Fantasy Flight Games has announced that it will release its new edition of Richard Hamblen’s Merchant of Venus board game in February.  This is notable because in October both FFG and Stronghold Games announced that they were releasing new versions of the board game of space trading originally published by Avalon Hill in 1988.  FFG got its license from Hasbro/Avalon Hill while Stronghold had signed a contract with the game’s designer (see “Dueling Merchants”).

 

When contacted by ICv2, Stronghold’s Stephen Buonocare declined comment on the potential FFG release of the Merchant of Venus game in February, but referred to previously published remarks on the situation, which expressed admiration for Fantasy Flight Games and a hope that the two parties who issued the licenses (Richard Hamblen and Hasbro, which claims that it acquired the rights when it purchased Avalon Hill) will come to some sort of resolution of their differences.

FFG did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

 

If FFG does release its updated version of Merchant of Venus, which according to FFG “remains true to the game’s magnificently campy core while expanding the game in surprising ways that will cause even the most hardcore fan to celebrate,”  it appears unlikely that Stronghold Games will publish its version based on remarks made by Stronghold’s Kevin Nesbit quoted on Boardgame Geek.  

FFG’s Merchant of Venus is listed for shipping in February with an MSRP of $59.95.