FFG, Your not so cool(well... maybe).

[HonorforONEFilms]

So I'm in this trade and I might be able to finally sell my set of Battlelore. So I'm checking my stuff and it's prices with his stuff and it's prices. Well As most of you'll know Battlelore used to be owned by Days of Wonder and retailed at 60. So the game gets a little older and most of the expansion are put out, fan base starts to die down when FFG buys it from DOW. They then sit on it for a year until the put out two expansions. Then they decide to jack up the price for the game that's even older now, to 80. FFG, your not so cool. Most of your games may be astoundingly amazing but the collectors edition of WOTR is not worth 600$.I mean! The 30 anniversary of settlers(with not only painted pieces but 3D terrain) was only 300. And that game is way better anyway! So here's what I said in the pm. Note I was checking these things as I was righting them.

So lets just price the two games at 20 for Supreme Commander and 15 for Starcraft(wether you have the chest or not) So that's 35 total. Battlelore is going at... WHAT! 80!$! I bought it off eBay for 40! And Days of Wonder released it for 60! At this point my religious believes hold me from expressing my true opinion of FFG

So am I alone in thinking that FFG is wildly overpricing it's games or are their other frustrated gamers out their too?

I really want Starcraft. But at 80 I'm just not sure. I might one day give into the temptation(and that might be today) but I hate to pay that much for a board game. And anything in the three digits for a single game with no expansions is outrageous. It seems to be a lot like white dwarf. Amazing but not that amazing. Maybe we could organize a universal gamers boycot on FFG till they lower their prices by twenty bucks for each base game. Okay rant over. What do you'll think? I'd like to hear someones else opinion and/or rant.

[Forsaken Poptart]

Take into consideration the time and effort that goes into each game, not to mention the production costs, and I think you'll find their prices aren't too ridiculous. I've listened to interviews with the various game designers and staff (Thank you, D6G!), and they really put a lot of work into each one; these people love their games, but wouldn't make them if they couldn't make a decent living off of them.

Bottom line is- your wallet may ache just thinking about buying an FFG game (so does mine, believe me!), but I can't imagine their profit margins are terribly large, nor are they artificially inflating the prices just because they can. Take a peek over at BoardGameGeek and see if you can find a used copy, maybe? Or get a friend to go in with you on a game and buy their half out over time.

[reegsk]

On top of that, I see a lot of the nicer board games going for closer to $100 than to $50. Part of it may be simple inflation.

[getupandgo]

I think part of it is indeed inflation. A good board game when I was a kid was $20-30. That was *ahem* a little while ago, so add inflation, and $100 for a game isn't really all that out of line.

Another thing to keep in mind is production runs. Milton Bradley probably makes 1,000,000 of any particular game a year, that keeps the cost per unit very low. FFG might have runs of 10,000, which means much higher cost per unit to produce. That's the nature of production and making just about anything, and that definitely needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about price.

That said, I think FFG has some pretty fantastic games, and it also has some real horrible ones, that just rely on having a bunch of pieces. A friend of mine said that they often hide their poor game design behind a few stacks of cards and a lot of counters, and I think that's very accurate.

I usually wait for some feedback on one of their games before committing to getting it. I also have to say that I don't have enough time to actually play board games right now, so any further purchases are probably going to be put off a while just due to time constraints.

The 30 year settlers box was nice, but definitely NOT $300 nice. A local shop had one, and I checked it out because it did look cool, but even to a semi-fanatical player like myself, it's not worth anywhere near the asking price to me.

$600 for a LE game seems even more ridiculous, I hope it has real gold pieces in it or something. Now there's an idea for a limited edition game.

[HonorforONEFilms]

$600 for a LE game seems even more ridiculous, I hope it has real gold pieces in it or something. Now there's an idea for a limited edition game.

That's about what I thought. So I finally gave in today and bought Starcraft the Board game in store at 20% off. When I opened the box I was hid with the feeling I had been ripped off. Not because the game wont be amazing because I'm sure it will be but because they used the display graphics from starcraft one. This must have been a ploy for an expansion about a month out in which they will have the better graphics from the second one. That aside I still will love the game and maybe it will turn out to be worth my dollar. I'm already considering how I can paint them. Perhaps I could substitute the Terran models for space marines? But I'm not sure what the other two races would be

Oh and people please note, I don't think that FFg is not cool. On the contrary they are amazing, but I don't think that they are as amazing as there prices think they are(yet we still pay them?)

[reegsk]

. . .but I don't think that they are as amazing as there prices think they are(yet we still pay them?)

I think that's the heart of the matter. Hell, they'd probably charge $300 a game for non-LEs if they thought people would pay it. But yeah, we'll pay $100, so they'll charge it. That, and those reasons getup mentioned.

[starslayer]

Yes, amny players agree with you. FFG is over-pricing their games. WFRP3 is what? $100. The new BattleLore supplements are going for alot. I think Heroes was like $40 for 10 small figs.

Some games seem a better value. Look at Memoir 44. Its $40 for a fantastic game with a bunch of small figs/cards/dice/etc.