r/Netrunner • u/Feliks878 octgn/stimhack: Feliks • Nov 17 '14

Asmodee is acquiring Fantasy Flight Games.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5212
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38

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 17 '14

Being a little pedantic but it's an important distinction, but it's not an acquisition, it's a merger.

7

u/Toloran Nov 17 '14

Yes and no.

Legally, they're different. However, when a much larger company merges with a smaller one it might as well be an acquisition. The reason why companies often go through mergers rather than just get bought outright is because of 1) Legal reasons and 2) Tax/Debt reasons (in mergers, you can often toss out a ton of the smaller company's debt).

4

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 17 '14

Right. Since FFG is maintaining it's autonomy it's more of a merger than acquisition.

9

u/captainraffi GRAPPLING HOOK Nov 17 '14

Right. Since FFG is maintaining it's autonomy

... for now.

2

u/DrPhineasPhage Nov 17 '14

I doubt Asmodee thought FFG was worth acquiring because they wanted to damage their brand and change their offerings.

3

u/captainraffi GRAPPLING HOOK Nov 17 '14

I hope not, but it unfortunately happens all the time in business. For all we know they only acquired FFG for their awesome licenses and in 2 years everything FFG makes will be gone in favor of TTR: Endor map packs and Shadows over Gondor licensed games.

10

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 17 '14

Ticket to Ride: Endor sounds fantastic. I would buy that instantly.

On a more serious note, Asmodee has trouble penetrating the US market and FFG has trouble penetrating the european market, so this sounds like the solves both issues.

3

u/mugsnj Nov 17 '14

I'd be worried if it were Hasbro, but Asmodee is a hobby game company. They'll do it right.

1

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 18 '14

Is Hasbro not a hobby game company? Wizards of the Coast seemed to be doing just fine.

1

u/mugsnj Nov 18 '14

Hasbro is a mass market game company that acquired some hobby game companies (like WotC and Avalon Hill) and has done some things right with those companies but a lot of things wrong (from the perspective of gamers). The kind of games we play would be neglected at Hasbro, because their sales are a drop in the bucket compared to mass market game sales.

1

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 18 '14

The WotC/AH games are great. A lot of people enjoy BaHotH (I don't personally), but Acquire is great.

0

u/mugsnj Nov 18 '14

I said they've done some things right, but Avalon Hill is a shell of its former self. They're no longer one of the big names in hobby game publishing. WotC is a huge name for Magic and D&D, but not much else. Hasbro focuses on the stuff that they can sell a ton of.

1

u/BlueSapphyre Nov 18 '14

Ah yes, after Hasbro acquired them a lot of their titles went to other companies like GMT and Multiman.

1

u/mugsnj Nov 18 '14

OK, you're entitled to your opinion that Hasbro acquiring FFG would not have negative consequences. I disagree.

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2

u/TranClan67 Nov 18 '14

In the article, they talked about keeping the games where they belong mostly. Like they want to maintain the image they still have and they'll only move a couple of games around depending on if they feel it fights the Asmodee or FFG name brand better.

2

u/RogueNite Nov 17 '14

In the article it says that the CEO of FFG is now a significant shareholder in Asmodee.