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Jan 28, 2010 -- 3:29PM, dojimaster wrote:

The IDC has produced 6 sets of the SW TCG - no lawsuits, no threats. 

That's because it's for a product that has it's base sales in WotC's product.  When WotC no longer has the license and Lucas finds someone else to hawk his license, C&D letters will be sent.

Jan 28, 2010 -- 3:41PM, Darth_Mauler wrote:

Yeah, a lawsuit would require money going one way or another. With virtual sets, no money is made. With no company holding a license to officially produce the game, no one is losing money because of this.

Except that is EXACTLY what happened to the Decipher Game.  Their virtual sets weren't being sold either.  Strange how they were threatened with C&D letters, huh?  When Lucas has a new company trying to sell yet another Star Wars CCG this will happen again. 

Please also note that I predicated this on the idea that another company would be producing Minis or Cards.  Lucas probably won't do anything until that happens.

And yes, money is made on virtual cards.  The secondary market is there.  Or do the Star Wars TCG cards just magically appear?  The secondary market represents sales based on Star Wars product that Lucas can't legally get a piece of.  When he has a new game, he'll sue.

Jan 28, 2010 -- 3:15PM, DarthLannister wrote:

If this game was making WotC a lot of money, they would continue producing it.  If you claim that dropping the game was for any other reason you are fooling yourself.

Producing "Player Committee Style" sets of virtual cards will more than likely result in the same way it did for the Decipher Virtual Sets: threat of a lawsuit.

George Lucas will not allow something he is not getting money from to use Star Wars to promote itself.  SWM has a huge secondary market, and that is revenue he will not get.  That's what happened to the Virtual Card sets, and that's what will happen here.  After Decipher lost their license, they still outsold the WotC Star Wars CCG by a huge margin.  At first everyone was cool with the Virtual sets, but when it became clear that WotC couldn't create a Star Wars CCG that was viable, they threatened to sue.

I'm not sure how viable the RPG will be as a licensed property in the future.  WEG had a great game with tons of support and they lost their shirts.  WotC took over at the height of the resurgence of Star Wars popularity and they aren't making enough money to keep things going.  I would love to see a new RPG, or someone taking Saga (though that will NEVER happen).  Saga is a D20 product through and through.  WotC will never agree to have that be in the hands of another company.

As far as SWM goes, it is my hope that another company, perhaps the ones that are working with HeroClix, picks up SWM and continues producing the game.  I'm not holding my breath, though.  Lucas wanted all his gaming through one company, and now the Minis and RPG are going the way of the CCG.

In the end, though, maybe it is best to just let these things die down.  Star Wars experienced a 20 year dormancy in which only the WEG RPG and a few novels and PC games existed.  That dormancy exploded in the late 1990's and is winding down in 2010.

You are aware that the Star Wars CCG Players Commitee is well on it's way to release it's 20th V-set. They have a close relationship with Decipher, along with continual talks with LFL itself on what it can and cannot do. I am not sure if the IDC has official communications or not, but I do know that the SWCCG PC is fairly legitimate, and works well within the boundries of the limits imposed by LFL and Decipher. This relationship has caused them from releasing fairly bootleg looking slips that just changed text. Now, they can change names within certain limits (must be named on a Decipher card somewhere or generic sounding) and use their own images. Hell, Decipher essentially let them use thier Graphic Design templates now.

SWCCG is honestly going through a rough patch right now, but just last year, in the middle of January, had a big tournament that had to be cut off at 64 players that filled up. If you doubt our playerbase is not as devoted, than you have another thing coming.