A lot of Traveller related tidbits here.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=557512
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=557512
The State of the Mongoose
- Thread starter RossWinn
- Start date
Rhialto the Marvelous
SOC-13
Say what you will, they are certainly ambitious.
But do I get this right: Essentially, they were bought by another company??
But do I get this right: Essentially, they were bought by another company??
No essentially about it. They sold themselves into being a subsidiary of Rebellion Group.
Patron Zero
SOC-13
Cancel Code Blue
The upside in general being that Traveller is off life support and actively 'breathing' again of it's own accord !
The upside in general being that Traveller is off life support and actively 'breathing' again of it's own accord !
Crossover goodness
Yes, thanks for the link. I'm particularly excited about the Babylon 5 - Traveller book. I've always felt that B5 felt very "Traveller-esque," so I think it will be a good fit.
Of course, I guess we'll need to buy it before year's end since they're not renewing their B5 license in 2009. Also, as I suspected by certain sidebars in the MGT corebook, they're opening up the rule set to support other SF settings.
Cheers all!
Yes, thanks for the link. I'm particularly excited about the Babylon 5 - Traveller book. I've always felt that B5 felt very "Traveller-esque," so I think it will be a good fit.
Of course, I guess we'll need to buy it before year's end since they're not renewing their B5 license in 2009. Also, as I suspected by certain sidebars in the MGT corebook, they're opening up the rule set to support other SF settings.
Cheers all!
Bishop Odo
SOC-12
No Traveller Miniatures......
saundby
SOC-14 1K
Not to mention giving life support to other systems--like B5. I'm interested to see how far they go with Traveller. If a media license brings more people to Trav, that's great for Trav. If fans of a particular media license get an RPG that transcends the usual here today gone tomorrow one-off game system, that's good for them!
I wouldn't say that 6 years of continued support (1st edition B5 RPG rulebook published in 2003) and numerous books detailing the universe is a "here today, gone tomorrow" system. It's a shame that the B5 line is now tailing off, but I suppose that's the business decision that had to be made. It no longer sells and Warner Brothers isn't making any more of the B5 franchise. JMS has also said he's also not now interested in making anything other than a movie, with a large budget. The B5 RPG is also based on the 3rd edition d20 OGL, and with 4th edition now out the interest in that game system has also about run dry.
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spinwardpirate
SOC-13
I'm surprised by that too. Lets hope they are doing a detailed study so they can hit us with a boatload in '10.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
PC and ship licenses are already in other hands, so those would need to sunset first.
zacharythefirst
SOC-8
I'm pleased that MGT sounds to be doing well. I'm curious to see which licenses from Mongoose end up utilizing the MGT ruleset, or a variant thereof.
Bishop Odo
SOC-12
I’m not sure about the licensing status of Traveller miniatures, but if you are talking about Mega miniatures, I thought they had limited rights, to do only do limited editions. Also it’s quite common in licensing agreements to have provisions that protect the integrity of an Intellectual property, if the holder causes harm to the IP or if the holders fails to produce items in a timely manner. Even quality or the lack of quality can be ground for the revoking of licensing agreement.
tbeard1999
SOC-14 1K
Reply Hazy; Try Again
Better loosen your belts and get comfortable, folks, it's gonna take awhile to see whether this is a Good Thing or not for us gamers.
The post lays out all the positives -- economies of scale, (theoretically) more resources, synergy oppoertunities, etc.
The negatives post-acquisition can be serious:
-Loss of talent. Depending on the deal terms, key employees might retire or otherwise leave the company.
-Non-Gamers in Charge. Mongoose, whatever its failings, always seemed to me to be a company run by gamers for gamers. That will change, now that it's a subsidiary of a non-gaming company. Hopefully, the gamers will still have considerable autonomy, but I'm not optimistic.
-Exposure of non-Gaming market risks. The downside of the extra resources that are theoretically available is that market forces having nothing to do with gaming can sink the whole venture. In tough times, unfamiliar operations are often the first to be cut. And we appear to be in tough times globally.
-Diffusion of Corporate Effort. RPGs may not bear many business similarities to comic books and computer games. Corporate management may not recognize that business strategies appropriate to their other products might not work for RPGs.
-Silly Accounting Tricks. Some companies will impute an internal expense factor to an acquired subsidiary to account for its cost. This idiotic and pernicious tactic can make the subsidiary look far less profitable than it really is, which moves it up a notch on the "where do we cut costs first" list. Some of the worst offenders manage to demoralize the subsidiary's workforce by basing bonuses on profitability, which is artificially depressed by the accounting trick.
-Perfidy. Occasionally, a company is acquired for very different reasons than the buyer admits. Typically, there's some intellectual property or somesuch that is the real goal of the purchase. Once the deal is done, the buyer either folds the acquired company, or starves it into oblivion. See what happened to SPI when it was bought by TSR for a prehistoric example of this.
-Bad Deal. Sometimes, the buyer can't really afford the company. Depending on the seller's legal counsel, leverage, etc., the seller may get the company back. More often, the buyer's bank has first lien on the company's assets. Litigation often ensues, which drains the slender resources further. The result is usually very grim for the subsidiary.
-You Lied. Sellers warrant a great many things about a company when they sell. If these things turn out to be wrong, sellers must pay the buyer some of the purchase price back. Litigation often ensues, as sellers try to avoid warranties and representations they actually made and disgruntled buyer try to hold seller accountable for warranties that the seller did not make. Note: anytime I say "litigation ensues", it's bad news for the company, the buyer, the seller, the customer...well, for everyone except peoplle like me, the lawyers.
Of course, there's no evidence whatsoever that any of this will happen in the Mongoose deal. But these are some of the things I've seen in 12+ years as a business lawyer.
Better loosen your belts and get comfortable, folks, it's gonna take awhile to see whether this is a Good Thing or not for us gamers.
The post lays out all the positives -- economies of scale, (theoretically) more resources, synergy oppoertunities, etc.
The negatives post-acquisition can be serious:
-Loss of talent. Depending on the deal terms, key employees might retire or otherwise leave the company.
-Non-Gamers in Charge. Mongoose, whatever its failings, always seemed to me to be a company run by gamers for gamers. That will change, now that it's a subsidiary of a non-gaming company. Hopefully, the gamers will still have considerable autonomy, but I'm not optimistic.
-Exposure of non-Gaming market risks. The downside of the extra resources that are theoretically available is that market forces having nothing to do with gaming can sink the whole venture. In tough times, unfamiliar operations are often the first to be cut. And we appear to be in tough times globally.
-Diffusion of Corporate Effort. RPGs may not bear many business similarities to comic books and computer games. Corporate management may not recognize that business strategies appropriate to their other products might not work for RPGs.
-Silly Accounting Tricks. Some companies will impute an internal expense factor to an acquired subsidiary to account for its cost. This idiotic and pernicious tactic can make the subsidiary look far less profitable than it really is, which moves it up a notch on the "where do we cut costs first" list. Some of the worst offenders manage to demoralize the subsidiary's workforce by basing bonuses on profitability, which is artificially depressed by the accounting trick.
-Perfidy. Occasionally, a company is acquired for very different reasons than the buyer admits. Typically, there's some intellectual property or somesuch that is the real goal of the purchase. Once the deal is done, the buyer either folds the acquired company, or starves it into oblivion. See what happened to SPI when it was bought by TSR for a prehistoric example of this.
-Bad Deal. Sometimes, the buyer can't really afford the company. Depending on the seller's legal counsel, leverage, etc., the seller may get the company back. More often, the buyer's bank has first lien on the company's assets. Litigation often ensues, which drains the slender resources further. The result is usually very grim for the subsidiary.
-You Lied. Sellers warrant a great many things about a company when they sell. If these things turn out to be wrong, sellers must pay the buyer some of the purchase price back. Litigation often ensues, as sellers try to avoid warranties and representations they actually made and disgruntled buyer try to hold seller accountable for warranties that the seller did not make. Note: anytime I say "litigation ensues", it's bad news for the company, the buyer, the seller, the customer...well, for everyone except peoplle like me, the lawyers.
Of course, there's no evidence whatsoever that any of this will happen in the Mongoose deal. But these are some of the things I've seen in 12+ years as a business lawyer.
You missed one that happened a few years back: Loss of licenses.
Being purchased can be grounds for loss of license. LUG found this out the hard way, as have a few other smaller companies.
when the "Legal You" ceases to be the "Legal You" by becoming grafted into the "Legal Them", the rights the "Legal You" had negotiated may not always transfer.
A huge part depends upon just how much Mongoose gets integrated... if it remains a separate company (a separate legal person) owned by the other company instead of Matthew, it is probably a non-issue. If it turns into a mere imprint within a larger company (as did TSR), it is a wholly different matter... TSR, however, only held a scant few licenses to be affected...
Being purchased can be grounds for loss of license. LUG found this out the hard way, as have a few other smaller companies.
when the "Legal You" ceases to be the "Legal You" by becoming grafted into the "Legal Them", the rights the "Legal You" had negotiated may not always transfer.
A huge part depends upon just how much Mongoose gets integrated... if it remains a separate company (a separate legal person) owned by the other company instead of Matthew, it is probably a non-issue. If it turns into a mere imprint within a larger company (as did TSR), it is a wholly different matter... TSR, however, only held a scant few licenses to be affected...
tbeard1999
SOC-14 1K
Just one?
Yes, that's a covenant that the Seller can inadvertently breach. Typically, licenses are non-transferable, so a sale will cancel the license. More accurately, the company sells its assets to the buyer, but the license can't be transferred with those assets. Or, the company owners sell their stock, but the license agreement terminates the license if a significant ownership change occurs. Sometimes, license agreements provide for transferability (usually with licensor's approval and maybe a fee).
Typically, these matters are handled in due dilligence, but small deals might not cover them.
In my experience, being a subsidiary is not much protection in the Real World. The reason is that the sub usually relies on the parent for accounting, personnel, IT, etc., as well as for funding. The parent usually controls the board of directors and is, of course, the majority (or sole) shareholder. The decision to maintain a legal subsidiary is often the result of tax and liability issues.
Kaveman Koder
SOC-12
I desperately hope the changes that happened to 2000AD after they where assimilated, don't happen to Traveller.
ThunderChilde
SOC-13
Okay, I am ignorant of what happened to 2000AD, or even precisely what 2000AD is or was. I have vague memories of a British comic book, but that's all I got.
Kaveman Koder
SOC-12
Yeah, it was a great british comic book. IMO the best comic on the market. After it was taken over it quickly became another ho hum comic.
It was then I caned my subscription.
It was then I caned my subscription.
It was a weekly comics sheet, carrying several different storylines and comics.
Most well known: Judge Dredd. Also, Rogue Trooper.
Mostly Sci-Fi, with Horror overtones.
Recently, it's a full fledged Mag, and the Signal:Noise ratio is much worse...1:2 or more... 1:3 if you are just buying for the comics. (I used to subscribe to it via my FLGS... price went up, total strip content went down, and Dredd content went down... I bought it solely for the Dredd and related strips.)
