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It almost seemed inevitable, and now it has come to pass – Fantasy Flight Games just announced price increases for many of its product lines. Citing “energy, commodity, and labor prices” as the sources of “tremendous upward pressure on manufacturing pricing”, FFG plans to adjust its prices upward by 10%-25% as of November 1st. The higher prices will be applied to most FFG products – see the official price sheet here. The sold-out preorders of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game will not be affected by the price increase and remain priced at $39.95, though the second and subsequent printings will carry a $49.95 price tag. At the same time, FFG will discontinue its policy of net pricing, allowing retail and distribution customers a larger discount on big orders. It’s hard to say if this will cause the company’s holiday season orders to take a downturn, since FFG still has the quality to make the price worthwhile. See the full press release below.

Fantasy Flight Games press release follows:

FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES TO INCREASE PRICES ON GAME PRODUCTS, ELIMINATE NET PRICING STRUCTURE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Roseville, MN, USA (September 5, 2008) Fantasy Flight Games (“FFG”) announced today that it will increase its suggested retail prices on a wide range of its products, while simultaneously eliminating the Net Pricing wholesale structure it has carried on select product lines. The price increases are broad reaching, affecting most board game and card game SKUs with increases in the 10%-25% range.

“There has been tremendous upward pressure on manufacturing pricing during the last three years,” said FFG founder and CEO Christian T. Petersen. “FFG has for long fought extremely hard to create and retain maximum value in its products for the gaming audience. This is something that we’ll continue to do. However, with energy, commodity, and labor prices affecting every stage of our our business, we now find it necessary to make a rare correction,” he continued. “Even with the price increases that we announce here today, I still think that our customers will find FFG products among the best values in the industry.”

Price changes on existing inventory items will take place on November 1st, 2008, while prices increases on upcoming new releases will take place with immediate effect. A detailed list of new prices and their effective date, has been made available on FFG’s website: www.fantasyflightgames.com and will be sent today to FFG’s retail and distributor customers.

Battlestar Galactica®: The Board Game, FFG’s most anticipated fourth quarter release, will retain its SRP of $39.95 for the first wave of product (which is currently sold out on pre-orders, and scheduled to arrive in October), increasing to $49.95 for the second wave (scheduled for late November).

Simultaneous with the November 1st pricing increase, FFG will eliminate the net pricing structure it has maintained on select products such as War of the Ring® and StarCraft®: The Board Game, among others. As a result of this, FFG will then exclusively sell wholesale items to retailers and distributors on its standard discount-based structure.

John Grams, FFG’s Business Development Manager, noted “In conjunction with this necessary price correction, we have decided to simplify our pricing structure to the advantage of our retail customers. Just a short while ago, we eliminated Net Pricing on the Rackham product line, and today we’re pleased to eliminate Net Pricing at FFG entirely. With a single discount structure, our wholesale customers will now be able to look at any FFG product and know with
confidence what their price will be.”

About Fantasy Flight Games
Located in Roseville, Minnesota, Fantasy Flight Games is a publisher of board, card, miniatures, and role-playing games. Since it was founded by its CEO Christian T. Petersen in 1995, Fantasy Flight has published hundreds of successful titles, including World of Warcraft: The Board Game, the Lord of the Rings series of board games; board and card games based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and many original board games such as Twilight Imperium, Runebound, and Descent: Journeys in the Dark. For more information, visit the Fantasy Flight Games website at www.fantasyflightgames.com.