It has been an embarrassing amount of time since I last wrote a Star Wars Wednesday post. This is especially true given the huge amount of new Star Wars movies, TV shows, and other stories released in the last few months. I’ve kept up reasonably well, though there is still a stack of comics I need to work through. Marvel has been hugely prolific with the number of titles and short series lately. More on many of those things in the upcoming months, hopefully. It shouldn’t be too hard for me to pick up the pace this year, compared to the dismal number of posts late last year.
Unfortunately, 2020 started off with some shocking news from Fantasy Flight Games, current publisher of the Star Wars roleplaying game, among many other Star Wars titles. They laid off their entire roleplaying game department, and made other changes within the company. There have been no official announcements as to the staff changes, or what the future holds for any of their roleplaying game lines. Some former staff members have publicly acknowledged the loss of their jobs.
The latest Genesys RPG title, KeyForge Secrets of the Crucible (which I worked on), had a preview posted shortly before the layoffs occurred. New X-Wing and Legion expansion packs have been announced or previewed since then. The last announced Star Wars RPG title was Starships and Speeders, due out sometime in the first quarter of this year. The end of the Star Wars Destiny dice game line was announced this week.
I don’t want to speculate as to what might happen next, or if this means a complete shutdown of the RPG lines. Companies rarely say very much during tough times like these, especially about staff changes. Changes in direction and game lines are rarely easy, and worse when it necessitates the loss of jobs.
Interestingly, the former RPG staff just announced today via the d20 Radio Facebook group that they would be making themselves available for hire as freelancers to review and edit Genesys Foundry titles. So, if you were planning such a project, here’s the opportunity to get direct help from the original creators and developers of the game. I would like to think that means the Foundry at least will remain viable for a while yet, but who knows. Speaking of Genesys, the Expanded Player’s Guide is out, and I finally got my copy, so I’ll be making a few comments as to my contribution in an upcoming post.
So, stay tuned…