Wednesday, April 24, 2013

No More Marvel RPG

Margeret Weiss Productions made this announcement today:

And in Marvel news… the economics of licensing a tie-in product is always something we have to weigh carefully. We brokered an admittedly ambitious license with Marvel. Our first event, CIVIL WAR, was successful and well received, but it didn’t garner the level of sales necessary to sustain the rest of the line. We’ve learned from this and are taking a very different approach with the other licensed properties we’re bringing out to you in the next three years. We believe we created a great game. Those of you that have supported us have been terrific, and we appreciate you. But, unfortunately, we will not be bringing any new product out under the Marvel line. We know this affects our customers. Those that have pre-ordered Annihilation will receive a full refund or a credit worth 150% of their Annihilation order to use on existing or future product.

While I feel bad for MWP, I'm not surprised.  I myself couldn't really get into the system and they had significant trouble hitting their original schedule (I don't assume this is all MWP's fault, licensed products have all kinds of headaches, however their company has never been known for hitting deadlines and you have to factor that into your goals).

I've seen how dedicated the various design members have been with the game and wish them all future success.

Apparently MWP is putting many of their eggs in the Firefly basket.  Seems strange to me to revisit a game you published years ago, but I'm squarely not a Browncoat and miss much of the show's appeal.  If I want to watch a "space western", I'd watch the Original Star Trek series.  I still find it amazing that Joss Whedon is regaled as an innovator for borrowing Roddenberry's idea for Trek (Wagon Train is space).  

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