It's been a tough year for Decipher, maker of the Lord of the Rings and Star Trek CCGs.  It canceled much of its TCG line (see 'Decipher Stops Producing Three TCGs') and laid off employees (see 'Decipher Downsizes') earlier this year, has laid off more since, and has struggled to pay its bills.  A new initiative outside of the game field (see 'Decipher Announces 'Flick'') has not produced a visible turnaround to date. 

 

Last week local business publication Inside Business did a story on Norfolk-headquartered Decipher titled 'Is the Game Up at Decipher,' detailing the company's recent travails.  It reported that the ex-employees are not only talking about the layoffs, but about the fact that the company's health insurance has been canceled.  CEO and founder Warren Holland sold the company's headquarters building in July and moved the company to leased space nearby.  There is litigation, a lawsuit filed by Decipher against former CFO Rick Eddleman and Kathy Eddleman, with a hearing scheduled for later this month.  And a group of tournament winners is trying to get its cash prize winnings from the company. 

 

Last Friday, Holland posted a statement on the Decipher Website in which he acknowledged that '2005 has been a challenging year for Decipher,' and that they've 'reorganized to a more manageable size and making the adjustment to a smaller operation has been taxing on everyone.'   He answered the question we've heard asked many times in the past few months, 'Is Decipher going to make it,' by saying, 'I can tell you with absolute certainty the answer is yes.'  He said that 'rumors and stories tend to fly out of control and perspective gets distorted,' and countered news of familiar faces absent from the company by saying 'Decipher has more employees today than when we launched the Star Wars and Star Trek CCGs ten years ago.' 

 

Holland said that the company was beginning to ship out prize support and other shipments but that it was going to take six to eight weeks to catch up the backlog.  He said that he'd personally contacted cash prize winners and that the company hoped to have them paid off by the end of summer. 

 

Holland wrapped up by urging fans of the company's games to 'focus on the games and not the politics and business side of things.' 

 

Decipher was once the second-largest maker of CCGs in the market, and a licensed products powerhouse.  It created a lot of good will with its trading partners and fans over the years.  But in a difficult CCG market, with licenses from properties that are fading in popularity, Decipher has a tough road ahead to turn its business around.