it out ) decided to cut the cord. It seems a bit strange. because FFG was the perfect compliment to GW, in that FFG is great at producing games where miniatures/individual combat aren't the focal point. I don't know that GW has a track record in this regard. Should be interesting .

So is GW going to go it by themselves, or farm it out to someone willing to pay more than FFG ? Maybe that is what drove the wedge - assuming it exists - that GW upped the licensing fee and FFG , pausing while counting their Star Wars revenue, decided not to keep doing it ?

Barring an announcement, I guess the only sure sign will be when they stop putting out LCG packs for WH40K Conquest.

I hadn't picked up Forbidden Stars, I'll have to keep an eye peeled to see if this drives up prices and it goes permanently OOP.

Maybe, but looking at how far along RuneWars the Miniatures Game is I have to believe that if FFG didn't initiate the separation then they were well aware it was coming.

I'd be shocked if the GW/FFG relationship allowed for FFG to produce a product that directly competed against one of GWs main games.

Mr. White wrote:

SuperflyTNT wrote: I already said it but I will again: Their contract renewal and release of their new rank and file miniatures game wasn't coincidence. They are cutting GW off, and they're going to make a power play.

They already have experience with miniatures with Armada, XWing, and Dust. They cut Dust Studios off a while ago.

I doubt GW is seeing RuneWars as a serious competitor. Star Wars licensed games success aside, I haven't seen anything from FFG that leads me to think they have the commitment necessary to make a serious go in the minis wargame world.

I mean check out BattleLore 2...built on the popular command and colors series of BL1, reskinned to their Terrinoth world...yet the game seems to have sputtered. Where are all the various terrinoth armies? Dwarves? Orks? Did they come out and I missed them? And BL seems like it would be the perfect bridge between minis wargames and board games, but where is all the support?

It's going to take more than 2-3 comic book terrinoth armies to challenge 40k or even AoS.

Let's say that Mark Zuckerburg wants to have an external company manage and administer Facebook for it. This management company also has their own suite of products that are well loved and has a huge, very loyal base. They're a leader in their market segment, and they are widely revered as one of the best.

He writes a contract with this management company which he gets $0.25 of every dollar they make with Facebook as a licensing agreement.

Then when the contract negotiations are up, the company he hired announces that they're launching a new, competing social media network to compete with Facebook. And they want to pay less in licensing fees.

Would Mark tell them to fuck right off and eight find another vendor or bring it back in house, since Mark's whole idea was to use the vendor to expand Facebook's market by getting its software and services into the hands of the vendor's client base and get them hooked on the IP?

GW wanted US distribution and wanted to hook Boardgamers on 40K's IP. Get them into buying their expensive models. They made Space Hulk and Silver Tower on their own, so why have FFG do their other games? They made Lost Patrol cheaply so it's likely not a cost thing.

That's my analysis.

I get what you are saying Pete, but I don't see Terrinoth threatening 40K - and for all we know, the FFG Terrinoth minis system was designed in response to an impending end of the GW partnership, not as the causal effect of it.

So what would this mean for Fury of Dracula? I've been on the fence about this one for awhile and I've often been on the verge of wanting to purchase it. Will GW publish their own version? Or, will the game just go OOP and skyrocket in price?

Here's my innocent question about all of this. Is the real reason behind the GW and FFG breakup because of the traditional English versus French rivalry? Is all of this because FFG partnered up with Asmodee, a French corporation? Is Nationality breaking up this relationship?

So I've been checking some stuff out and I've got some more tea leaves/ hokum/conjecture to add that will stoke the flames...

If you go on FFG's website and check any of their games that feature GW properties AND have print on demand expansion, you will discover that they all now say "not available". Talisman's Nether Realm and Deep Realm Expansions, the Death Angel expansions, the recent WQACG characters...nada. It seems like they've ceased production on all of em. In the case of the WQACG characters, those things have only been available for a couple of months. So something MUST be up / going on behind the scenes.

@ Stoic - Second Edition of Fury of Dracula was great. The most recent Third Edition is EVEN BETTER. It gently tweaks and streamlines the experience and it's all the better for it. Gone is the janky-ass combat system and in it's place is something much simpler...but still equally enjoyable. Basically they've removed all of the weird rules and annoying aspects of the Second Edition. Also it looks beautiful. Literally the only thing that sucks about it is the stupid ass box art. I'd snag a copy while it's currently available. Because even if GW does eventually put out their own version, it probably won't happen for a little while..might even be a few years. Who knows? Plus if/when the FFG game goes OOP I can guarantee the price will eventually skyrocket. So worst case scenario is you can flip the game when the value maxes out.

My flgs has a stack of those pod troll slayers and witch hunters for that whq cardgame. I don't own this game but wonder if I should buy up some for future trades/gifts.

Probably a really good idea if you have the capital, Mr. White. Low risk too, they aren't super expensive.

This really sucks from my perspective, because I fucking hate GW and their games (but not their settings), with a passion.

^Yup. I think with a few exceptions FFG's (much maligned around here, for some reason) in-house design expertise has boosted GW's game business up farther than they could ever have hoped to outside of the earlier glory days of fun but terribly messy games.

Gary Sax wrote: Probably a really good idea if you have the capital, Mr. White. Low risk too, they aren't super expensive.

Yeah, I'm going to need something to trade for those two SH:DA expansions and a pair of these would be perfect.

Oh, flgs was sold out of that Sept white dwarf. I did have a copy on hold though.

They made some good games off the license, but I'm not a fanatic about GW minis or settings like most here so no big deal to me if FFG moves on. Not a fan of Terrinoth either though so hopefully they use that license money to buy a new/better world setting.

From what it's been sounding like lately, the GW board game design team is doing real well, and I'd like to play their games, so them pulling back the deals from FFG and doing their own stuff is cool on that level.

Where it's really not cool is that they're setting the price floor for their board games at $125 and going up from there. I mean, FFG is bad with their $100 MSRP too, but GW is worse, and at least you can get some kind of online discount with FFG. GW can make the greatest games ever, but at those prices, I won't be playing them.

Price is a pain point of gw games for sure. However they also offer the cheaper Lost Patrol and maybe there'll be some more in that price range.

Also, i expect gw boardgames to continue to be minis focused. I doubt we'll see doam, adventure, or cardgame like Forbidden Stars, Relic, or BBTM.

I suspect that the GW properties aren't bringing FFG as much money as they used to at this point anyway. How many people each year are still discovering Talisman for the first time and getting on the expansion train? How many people today are discovering Fury of Dracula or Dungeonquest? There was pent up demand for all those products for a while, and now there isn't.

I suspect GW is leaning more towards a potentially more lucrative single-property licensing model like they've done with their mobile games. We'll probably see more White Dwarf and crossover content also, throwing completionists into everlong despair.

If they do split then I'll be sad that FFG never released a coffin-box sized Talisman box set with everything they ever published for it.