Then there was this yesterday:
Cubicle 7 drops its Middle Earth License and now Fantasy Flight Games is apparently ending its Star Wars RPG. Could it be that the licensed properties of this magnitude leave little margin for profit?
edit - this was sent to me from someone who's insight I respect:
You pay your RPG staff 40k a year.
They had 4-5 staff people.
That's 200k a year just in salary.
Plus freelancers.
Sell a book for 40
Costs say... 7 dollars to print and ship en mass, per book.
The retailer buys it for half retail.
So you're making 12 a book.
What MOST other large companies do (C7 did this) is have ONE guy who runs each IP and everyone else is on freelance or short term contract.
It's what WotC does.
So most likely, FFG is gonna install a head of their RPG department, cancel RPGs that aren't cost-effective, and then have one manager for those that remain that are.
RPGs made for all of 9% of FFG's revenues back in 2016 I think. Then they expanded heavily.
Star Wars has a solid fanbase of buyers, but the fandom as a whole is pissed.
L5R happened and no one really cared.
So they went to Genesys to cut external costs.
Genesys can still make money for them because it has a core book, player's guide, and the Foundry where fans can make content and THEY make money.
When I ran my store, there was some interest in the FFG Star Wars, but when I'd let people look at the demo copy of "Edge of the Empire", their interest immediately dropped upon discovering the need of the proprietary dice. That may have affected any possible sales as well.
ReplyDeleteThe dice are absolutely one of the reasons I haven't picked up FFG Star Wars. That and I think WEG Star Wars is just fine. Sad to hear about these folks getting laid off though, that really sucks.
DeleteI didn't even know that FFG produced anything apart from RPGs. I am that disconnected from industry.
ReplyDelete