Wait and see and talk, good interpretation.

One of the first (if not the first) question I asked was if the recent delays were caused by this atleast in part, and the answer was yes.

WizKids seems genuinly interested in the success of SR and CBT, my impression is that FPs licence was up for renewal, and this happened...

Yeah as I said in another thread, the inability to make product release dates really could have put them in a bad way with WK. No products, no money. And since this started all product releases will be on hold till they decide who controls SR.

I just don't see a way that a company would willingly give up a successful title, or a parent company would pull a title from a company that was making it a success. I am not lying, since I am just stating my opinion. And I really don't mean to offend anyone. It is no secret that I was (and am) incredibly unhappy with SR4, even though some of the elements of it turned out really well.

As a business person though, knowing what little I know about business, I don't see WK going, "Hey FP, I know you have made a helluva success with SR, good job, oh yeah and we are pulling the license and giving it to these guys, have a nice day".

Now, like I said, it is possible that SR4 has been a huge success, I don't know because LLC's don't have to release sales figures. It could have been a smashing success, making everyone involved with it a lot of money (relatively speaking). If so though, barring some huge legal issue, why would WK pull a winning license from a proven company to give it to someone else?

These are the questions I ask, because I care. And because they are the questions that will never get answered. Any answer will resemble what I call, "The Company Line".

Some variation of the Ship is sinking and that is a good thing.

As I've said elsewhere, we are not at liberty to discuss the full details of the situation - but I will repeat it has nothing to do with SR4's success.

There are times when people read too much into situations with too little facts on hand. For instance, it might be interesting to note (since it hasn't been mentioned that I know of) that FanPro Germany recently announced that its games lines will be taken over Ulisses Games and that it will be focusing on the book publishing market. I advise, however, against jumping to conclusions.

And for those that still don't get it: They're broke.

(The note on the book publishing market is a sad joke. They lost Heyne as publisher quite a time ago.)

It makes a lot more sense with the full story, which we can't get into. Without the full story, you're left guessing at the reasons why and the guesses are incorrect.

If you don't want to trust us on that, that's cool. There just isn't anything we can do about it at this time. But I know that as a freelancer I'm really looking forward to the license changeover.

Well thats cool, its good to know you guys are looking forward to it. As a veteran of a couple of changeover/mergers I would suggest you ask yourself, are you getting the full story? And if you lost your job next week, what would you do?

Because the company has no problem telling you everything is bright and sunny, right up to the point where they give you your walking papers.

It's not really a big secret that FanPro Germany bit off than it could chew concerning ClickTech, etc.
Just to get the perspective right:
Giving away DSA (The Dark Eye) is about the same for FPG as if WW would drop WoD.

I see the doom and gloom is out in force.

I don't see any doom and gloom. SR has sold out 3 printings, and that ain't small potatoes in the non D&D world. I have no knowledge of the Fanpro license on printing SR source and setting books, but IMR may have come up with a more compresnsive offer than FP could have (Battlecorps already shows the web side of that). I doubt they would negoiate for less for SR.

May be better in the long run, may be worse. I'm just sitting on the sidelines at the moment. Good luck to all involved, and I hope you end up where you wish.

Yeah, everyone is pretty certain that Shadowrun will stay (and most likely prosper at IMR) - just FanPro is a goner.

So long as when they updates to SR4 and Street Magic PDFs come out with the new labels on them, I can still get my upgrade from DriveThruRPG.

-K.

Heh. Looks like ordering PDFs from BattleCorps was the stategically wise choice.

You don't get it: they're buying the license because the video game is going to have a larger audience than the PnP game. So if they turn the PnP game into an tie-in of the video game, they can get a lot of money with it. Of course, that will require modifying some details of the universe (what would Shadowrun be if you couldn't resurrect people?). Shadowrun PnP fans won't be pleased, but roleplayers are a dying breed and they're broke anyway, whereas 13 years old gamers can spend a lot more money for their games...

... And devs are happy about it, because they get paid so much they can retire to a place where they won't be hearing about it for the rest of their lives and play good ol' Shadowrun together.

[For those who doubt it, this post should not be taken seriously]

And our giant all-glass 28 storey office! wooooo!

The solid gold brick of D6's was certainly a nice touch.

How are the negotiations going? Are things moving along? stalled? or is everything all ready sign, sealed, and delivered?

If things are going good do we have an general ETA for the next book?

Would it be sometime this summer? or not until the fall? Or even later then that?

Things are moving along, but until negotiations are over, nothing can really be said or speculated about release dates, future plans, etc.

There's a GenCon coming up, isn't there? I'd always had the impression that GenCon is to game developers what end of year Exams are to final year students.

Or am I just being very hopeful.

Gen Con Indy is August 16-19 this year.

I'm not sure I'd call it "final exams" ... I think the 16 hour work days in April -> June to get products ready for Gen Con is a better aproximation to final exams

Isn't that more akin to the studying part right before the exams?

Ah...cramming...

Yes, that's how I would see it as well.

That's what I meant. Possibly transatlantic communication problems.

Probably more like the effect of those 16 hour days...

From the desk of David "Vairdic" Stansel-Garner
Materials & Operations Manager: InMediaRes Productions (a wholly owned subsidiary of Saeder-Krupp)

Subject: Corporate realignment of the annotated brand Shadowrun (hereafter SR).

Dear invested player,

It is understandable that in this transition period of the SR identified brand, one could find trouble in any announcement published in a familiar tone. Therefore it has been prescribed by our marketing department that we release an announcement that targets that in which most of our market consumers dis-identify. Marketing refers to this as "Reverse Psychology".

With that said, let us begin.

The corporate realignment as stated above is in the interest of the invested consumer, employee, and contract worker due to the following reasons:

1) Asset redistribution and reintegration into a aligned unit with a structured market position.

2) Managed priorities and personnel asset restructuring will allow streamlining and better organizational order.

3) Synergistic asset valuation will enhance opportunities presented by key-enablers and the subsequent integration into the corporate vision.

4) Integrated solutions will enable out of the box solutions that will enhance value-add.

In conclusion, by all metrics used to measure success, this realignment creates an asset positive approach enhancing the player investment and product valuation to the current market. It also will enable market expansion due to asset redistribution and enhancement.


Sincerely,
David M. Stansel-Garner

I see someone has mastered the art of saying a lot without actually saying anything.

Clever dog, you.

Wow. I think I understood most of that. Kinda worries me. Not the content, just that I think I got it.

I'm glad someone understood it Fist3.0

I couldn't make head nor tails of it!

Looks to me like at least four successes on that Corporate "Spin" roll.

That would be more informative if not for the fact that Pundit is speaking out of his ass.

That's what happens if people lack info.

i can see why pundit have a mixed rep in the p&p rpg world...

My degree in economics enables me to identify with the market-speech. IIRC I instructed several friends from university to kill me if that ever happens. Time to wrap up my life.

Anyone who complained about how things where done (not what was done) in the last years might just understand that a change of company -while keeping the developers- might be good for SR. The notion that a top-selling RPG-product is a just a giveaway on top of BATTLETECH is, well, not that realistic.

re: the Pundit article:

Holy lack of research, Batman!

Wow.

Seems Pundit is of the same stripe as most of those "fair and unbaised" media types running around spouting thier own political spins on every blasted thing.

Well, with the notable exception that Pundit is at least honest about being biased and unfair.

and he can be at times fun to read when he goes up against some of the "thinkers" within the rpg world...

Oops - sorry, I didn't know that this source is biased.

No worries Mat, everyone is biased. Some for some against. I believe his primary mistake is in saying that WK is selling the product, as opposed to issuing a license to a different vendor (so to speak).

Does that make spouting baseless FUD about "what this means for SR players" his secondary mistake?

Especially considering that he openly dreams about Cancer Shadowrun?

I knew there was a reason I never paid any attention to him.