Palladium Books’ license to produce games based on the Robotech property "is not being renewed," Palladium founder and President Kevin Siembieda wrote on Kickstarter.  The Wave Two rewards for Kickstarter backers of the game, who pledged $1.44 million, will not be produced.  Backers were offered additional Wave One products in fulfillment of their pledges if they pay shipping, as Palladium does not have sufficient funds to cover shipping costs.

Palladium, which held the Robotech license off and on for 30 years, will produce no additional Robotech game products.  The company had the license from 1986-2000, and regained it in 2003 (see "Palladium Announces 'Robotech RPG'").

Backers, who have been fuming for years, were not happy, based on the tone of the over 200 first-day comments on Siembieda’s Kickstarter update, many threatening legal action and other dire repercussions.  The Kickstarter was funded in May 2013, and Wave One of the fulfillment shipped in October 2014.  The product was also released to trade at that time.

As recently as late 2016, Palladium had announced a new Robotech RPG Tactics book, a Robotech RPG book, and said they were getting manufacturing quotes for Wave Two (see "Palladium Plans New Books for 'Robotech'").  None were produced.

Siembieda provided a lengthy explanation of the travails of the project, which stemmed from higher-than-expected costs, the decision to produce extra inventory of Wave One products to sell into trade, and the less-than-expected sales of those products, all of which ate up the money from the Kickstarter before Wave Two products were produced.  A search for investors to fund production was unsuccessful.  "The cost to produce Wave Two, estimated at $300,000-$400,000 for tooling and manufacturing, plus $65,000 to import to the USA, plus $120,000-$160,000 to ship rewards to backers, was more than any potential investor was willing to risk," Siembieda wrote.

While this outcome is not unexpected for those that have been watching this project’s developments over the past years, it’s a sad day for a long-time hobby game company and those who backed this project.