I am completely stunned. I can completely understand the decision from a corporation/business point of view but it has still knocked me for six.
I'll post more about it when I get home although I have a feeling various forums and mailing lists may be ablaze by then.
I'll post more about it when I get home although I have a feeling various forums and mailing lists may be ablaze by then.
RIP: Black Industries
In other news Dark Heresy RPG (Black industries latest release) sold out of it's 20,000 print run upon it's week of release last week.
I wish I had a 'WTF' icon. This - if nothing else - would thoroughly deserve it.
I wish I had a 'WTF' icon. This - if nothing else - would thoroughly deserve it.
- Current Mood:
shocked
Profile
angusabranson- Angus Abranson
- Chronicle City
Page Summary
- matt_m_mcelroy : (no subject) [+2]
- pyat : (no subject) [+0]
- aaronace : (no subject) [+0]
- timgray : (no subject) [+0]
- smescrater : (no subject) [+3]
- pond823 : (no subject) [+0]
- karohemd : (no subject) [+0]
ffutures : (no subject) [+0]
- scimon : (no subject) [+0]
- synabetic : (no subject) [+0]
- eryx_uk : (no subject) [+0]
- littlestkobold : (no subject) [+0]
- (Anonymous) : (no subject) [+1]
- djhive : (no subject) [+4]
- kostika : (no subject) [+0]
Comments
The press release makes it sound like they are still going to publish fiction.
I'm going to blame my confusion on the fact I've only had one cup of coffee this morning.
I wonder what this means for the future of WFRP.
I am surprised they feel they can't continue RPG production as well as novels. It makes sense that they have entry into the Waterstones marketplace to sell their product and increase the profile of their RPGs.
Hmm, oh well, that's dark heresy a bit banjaxed as a game, unless you see a lot of fan produced or PDF based supplements for the rest of the material.
It'd be nice if they licensed WFRP et al out to other game companies... but I won't be holding my breath.
Nor will I. It hasn't been my impression during the almost 4 years we worked with them that they ever intend to license WFRP. Definitely not 40K, they want complete control over that.
The vast amount of effort to make DH 'canonical' compared to the books and the tiny return compared to fiction that it must get means that for a publicly owned company, a WH40K RPG is a waste of money making time.
And they can't license it IMHO, because they'll still have to keep it in line with all the other BL stuff.
Shame, I bought the book at the weekend and rather liked it.
Looks like your advance copy is going to be even rarer soon. :oP
It's getting more powerful too.
I hope they don't kill their RPG line. Then again, it's Games Workshop, so nothing they do surprises me. Even if they eat squealing babies, me = not surprised.
At least DH is going to get a nice full line released before it stops - I think the current reckoning is about 1200 pages of books, which ain't bad.
The 20k is from a very firm source though.
That's worldwide figures.
And this is going to make finding a copy of DH even more difficult then it has been since Friday :(
Our postage to Belgium is £7.00 :)
EDIT: £7.00 per copy of Dark Heresy - just incase you were after multiple copies :p
Edited at 2008-01-28 11:39 pm (UTC)
Man, that is a shock. I can't really understand that, if the game is profitable, cutting it. I mean, seriously, you sell out 20,000 copies prior to release, and you don't think you can make money off the line? Good god! Even just re-prints would make you money. I was really looking forward to a 40k RPG, it's such a cool universe to play in. Bah, I guess I'll just go back to Dawn of War.
The problem was that whilst the game - and all of Black Industries games (Talisman, Warhammer Fantasy RPG and the Dark Heresy release) - is profitable it isn't the most profitable thing that could be done with GW's time and money.
Their shares and end of year financial figures haven't been great and they need to do - and show their shareholders they are doing - something to help maximise their investment and profit margin. Thus the RPG/Board Game Division has been given the chop in favour of rearranging the resources it was using (man hours and money) into other areas which can generate profit quicker and easier.
I agree it is a very cool universe to play in and we're probably starting a game in the next month or so to go exploring in it.
I'm annoyed about Talisman. They bring back the best RPG boardgame ever and promise us expansions, then they do this. That just doesn't make sense to me.