As reported by IMR/BattleCorps:

INMEDIARES PRODUCTIONS LLC. ENTERS NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE CLASSIC BATTLETECH AND SHADOWRUN LICENSES FROM WIZKIDS INC.

Everett, WA, April 20, 2007—InMediaRes Production LLC has entered into negotiations with WizKids, Inc. and FanPro, LLC to explore the acquisition of RPG publishing rights for the Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun Intellectual Properties. IMR is confident in the strength of Shadowrun and Classic BattleTech and the commitment that WizKids, Inc. has shown in supporting these two long-standing properties.

About InMediaRes Productions LLC
InMediaRes Productions LLC has developed BattleCorps.com as the premiere on-line fiction source for Classic BattleTech. BattleCorps.com actively support the Classic BattleTech community, their BattleShop offers everything from poster maps to PDF sourcebooks, miniatures to software, and is the one-stop-shop for any fan of the BattleTech/MechWarrior universe. Their subscription-based services also take the Classic BattleTech experience to a whole new level, featuring a stable of authors from national best sellers to great new talent, new art, unique product previews, faction specific message boards and moderated chats with authors and developers.

About WizKids, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of the Topps Company (TOPP), WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. Its HeroClix® and Pirates brands are among the most successful games on the market today, with over one hundred million miniature game figures sold worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.


Loren Coleman’s Letter to the Community

Some of you may have heard the rumors beginning to build. Well, the announcements are now getting out there. Negotiations have begun, seeking to move the Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun properties to a new company, InMediaRes Productions.

As this moves forward, I'm certain we will hear information of long-time employees moving between companies, as well as dark rumors as to the fate of CBT and Shadowrun. I want not only to strike down such rumors, I can tell you that I see nothing but brighter, better days ahead for both game lines.

I have spoken with WizKids, and can assure you that this move is in the best interest of both Classic BattleTechand Shadowrun. I have every confidence in WizKids, in their support for the game lines, and their ability to ensure that the games we enjoy so much will only grow stronger.

I also think we owe a deep debt of gratitude to FanPro and its employees, as well, for bringing the properties this far. They have done an exceedingly hard job, taking over after FASA closed its doors, and the quality of the product we've seen in the last several years is a testament to their hard work and love for the games.

I know that I, and all other industry professionals I've spoken to, have re-committed ourselves to the game lines, no matter what. This is not something we would do if we were worried about their future. In fact, we are more excited than ever to have the ability to take both Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun to new and greater heights.

We look forward to seeing you there, along for the ride!

Loren Coleman
InMediaRes Productions


Rob Boyle’s Letter to the Community

I've been the lead Shadowrun line developer for FanPro LLC since the day it started, through good times and bad. Along with the other developers and freelancers, we have all been absolutely committed to continuing and and growing this game line in new and exciting ways.

The time has now come to transfer the Shadowrun line into the hands of a new company. We are not saying goodbye, however--we're coming along for the ride as well. Everyone who is part of the core Shadowrun production crew is looking forward to relocating the line to IMR's stewardship and continuing to publish one of the best games out there. Despite the delays we've recently faced, we are excited that things will be getting back on track quite quickly.

Rob Boyle
Shadowrun Line Developer


Randall Bills' Letter to the Community

The last ten years I’ve seen the Classic BattleTech property and community thrive. I’ve been a part of the development of over one hundred products and novels for this universe. I’ve also been the key driving force behind the largest re-branding and revitalization Classic BattleTech has seen in well over a decade, including the creation and launching of the Dawn of Jihad sourcebook and storyline, as well as Total Warfare.

FanPro has made the above accomplishments possible. With the expiration of the license and WizKids’ desire to position the Classic BattleTech product to achieve even more, WizKids, Inc. is working with both FanPro LLC and InMediaRes Productions LLC. to transition the Classic BattleTech license to InMediaRes.

I have immensely enjoyed the working relationship between myself and WizKids and the other licensees surrounding Classic BattleTech/MechWarrior, such as Iron Wind Metals, InMediaRes Productions and so on. I completely support this move by all involved and look forward to an even stronger relationship between the various licensees that positions Classic BattleTech/MechWarrior to even greater heights.

Randall Bills
Classic BattleTech Line Developer

Oh, thank god. I was hardly able to hold my tounge any longer... I wanted to link this sooo bad...

I know exactly what you mean. To head off a few questions, and so Adam doesn't have to type it all again, from what I've heard some of the dumbed down version:
Rob's still there, but doing more game development, and no long er the Operations Manger.
Peter and Robyn and Adam are all there.

Okay, so Q1:
Has this been part of the delays we've been seeing in publishing of late, and will this expidite the books we've all been waiting for?

Q2:
Will IMR get Holostreets going now, seeing as BattleCorps has been a success for them?

And so the ripples wash over the world.

Allowing lots of Shadowruns, more so than the Fuchi disintegration

Also from Adam

So a more direct question, will this mean hopefully books left along he way like Running Wild and SoLA will finally see the light of day?

SoLA was supposed to be a Holostreets/digital only production wasn't it?

God, I don't think I'm allowed to speculate. I'm so confused...

Edit:
Ugh, I can't tell you the number of times I've refreshed various websites since 3pm when I heard there was an important announcement coming. Now I've got a CBT game scheduled at my Firebase and have to go, it'll be hours before I find out what new is happening....

That was the word, then both just kind of ... went away. Could be why. I'm afraid to hope anymore.

>>> Has this been part of the delays we've been seeing in publishing of late, and will this expidite the books we've all been waiting for?<<<

Yes, it's been a big part of the delay recently. Emergence is almost ready to go to print, for example, and should soon.

In the long run, this should also mean an overall more intensive focus on dev work (more staff, more time).

>>Will IMR get Holostreets going now, seeing as BattleCorps has been a success for them?<<<

That's part of the plan, yes, though it will take some time.

ok, this is starting to look like a game of pong. fasa -> wizkid/fanpro -> IMR...

but for the love of SR, get those SR4 books out the door!

>>>So a more direct question, will this mean hopefully books left along he way like Running Wild and SoLA will finally see the light of day?<<<<

Running Wild is currently on the release schedule for mid-2008 as the advanced critter sourcebook for SR4.

SOLA is unlikely to ever see print, I'm afraid. But we should be freed up to release it as a PDF soon.

Also, please note that WizKids is not selling either property. IMR would be licensing them like FanPro currently is.

So this means more full time staff, correct? Is that more staff is in a few freelancers becoming full time, or more staff as in more managerial being covered so that people are freed up for development?

Curses, didn't see the thread in this forum.

Wow... Just to be clear, all that this means is the three people in charge of making the SR line (and this applies only to SR4, SR3 still being dead) are now part of IMR instead of Fan Pro? What does this mean to me? Should we expect things to move faster? Will IMR take SR in a different direction?

My understanding so far (until someone with a cooler title says something different) is that it's going away from Fanpro. IMR is looking to have at least more staffing at the top, since Rob is no long the Ops Mngr, and is now doing Line Dev. Also, IMR will make t-shirts.

Quickly:

* Yes, IMR will be bringing on more staff to handle the workload. Even though they already have projects underway [BattleCorps, HoloStreets], they will have more staff than FanPro ever did.

* There will obviously be a transition period, but IMR has taken a close look at FanPro's problems over the years and obviously wants to fix them -- and the crucial thing is bringing on new staff so there is a dedicated Operations Manager that is not tied to any of the games, and that's been done. As Rob mentioned, Emergence for SR is very close to going to press, as well. A reliastic schedule for the next few years has been worked out.

Yay! More printing means more ! Here's hoping that all the important people get a bit more money and some rest now and then. Also hope that nobody and no project gets the shaft.

I like the sound of more staff, I just hope that IMR has no plans to save money by shuffling everything to PDF-only distribution as fast as possible.

Print production will continue, but online releases and services are in the plans.

With FanPro handing off the reins to IMR we runners should see the job spikes from other corps looking to steal the deal from IMR so keep in touch with your fixe...Er I mean, sounds like a good move for Shadowrun and Battle Tech, one of which I'm a rabid fan and another which I'm a sore looser .

Well, well. I get offline for a few hours and look what happens.

And that sir is the kind of information people need to know.

At least now I can get a snazzy tshirt. Although really, a SR shirt doesn't make sense. For a game "based" in Seattle, shouldn't it be the Shadowrun Sweater/hoodie, or better yet, long coat?

Wonderful. I knew I could count on you.

Thanks for the update. I was really wondering what was happening to the new product shipping schedule.
I look forward to extra growth in the Shadowrun products that the new focus will bring

Yah, and maybe we'll even get new novels.

Oooh, there's a good question. Any word on that?

As always, hoping for more from Jason Hardy. That he promised to put in more Drop Bear references of course has nothing to do with it.

Well, 6 hours of CBT later and I'm back. Looks like it's a simple matter of a business move. I think that the community will take this well, especially when the books start rolling out. If in the next coupple weeks we see a date for Emergance and they meet that date then it will be clear that the move is not going to hamper the line.

I don't think that the trauma will be as great as the FASA change, after all it's not that big of a change. I am glad that the PTB (Powers That Be, for some reason the CBT players really like that TLA) decided to take this active role in getting the news out and answering questions. It may have been overkill, but heck... I'm a SR player overkill isis what I live for.

I'm pretty excited about the change, and I'm not just saying that because I'm on the Demo team. I don't think I liked the term Commando anyhow...

I have a few questions, please.

Will the entity known as FanPro still exist or is the FanPro core staff now working for IMR instead, entirely?

Knowing nothing about IMR, how closed shop will they be? Does it have implications for those of us who were hoping to make proposals to FanPro for gaming material?

Does this effect the fiction rights? I know that these were separate to the game material rights so I'm very interested in knowing if IMR are licencing these as well.

Do I have to go and update that Copyright information at the foot of all the online supplements I've written?

Many thanks,

-Khadim.

I see Synner's lurking, mayhap he can lay some enlightenment on those for you Khadim...

Oh wow. New question.

What happens to Dumpshock now? Will it still remain the main forum for SR? Does IMR have plans for it?

Heh, I never knew the name that went with Synner. Dunno why, glad to know it.

As to the books, Paul the Commando Coordinator over at the CBT forums answered:

Another question, has this affected the posting of fiction that appears on the Shadowrunrpg web site?

Also, returning to the published fiction issue. I'll level that I've been privately wanting to write some Shadowrun fiction for some time and have done some work towards this. I've been waiting until I knew I could allocate the needed time before approaching anyone. And until I had some of my other fiction published in order to lend a bit more credence to my proposal. Is the fiction side now in limbo or will I still be able to approach Wizkids with it? I had thought that they, not ROC, had the rights to this.

Sorry for the slightly more personal nature of my concerns, here. As a more general question, does the IMR management now mean there is a set release shedule for the supplements? Will this be released to us, the rabid customers?

What happens to the german translations?

1. Web fiction will continue on ShadowrunRPG.com, and it will probably be tied in with HoloStreets.

2. There is no announcement at this time on future paper publications of Shadowrun novels.

3. IMR has internal schedules, and as things proceed, new release dates will be announced.

Short term pain, long term gain. There will be more opportunities to write Shadowrun fiction in the future, I'm sure!

Whoa, from a mundanes viewpoint, this is mighty exciting!
Normally I would probably be scared shitless and crying blood, like when FASA quit, but since we haven't seen any new books recently, things really can't go worse, right?
Well, all in all, I'm holding on to my hat.