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This is a brief FAQ about the closing of FASA Corporation. It will be updated as need be over the next weeks and months, but in general if there isn't an answer to a question here, there isn't a definite answer. Feel free to email questions and comments to dumpshock@dumpshock.com
Last Updated: Sept 17th, 2001, 03:00 EST
What's New: Updated questions Shadowrun, Battletech, Vor New material is highlighted in grey.
1.0 - FASA
1.1 - Is FASA really closing?
1.2 - Fan sites policy
1.3 - But I thought that Microsoft owned FASA?
2.0 - What does this mean for...?
2.1 - Shadowrun
2.2 - Battletech
2.3 - Mechwarrior
2.4 - Earthdawn
2.5 - Vor: The Maelstrom
2.6 - Crimson Skies
2.7 - Crucible
2.8 - Computer games
2.9 - Upcoming books
2.10 - FanPro
2.11 - Old FASA Games?
2.12 - Ral Partha?
4.0 - Press releases and communications transcripts
4.1 - FASA 'Press Release'/Announcement
4.2 - WizKids Press Release
4.3 - Living Room Games Announcement
4.4 - Skuzzy's VORlist Post
4.5 - Rick Raisley announcement about HeavyMetal
4.6 - FanPro Press Release
1.1 - Is FASA really closing?
Yes. The press release is available at http://www.fasa.com/PressReleases/PRClose.html, and is included below:
1.2 - Fan Websites?
As of now, there have been no announcements about the change of FASAs Internet Policy, and WizKids have not made any announcement.
1.3 - But I thought that Microsoft owned FASA?
Microsoft owns FASA Interactive and the rights to make computer games on Battletech, Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Crimson Skies.
2.1 - Shadowrun?
Shadowrun rights will go to WizKids Games (www.mageknight.com). They have a press release available (local mirror), and that is basically all the known information. Rigger 3 has been released by FASA and should be available on their website and in stores. It is not likely that any more releases for Shadowrun by FASA will happen. WizKids has hired former staff members Mike Mulvihill, Sharon Turner-Mulvihill, and Mike Yates (Editorial). WizKids and Fantasy Productions (FanPro) have reached an agreement where FanPro will publish upcoming Shadowrun material, with Rob Boyle as English language line developer. Mike Mulvihill will be working for WizKids, and is responsible for overseeing the use of the Shadowrun license by other parties.
FanPro LLC has an official Shadowrun site up at www.shadowrunrpg.com
2.2 - Battletech?
WizKids will be publishing a collectible miniatures Battletech game. The website is http://www.wizkidsgames.com/battletech.
2.3 - Mechwarrior RPG?
No idea if MechWarrior the RPG is included with Battletech or not.
2.4 - Earthdawn?
Earthdawn will continue to be published under license to Living Room Games. LRG's announcement.
2.5 - Vor: The Maelstrom?
There appears to be a official playtester site for Vor at http://www.judgescorner.com/playtest/, and some other news at http://www.judgescorner.com/vor/index.html.
2.6 - Crimson Skies
Microsoft owns the entire Crimson Skies property; FASA was producing the board game and fiction under license from them. No word on its fate yet.
2.7 - Crucible?
Fate unknown. Being a new game without an established fanbase, it's likely that it won't be picked up by anyone.
2.8 - Computer Games?
Microsoft and FASA Interactive hold all the rights to computer games based on Shadowrun and Battletech, so no change is expected there.
2.9 - Upcoming Books?
From the press release:
We will remain open to fill all orders from our inventory until April 30, 2001. We do not plan to print any new inventory; when an item goes out of stock, it will be gone forever.
Rigger 3 was the last release for Shadowrun by FASA.
2.10 - FanPro?
FanPro has a press release available (in German). FanPro will be publishing both german and english Shadowrun products in the near future. See 2.1 - Shadowrun.
2.11 - Old FASA Games?
No mention of FASAs old properties such as the Traveller supplements has been made. However, it has been mentioned on the 'net that FASA had sold the rights to the Traveller supplements many years ago. Reference is on the Pyramid discussion group sjgames.gurps.traveller (Requires Pyramid subscription).
2.12 - Ral Partha?
The first FASA press release says that "certain assets" of Ral Partha will be going to WizKids Games. No word on what those assets are at this time.
4.1 - FASA 'Press Release'/Announcement
25 January 2001
After 20 happy-and difficult-years in business, FASA Corporation is closing its doors.
The adventure gaming world has changed much in those years, and it is time for the founders of FASA to move on. We may produce a few remaining products in the next month, but then we will close up shop.
We will remain open to fill all orders from our inventory until April 30, 2001. We do not plan to print any new inventory; when an item goes out of stock, it will be gone forever.
Making this decision now will allow FASA to meet all of its obligations to suppliers, authors, artists and other freelancers. Our plan is to sell our inventory, collect all of our receivables and royalties and continue to manage our subsidiary rights.
We are selling our BattleTech and Shadowrun properties to Wizkids LLC, along with certain assets of Ral Partha Enterprises.
As most of you know, Wizkids was started by Jordan Weisman, a founder of FASA and the creator of the incredibly successful new game line Mage Knight Rebellion. We know that FASA's properties will be in very good hands at Wizkids.
I want to thank all of our loyal fans and customers who over these 20 years have made FASA Corporation a fun place to be and a company of which we are very proud.
Morton Weisman
Ross Babcock
WizKids to Acquire Shadowrun and BattleTech Properties
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jenny Trisko
630.351.1800
jenny@wizkidsgames.comCHICAGO, IL January 26, 2001 - WizKids has entered into an agreement, subject to due diligence, to acquire the well known BattleTech and Shadowrun properties from FASA corporation. Both WizKids and FASA are pleased that these special properties will be in the capable hands of their co-creator, WizKids CEO Jordan Weisman. WizKids will also acquire other FASA properties as well as certain assets of long time miniature creator, Ral Partha.
"WizKids has enormous respect for FASA and its pioneering role in the gaming industry. We are saddened by FASA ceasing product development, but at the same time excited to have been entrusted with games and universes that mean a great deal to us. At this time, we have not coordinated a plan to develop the FASA properties and must ask for your patience as we develop the best strategy for those product lines." Says CEO Weisman.
WizKids recently launched Mage Knight, the new which introduced pre-painted miniatures on a unique base that incorporatesall of the character's statistics. WizKids is excited about developing these properties and we will keep the gaming public informed as things
develop.About Wizkids
Wizkids is a brand new company with a 20-year history of making great games as it is descended from the long time industry leading FASA Corporation. Founded by Jordan Weisman, Wizkids is a Chicago-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating a new genre of fantasy games that is at once more accessible but also deeper and more sophisticated than traditional fantasy adventure genres.
4.3 - Living Room Games Announcement
01/26/2001
Updates:
Yesterday, January 25, FASA Corporation announced that after April of this year, they will be closing their doors. Rather than repeating everything they announced, you can see the article here:
http://www.fasa.com/PressReleases/PRClose.html
The big question for us (and probably for you if you're reading this) is what does this mean for LRG and Earthdawn? Well, as soon as I heard about this situation, I got on the phone with FASA and discussed this very issue.
Because FASA will continue to exist as a Corporation, and Earthdawn is not one of the intellectual properties that they are selling, our license contract with FASA will continue uninterupted.
So, I guess sort of surprisingly, the news is that for LRG, there is no news. We will continue with business as normal, and it's full steam ahead for Earthdawn 2nd Edtion and our other 2001 products. Unless somethign truly catastrophic happens, we are still looking at a Spring release for the Earthdawn 2nd Edition main rulebook.
Thanks for everyone's concerns who frantically emailed us worrying about LRG and Earthdawn.
VOR Fans,
By now most of you guys (and gals) on this list have probably heard the bad news about FASA closing their doors. For those that havent heard about this yet then I'm sorry I'm the harbringer of that bit of news. I want to let All the VOR fans out there know that VOR IS NOT GOING TO DIE! In no way shape or form is fasa closing going to stop the VOR game from existing. When I sold FASA the VOR game I had a clause inserted into the contract that specificly addresses this situation. What this means is that ALL rights to VOR will immediately revert back to me the second that FASA closes its doors officially. This means that VOR will continue on so you should not despair. Right now I have a number of options that I can take for VOR's future and details have to be worked out and decisions have to be made. I wanted to let you know this as soon as I could so that none of you would panic, because you shouldnt. In many ways this could mean very good things for VOR but we'll have to see. I will let everyone know whats going on as soon as things get finalized over the next few weeks. Keep your eyes on thewarp.net for updates on this situation because I'll be keeping Lordbunny current on everything. Thanks for having so much fun with VOR while it was here at FASA, and I truly hope that all of you will stay with VOR as it jumps to a new home. Just please be patient. Sincerely,Mike "Skuzz" Nielsen,
(VOR Creator/Developer/Guardian) PS- You should still be able to contact me via this email [skuzz@fasa.com] for many weeks to come in case you want to get in touch with me. Any interesting job offers (especially ones that dont require me to relocate) are always welcome. Thanks.
4.5 - Rick Raisley announcement about HeavyMetal
Subject FASA is Closing its Doors
Posted by Rick Raisley
Posted on Thu Jan 25 17:50:56 2001
I'm sorry to post that FASA is closing its doors as a company. I just got off the phone with Ross Babcock, president of FASA, and unfortunately it's true. You can check the announcement on their web site. FASA will continue with their plans to produce the new BattleTech Master Rules and another source book, but that will be it, for "Classic" BattleTech.
The BattleTech license is being sold to Wizkids, started by FASA founder Jordan Weisman. Wizkids has produced Mage Knight Rebellion, and they will probably come out with a new version of BattleTech sometime next year.
As to HeavyMetal Pro, HeavyMetal Vee and other such products, I still have a license to produce them and intend to continue indefinitely, and I have FASA’s approval in that regard. Of course, I am an independent FASA licensee, and the closing of FASA’s doors has no direct affect on me. I and many others still love playing BattleTech, have no intention of stopping, and having such tools to facilitate play may become even more important with the lack of new publications. Of course, if and when a completely new BattleTech game is produced, I will not have a license to produce such a product, unless I am able to make arrangements with the new owners. But I feel "Classic" BattleTech will continue for some time, if the ardent fans are any indication.
I know you are all disappointed, as am I. But with all the rumors of changes to "our" BattleTech game, Ross agreed that it was good to place some facts before you.
While FASA has discontinued obtaining any new products for sale, HeavyMetal Pro will continue to be sold by me direct and from my web site. HeavyMetal Vee is still on target for release mid-February. And more products are still to come.
Pressemitteilung 26.01.2001: FASA - FanPro
Wie die FASA Corporation am 25.01.01 auf ihrer Homepage veröffentlicht hat, wird das Unternehmen ab jetzt keine neuen Produkte mehr veröffentlichen und zum 30.04.d. J. den Betrieb einstellen.Wir bedauern diesen Schritt, denn FASAs Name war mit Produktreihen wie BattleTech, Shadowrun und anderen der Inbegriff für innovative Abenteuer-Spielewelten. Darüber hinaus waren unsere Firmen in den letzten 15 Jahren nicht nur gute Geschäftspartner, sondern auch freundschaftlich eng miteinander verbunden.
Aber: Don't Panic!
Denn wir werden die Serien auf jeden Fall weiterführen! Mit voller Kraft!
Aufgrund unserer starken Marktposition basierend auf DSA sind wir in der Lage, die FASA Serien weiterzuführen. Die Rechte werden in Amerika an Jordan Weismans Firma WizKids verkauft. Damit sind sie mit absoluter Sicherheit in den besten Händen. Schließlich hat er diese Welten erfunden, und WizKids beweist z.Z. mit MageKnight eine hohe innovative Dynamik.
Für Fantasy Productions als Lizenznehmer wird sich zunächst nichts ändern. Es liegt publiziertes Material vor, das wie geplant erscheinen wird. Die Neuerscheinungen für den Januar werden wie geplant ausgeliefert. Darüber hinaus werden Shadowrun und BattleTech in unserem Haus fleißig weiterentwickelt. Insofern birgt die jüngste Entwicklung ungeahnte Möglichkeiten.
Fanpro wird in der Zukunft von BattleTech und Shadowrun eine wichtigere Rolle zuteil als in der Vergangenheit. Schon in der kommenden Woche treffen wir uns mit Jordan Weisman (WizKids) und Morton Weisman (FASA), um den neuen Kurs zu definieren.
Die auf FASAs Welten basierenden Serien im Heyne-Verlag werden natürlich weitergeführt, handelt es sich doch um die erfolgreichsten SF-Serien im deutschen Taschenbuch. Wir würden uns über einen Besuch auf der Spielwarenmesse Nürnberg (Halle 11.0, Stand F 71) freuen, um Sie über den aktuellen Stand zu informieren.
Werner Fuchs
Geschäftsführer
4.6 - Shadowrun Universe and RPG Continue On!
CHICAGO, IL—February 19, 2001— It is with great pleasure that WizKids LLC and Fantasy Productions of Germany announce that the popular world of Shadowrun will continue to be published.
The game will go forward under the direction of Jordan Weisman, the co-creator of the Shadowrun universe; supervised by Mike Mulvihill, the long-time Shadowrun developer at FASA Corporation; and backed by Fantasy Productions, the German publisher of Shadowrun.
Fantasy Productions has made valuable contributions to the world of Shadowrun for years, and has now committed to publish new material in both German and English.
Werner Fuchs, President of Fantasy Productions, expressed his pleasure in being able to continue the Shadowrun line: "We originally translated and distributed Shadowrun because of the quality and originality of the product. Continuing to publish Shadowrun was a very natural conclusion." Jordan Weisman adds, “Many concerned eyes were on us, waiting to see what would become of Shadowrun. We’re excited that we were able to continue the line so quickly.”
The game's many players and fans will be pleased to learn that the releases planned by FASA Corporation are still slated for publication, with the first product, Year of the Comet, coming soon.
About WizKids
Founded by Jordan Weisman, WizKids is a Chicago-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating a new genre of fantasy games that are more accessible and more sophisticated than traditional fantasy adventure genres.