Decipher loses Star Wars CCG licence

[OMEGA4]

According to the Decipher web page, Lucasfilm has decided not to
renew their licence with Decipher for the Star Wars CCG in all its incarnations.

The full story can be found here:

http://www.decipher.com/starwars/ann...ent122801.html

[Captain Zymmer]

All I can say is that I said this about a month ago, and it turns out my source was correct.

Decipher just wanted to make sure they got through the holidays selling product.

Now they are offering such warehouse cledaring deals that they are crippling distributors who already have product in stock.

Uncool to say the least, but then again this is business after all.

[Angry_Cartman]

Lucas... he's one big disappointment. A friend of mine said that all he cares about now is money. I didnt't quite shared his opinion until I read this. Was I the only one who read in an interview that he actually refered to himself as a Genius? Right...

Decipher shouldn't worry too much since I'm sure that Attack of the Clones (you gotta love the stupidity of the title) will do so-so like TPM did. I've seen the trailer and I just couldn't believe how the acting was TERRIBLE!

All Lucas cares about is raking in the money by selling to kids. In the Decipher annoucement they hinted to that; that Lucasfilm wanted WOTC to market the CCG along the lines of Pokemon (may I puke now sir?).

Decipher should at least find consolation in that it has the licence for the more intelligent sci-fi franchise, ST, (Cartman ducks, runs like hell... but at least you didn't see Wesley Crusher go podracing...); and the REAL hot property, LOTR which for once is a property that deserves its "hotness".

Lucas still doesn't get it. His target audience isn't the kids, but the GenXers who grew up on SW. The new collection of toys sold far better among collectors than with the kids going "vroom" with an X-wing.

[REG]

Actually, he is a genius. He managed to observe the loose management of Star Trek properties and licensing, and NOT do what Paramount/Gene Roddenberry did. He knew that merchandise is jackpot, so he became Hasbro's silent partner (no longer silent since everyone already knew).

IOW, he managed to retain control of all his trademarks, and reap the reward for himself.

As for Lucasfilm's decision to go with WotC, as I said in the other thread What the?, call it karma. Decipher managed to seduce Paramount into granting them the RPG license to Star Trek out from LUG/WotC back in GenCon 2000.

Funny, how people panicked and cry foul at WotC at the possibility of having two sci-fi RPG of well-known trademarks (Star Trek and Star Wars) using the same rules system (and yet be ignorant and critical of the system itself) and yet no one points out that Decipher have been producing both Star Wars and Star Trek CCGs.

After this, everything is all right with the world. I get the last chuckle. No offense to Star Wars CCGamers. Then again, I don't care about them (not a fan of TCG or CCG).

[Captain Zymmer]

SENSE OF HUMOUR ON

Careful REG, all that last laughing may casue you to fall right off that high horse

SENSE OF HUMOUR...NEVER OFF

[REG]

Then it's a good thing I'm not on a horse typing this on my computer. I would have had a high desk.

And please note I said chuckle, not laugh. Laughing on a high horse can increase your risk of falling.

[Captain Zymmer]

Ah yes, of course, my bad

See, yet another reason you are superior to us

(Just Kidding, in one of those moods today...been at work too long!)

Still I think that what Decipher pulled ont he distributors was really, really uncool. Lowering thier price on stock weeks before letting people know that the product will be dead soon.

I know my buddies got saddled with a big pile of the stuff that they bought a couple of months ago to make way for X-Mas.

Now to compete thery have to take a big loss just to clear the stuff out of their warehouse.

Decipher pulls a WOTC on the price game, not cool at all.

[Angry_Cartman]

He managed to observe the loose management of Star Trek properties and licensing, and NOT do what Paramount/Gene Roddenberry did.

Ahh yes! I agree wholeheartedly with you on that one Reg. At least with Lucas there is a good consitency among the various licenses. For instance, I really like the fact that most of the info you find in the WEG rpg, tech manuals, the WOTC rpg, novels, etc follows the same "canon". Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that some tidbits of info coming from the RPG/Tech manual/novels made its way into Phantom Menace.

With ST, every damn licence has its version of the ST universe. It gets maddening after a while. Just look at the ships: FASA handled them a certain way, LUG another; the Decipher rpg too... then there are the computer games like Armada, DS9: Dominion Wars, etc. And what about the tech manuals like Starship Spotter?

I'm glad that Decipher yanked the licence from WOTC. But IIRC WOTC never bid for the licence, they acquired it by purchasing LUG. In any case, Decipher also managed to get the LUG staff from WOTC, which means they must have been unhappy there for a reason or another of some sort.

I still stand by my opinion that the WOTC SW RPG is FAR too complicated and klunky (unless you're a D&D die-hard) for the average gamer or the SW fan who happens to be a RPG neophyte. Still, a 14th-level Klingon warrior sounds off-colour by me.

And finally, I'll take a (very) flawed movie like Insurrection, which was the love child of Patrick Stewart's tantrum, over a POS like TPM any day. At least Insurrection didn't take us for 4th graders.

[Highway Hoss]

Originally posted by Angry_Cartman:
At least with Lucas there is a good consitency among the various licenses. For instance, I really like the fact that most of the info you find in the WEG rpg, tech manuals, the WOTC rpg, novels, etc follows the same "canon". Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that some tidbits of info coming from the RPG/Tech manual/novels made its way into Phantom Menace.
With ST, every damn licence has its version of the ST universe. It gets maddening after a while. Just look at the ships: FASA handled them a certain way, LUG another; the Decipher rpg too... then there are the computer games like Armada, DS9: Dominion Wars, etc. And what about the tech manuals like Starship Spotter?

Amen, Cartman. That's one thing that's bugged me about Trek for years; there is no real attempt to unify canon by TPTB. Basically, what we have is A Crisis of Infinite Treks.
What Trek needs is a thorough canonization of it's universe into a consistent whole and it shuld not be limited to the TV shows and movies. I would also include offically licensed novels, games etc. I would resolve inconsistencies, fix errors and decanonize any episode, movie or novel that do not fit continuity (but I would reserve the right to integrate any worthwile elements from them into canon). I would make sure that all tech info is consistent within itself and that all ships have some sort of offical specifications. Then I would publish a series of books similar to the "Essential Guides" from Star Wars that cleary defines the timeline, planets, alien races and tech of a single integrated universe. Finallly, I would notify writers, producers, licensees etc. that ALL future crations bearing the Trek license will be strictly policed for continuity errors.
Well, that's my two Copper Lincolns.

[Angry_Cartman]

I agree with you 100%, but unfortunately I think "TPTB" are way too lazy to do such a thing... and they don't even care for that matter. Wasn't it Braga who a couple of years ago wanted Zephram Cochrane to be female and be Picard's love interest in First Contact? Then when the fact that A- Cochrane appeared as a human male in TOS and B-Zephram is a masculine name, was brought to his attention he shruged it off by saying trekkies had too much time on their f****** hands. Nice.

I think the producers are afraid that laying down too many of the details that are still left in the air would restrict the writers. I think the writers NEED restrictions.

Braga also said that there were "trek fetishists" out there; he meant that some folks look for other trek references, like the Gorn in DS9. While sometimes he's not that wrong (Cartman REALLY runs away like hell, breathless ), he sounds like he's implying that most trekkers are like that. The point he's missing is that trekkers enjoy continuity.

Thanks again Mr Braga for pissing on the heads of the loyal fans who keep watching the Trek shows, either Enterprise or the rest on syndication; or dish out their hard-earned money on licenced products like $20 mugs or $40 books, so that little Hollywood near-future has-been like you can live the big life.

[REG]

I'm glad that Decipher yanked the licence from WOTC. But IIRC WOTC never bid for the licence, they acquired it by purchasing LUG. In any case, Decipher also managed to get the LUG staff from WOTC, which means they must have been unhappy there for a reason or another of some sort.

When WotC acquired LUG they acquired all assets and liability, and that's include the license (with an expiration date of 12/31/2000). IOW, WotC owned that license from LUG.

But Decipher managed to seduce Paramount into giving the license to them ... and succeeded. WotC never got a chance, and were surprised by the announcement. That is like moving into an apartment you acquired by your departing best friend and suddenly the building management told me that he won't extend my lease (which is set to expire in 5 months) and letting someone else move in. It sucks because you didn't get a chance to negotiate.

As for Decipher getting the LUG staff, it was pure luck. They didn't actually steal LUG staff from WotC. LUG staff decided not to move to Washington state and chose the generous severance package (complete with medical benefit), and Decipher is need of an RPG division. So they hired the recently unemployed LUG staff.

If things hadn't happen, the LUG staff would be content doing d20 sci-fi RPG.

But it happened, and it is because some idiot in the management or accounting division of Hasbro convince the execs that Pokemon is still a hot-selling brand.

Trust me, I kept tab.

Karma...

[Dan Stack]

How best to put this...

OK, here goes. I really like the consistency of the Star Wars universe. Even though it means some stuff which I really don't like like the Jedi Academy Trilogy becomes "official".

But the only "canon" Star Wars material to worry about is six movies. (Four so far.)

Star Trek on the other hand has 24 seasons to keep track of and something like a few hundred books. Must every writer be familiar with every novel ever written? Should TNG have been bound to make the Klingons fans of Klin Zha? Heck, should the Klingons have been removed from the galactic stage as a result of the novel Spock Must Die?

That's not to say I as a fan wouldn't like to see consistency, it's just once TNG aired the decision was made to ignore the novels, for good or for ill. It's now way too late to ever undo that and I believe that's a decision which if anyone must be blamed for, then that person must be Roddenberry.

One other thought comes to mind - the Star Wars novels and other expanded universe stuff has been careful to avoid covering ground that might be contradicted in a Star Wars movie.

[Owen E Oulton]

<i>"I really like the consistency of the Star Wars universe."</i>

So how do you fit Qui-Gonn into the sentence "You must go to see Yoda, the Jedi Master to trained me..."?

On the other tentacle, I'll forgive them a lot just for letting Samuel L. Jackson be a Jedi.
"I hear that man Mace is a mean muthah..."
"Shut your mouth!"
"But I'm talking about Mace!"

[Dan Stack]

[Note to all - take this post with the humor intended )

I managed to mentally reconcile it as follows....

First of all, we know that old Obi has an interesting view of the truth ("yeah, that Darth dude, he betrayed and murdered your Dad"... )

But more importanly, Obi-Wan was a little pressed for time - Luke was on his way to dying an icy cold death. I suppose he could have said "Luke. You must go to the Dagobah system. There you will learn from Yoda, a Jedi Master who taught me the basics of being a Jedi prior to my being appointed a Padawan Learned to the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin, though not before I was briefly assigned to the Agricultural Corps, a washed up failure, or so I thought. Just cause I lost my cool in a little saber practive... Man I tell you... Luke? You there Luke? OK, one more time - go to Dagobah, learn from Yoda, he taught me, you got it? Repeat it!"

"Yoda, Dagobah... <groan>"

"Close enough..."

[REG]

Star Trek on the other hand has 24 seasons to keep track of and something like a few hundred books. Must every writer be familiar with every novel ever written?

If possible, yes. Otherwise it is the editor or a continuity researcher to pore through the writer's draft material to ensure the details within the story maintain continuity.

Of course, that would slow production of novels that Pocket Books rely on.

Should TNG have been bound to make the Klingons fans of Klin Zha?

Why not? It's easier to use the content within John Ford's The Final Reflection into the familiar species with an even more alien look.

Heck, should the Klingons have been removed from the galactic stage as a result of the novel Spock Must Die?

They could, or Pocket Book could have publish it as an Alternate Universe line.