Hasbro, WOTC, Marvel, DC

[clonedpoop]

Since WOTC is taking over Heroscape (according to another thread), how will this affect the licensing for Marvel Heroscape and any potential DC heroscape sets? Will the Marvel expansion still be produced?

Any official news from HouseMouse or Pulp Fiction would be much appreciated.

Here's to hoping for more Marvel Expansions and a DC cross-over

[ArgosCap]

Oye.

1. We don't know WOTC is taking over yet (although it does seem likely).

2. Switching to WOTC will probably have little or no effect on licensing agreements, since Hasbro is the parent company of WOTC. I'm pretty sure WOTC published at least one version of the Marvel RPG (SAGA edition, anyone know?), so I think there is already a direct pre-existing relationship.

3. It is still EXTREMELY unlikely that DC will ever be licensed to 'Scape, since Mattel has a contract with DC. I think that's been stated like 8 billion times in the Marvel threads. If they do any more licensed brands, we'd be far more likely to see Star Wars, Transformers, or GI Joe, though I will personally be happy if they even continue with Marvel. Keeping my fingers crossed for GI Joe, since there is a movie coming out in '09.

[nyys]

Originally Posted by ArgosCap

Keeping my fingers crossed for GI Joe, since there is a movie coming out in '09.

I am sooooo the last to know everything... but now that I do 1/2 the battle is over.

YAY GI JOE MOVIE!

[ej]

Originally Posted by clonedpoop

Since WOTC is taking over Heroscape (according to another thread), how will this affect the licensing for Marvel Heroscape and any potential DC heroscape sets? Will the Marvel expansion still be produced?

Any official news from HouseMouse or Pulp Fiction would be much appreciated.

Here's to hoping for more Marvel Expansions and a DC cross-over

Conventional Wisdom has it that there will not be a DC-scape, for reasons stated above. As for cold, hard facts regarding the future of all 'scape, there is talk of an announcement this Wednesday from Hasbro, or WotC, or Craig, or somebody... not sure who.

Welcome to the site, by the way.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by ArgosCap

2. Switching to WOTC will probably have little or no effect on licensing agreements, since Hasbro is the parent company of WOTC. I'm pretty sure WOTC published at least one version of the Marvel RPG (SAGA edition, anyone know?), so I think there is already a direct pre-existing relationship.

I believe that the SAGA edition was actually published by TSR a number of years prior to Wizards' purchase of TSR. AFAIK, Wizards hasn't ever had a license with Marvel until Hasbro got the huge license a year ago.

Originally Posted by ArgosCap

3. It is still EXTREMELY unlikely that DC will ever be licensed to 'Scape, since Mattel has a contract with DC. I think that's been stated like 8 billion times in the Marvel threads. If they do any more licensed brands, we'd be far more likely to see Star Wars, Transformers, or GI Joe, though I will personally be happy if they even continue with Marvel. Keeping my fingers crossed for GI Joe, since there is a movie coming out in '09.

Interestingly, I think a case could be made that a transition to Wizards could actually make a DC version of the game slightly more likely than it would have been under Hasbro. With the size of Hasbro, they go for big licenses that cover a broad swath of possible toys and collectibles. Wizards being a smaller branch may find it worth their effort to negotiate a specific, targeted license for just a Heroscape game that Mattel might allow to be made (if they don't have an idea for a game similar to Heroscape in the works themselves).

Still, I think a DC version is incredibly unlikely, even with a transition of the game to Wizards.

[aerofool]

Originally Posted by "Jer

Wizards being a smaller branch may find it worth their effort to negotiate a specific, targeted license for just a Heroscape game that Mattel might allow to be made (if they don't have an idea for a game similar to Heroscape in the works themselves).

I would not be surprised if Mattel doesn't have a DC based hex game in the works. Has anyone really looked at the comic characters section of your fave toy store lately? Mattel now has the "build a character figs" where you get a leg or arm of a much larger character with each regular sized figure. That was a Marvel/Hasbro thing first. Mattel also has a version of Marvels failed "dueling 3" figures."

[Jer]

Originally Posted by aerofool

I would not be surprised if Mattel doesn't have a DC based hex game in the works. Has anyone really looked at the comic characters section of your fave toy store lately? Mattel now has the "build a character figs" where you get a leg or arm of a much larger character with each regular sized figure. That was a Marvel/Hasbro thing first. Mattel also has a version of Marvels failed "dueling 3" figures."

Frankly, I'd be happy with that. I'd be surprised if it was a "hex-based" game (since that would be an incredibly obvious rip-off), but maybe a grid-based game like Star Wars Epic Duels or HeroClix.

As long as the figure size was roughly 25-28mm I'd be ecstatic. Because I'm fairly certain that they'd become Heroscape customs pretty darn quick. And I could stop tracking down DC HeroClix figures in my local gaming stores to use as custom Heroscape heroes. They might not be as good as what we'd get from the official developers and testers, but I think they'd be "good enough" to give my the DC fix I want. (And who knows - if we're REALLY lucky Mattel could come up with a skirmish game that was good).

[Granite-M]

Originally Posted by Jer

Frankly, I'd be happy with that. I'd be surprised if it was a "hex-based" game (since that would be an incredibly obvious rip-off), but maybe a grid-based game like Star Wars Epic Duels or HeroClix.

As long as the figure size was roughly 25-28mm I'd be ecstatic. Because I'm fairly certain that they'd become Heroscape customs pretty darn quick. And I could stop tracking down DC HeroClix figures in my local gaming stores to use as custom Heroscape heroes. They might not be as good as what we'd get from the official developers and testers, but I think they'd be "good enough" to give my the DC fix I want. (And who knows - if we're REALLY lucky Mattel could come up with a skirmish game that was good).

The funny thing to me is how much obvious enthusiasm there is for a DC'Scape, but that the parent companies just can't play nice.

Clearly, looking at the customs threads, there's a tremendous demand for the crossover. Lots of money to be made, but the corporate guys can't get their heads out of their collective recta.

It's as if we were like "Hey, DC and Hasbro, we'd like to give you piles of money, and all you have to do is share the sandbox and play nice," and they were like "Waaaugh! I wants my lolly alls to myself! [/poop pants]"

Joke's on them. More money for us.

[Tiak]

I think this is a well thought out plan to get at Wizkids and the Heroclix market.
In my opinion, Wizards of the coast was at least partly responsible for Mage Knight getting cancelled. As an avid heroclix player when I heard about Marvel Heroscape i was floored and surprised that people at Wizkids(Who I contacted) seemed to be unconcerned.
After getting the Marvel heroscape set I was very impressed with the quality of the figures and packaging and felt that this could eventually become a threat to Heroclix especially since Wizkids has ben plagued with their long running issues with Quality.
Granted, Heroclix and Heroscape plays differently but in the end they are both Miniature strategy games. The only real advantage Wizkids?Heroclix has is Organized play and the number of figures they have in their sets. As a casual player Approved play means nothing to me and I can use Heroclix figures in Heroscape with some custom cards and photoshop until Heroscape gets more figures.
Now with Wizards of the Coast taking over the Heroscape line I can only draw thge conclusion that Wizards of the coast is eyeing the unhappy Heroclix fans out there. Wizkids claims to be unconcerned. if I was Wizkids i would be concerned.

[Granite-M]

Originally Posted by Tiak

I think this is a well thought out plan to get at Wizkids and the Heroclix market.
In my opinion, Wizards of the coast was at least partly responsible for Mage Knight getting cancelled. As an avid heroclix player when I heard about Marvel Heroscape i was floored and surprised that people at Wizkids(Who I contacted) seemed to be unconcerned.
After getting the Marvel heroscape set I was very impressed with the quality of the figures and packaging and felt that this could eventually become a threat to Heroclix especially since Wizkids has ben plagued with their long running issues with Quality.
Granted, Heroclix and Heroscape plays differently but in the end they are both Miniature strategy games. The only real advantage Wizkids?Heroclix has is Organized play and the number of figures they have in their sets. As a casual player Approved play means nothing to me and I can use Heroclix figures in Heroscape with some custom cards and photoshop until Heroscape gets more figures.
Now with Wizards of the Coast taking over the Heroscape line I can only draw thge conclusion that Wizards of the coast is eyeing the unhappy Heroclix fans out there. Wizkids claims to be unconcerned. if I was Wizkids i would be concerned.

You can look at it as a matter of a carrot and a stick. The carrot is the piles of money to be made if they can play nice. The stick is the possibility of license-based Heroscape horning in on / overshadowing the HeroClix market.

I should think that Wizkids is likely to do one of two things:

1) They ignore the problem and hope it goes away. HeroScape then either takes enough of their market share away from them that they are crushed, doesn't make that much of a dent in their demographic, or remains as a separate but equal competitor (least likely, in my opinion).

2) They bite the bullet and figure out some way to sign a contract with WotC / Hasbro. We get a greatly expanded ComicsScape, they make lots of money, mana falls from Heaven, and all is right with the world.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by Granite-M

It's as if we were like "Hey, DC and Hasbro, we'd like to give you piles of money, and all you have to do is share the sandbox and play nice," and they were like "Waaaugh! I wants my lolly alls to myself! [/poop pants]"

Joke's on them. More money for us.

Actually, this is all about the "exclusive licensing deals". I'm sure DC gets a good chunk of change from Mattel to have an exclusive license on all DC toys and games. And I'm just as sure that Mattel felt that they had to do it to counter the exclusive license that Marvel signed with Hasbro. The amount of money that either company is going to make on games from those licenses pales in comparison to the amount of money they'll make on action figures.

So really it's more like "Hey DC and Hasbro we'd like to give you piles of money" and DC, Hasbro, Marvel and Mattel all look at the money and say "Hm - those piles seem kind of small. We've got much bigger piles that we're playing in - thanks anyway!"

Again, with WotC moving into the picture the scale changes. But, I think, not quite so much yet that we're likely to see any movement on this front. I'm just concerned that they get the Marvel game up and running again - it stalled out of the gate but I'm still convinced that the Marvel game could very well be a huge game in the market if WotC puts some effort into it.

[Tiak]

Wizkids has a five year head start on Heroscape. And it appears that there will not be DC Heroscape due to Licensing agreements.
But Marvel Has lots of characters to draw on and Heroscape is a good,solid game that could work in the Approved play/Tournament scene.
What Wizkids/Heroclix had going for them before was the compactness and ease of learning/playing. With All the Feat and Battlefield condition cards, the new special Abilites, Key words, rules and restrictions to approved play that is no longer the case. At this point Heroscape is more flexible, Easier to play and a lot less tight.
And Quality is a big Issue with Heroclix. I had to do a few repaints of some Heroscape figures but there have never been any issues with damaged or missing figures or mismatched/missing cards in Heroscape.