Fast Forward has announced that it will be the 'sales and distribution arm' for both existing and upcoming Classic Battletech, Shadowrun, and Dark Eye games effective May 1, 2002. Fast Forward will also distribute existing inventory (there will be no new releases) on Vor, Crucible, and Crimson Skies games; as well as Battletech and Shadowrun novels. The first release under the new regime will be Shadowrun: Shadows of North America, a Shadowrun location sourcebook ($25.00), which has a release date of May 13.
All of the above except Dark Eye are FASA properties that were sold to WizKids, LLC when FASA shut down (see 'FASA Fades Away'). WizKids later licensed the rights to produce new RPGs based on those properties to German game publisher FanPro (then Fantasy Productions, see 'FASA's Shadowrun Not Done Yet'); the inventory remained at FASA. That's why this deal actually involves four companies: Fast Forward, WizKids, FanPro, and FASA.
In addition to the rights to sell the old FASA inventory, Fast Forward also will have the rights to sell the products that FanPro created -- five Shadowrun products, and one Battletech sku.
The Classic Battletech mentioned above refers to the RPG property originally created by FASA. Battletech, sans moniker, will be the name of the new WizKids miniature game (see 'WizKids Announces Battletech CMG'). Dark Eye, the non-FASA game to be distributed by Fast Forward, is a FanPro creation, and is the most popular German RPG ever (behind D&D).
Got all that? There will be a quiz later.
The FanPro products mentioned above had been distributed in the past by Ron Magin's Caf? Games, which also handles US distribution for other European games. FanPro went to Fast Forward, according to VP Sales and Marketing John Danovich, because it was 'looking for wider distribution than they were getting.'
Twenty new products are planned for release through the end of 2002, plus a number of reprints, as follows:
Shadowrun: six new, plus four reprints.
Battletech: six new, plus two reprints including a reprint of the box set, a key sku.
Dark Eye: seven new.
New products will carry three logos on their covers, a heavy weight--Fast Forward, FanPro, and WizKids.
This sales volume will undoubtedly prove to be substantial, and will further accelerate the growth of Fast Forward, which has been a busy company in recent months, acquiring two magazines (see 'Fast Forward Acquires Games Unplugged' and 'Fast Forward Takes Over Campaign') and mounting an aggressive game publishing schedule (for example, 'Wondrous Items of Power').
