On FFG's Legacy Decision for LCGs

Having read numerous posts about FFG’s decision concerning the LCGs Lord of The Rings, Arkham Horror, and Marvel Champions, I, as a gamer who likes to have the complete set of cards, felt it was time to weigh in.

To those who argue this is just a business decision, you are correct, but that does not make it the only, or right, thing they could to do. FFG has many options here; the legacy/current option with content going out of print is only one of many possibilities. For instance, FFG could farm out printing old hero packs/expansions to another company. They formerly did that with LOTR. If someone knows that FFG’s contracts with Marvel, the Tolkien group, or whoever owns Lovecraft’s rights (if anyone) does not allow that, please cite a source.

As others have pointed out, FFG could go the crowd funding route as other game companies do. Or, they could repackage old material as they have done with LOTR. They could even decide it was worth losing a little money on, say Captain America and Dr. Strange, to keep new gamers happy with their choices. Are their profit margins so slim that they can’t do that? I doubt it. According to RocketReach, FFG employs 172 people, and brought in 17.8 million dollars in revenue recently. That seems fairly good for a small business.

What about printing capacity? As far as I know, FFG has most of their games printed in China, which creates its own set of problems. Is there anything preventing FFG from using U.S. printers to fulfill reprints of older material? If it is more expensive, could they not charge a little more for the reprints? Or, as stated earlier, they could engage a third party.

FFG has a history of discontinuing LCGs after about five years. I am fearful that is what is happening with MC. They have already done it with LOTR, and it does not look good for AH. If you doubt that, check out the history of Star Wars the Card Game, which was a very popular game. FFG announced they were making older packs and expansions legacy or golden age or something, Then the game ended a year, or so, later.

New players to these three games are sadly not going to be able to get lots of the original material, and it should be noted that hero packs and expansions in MC have lots of good cards besides the hero’s kits. The same is true of AH expansions and LOTR expansions that are, or will not be, available. Thanks for reading this long post.