Back in May 2008, Tenacious Games, publisher of The Spoils TCG, announced the company would cease operations. Now, eight months later, fans of the extravagantly-promoted game – first launched in 2006 – have new hope in the form of a new owner. According to a Spoils website news post, the rights and property of the company now belong to a group or company called Arcane Tinmen. Josh Lytle and Patrick Meehan of Tenacious Games will be helping out with the game’s relaunch. Certain portions of the announcement may give you flashbacks to other bankrupcy announcements from the past year. In any case, bravo for saving games that still have life in them. … The Spoils has life in it, right?
Lots of Spoils prize money was owed to players when Tenacious went under. My concern is that the top player base will have turned sour against the game and keep that sentiment with new owners. The Spoils is a fun game with novel IP, but the new owners may bring baggage with them that they didn’t pack…
I don’t have any baggage against the previous company. I never bought any of the game even though I loved the artwork. I wouldn’t be against buying from the new owners but, if they stick with the TCG model, I’ll pick it up the way I do most CCGs – when its dead and gone off of ebay.
James, I think in the current recession lots of players are going to agree with you. I don’t think that’s so much to do with The Spoils as it has to do with the market as a whole.
“the rights and property of the company now belong to a group or company called Arcane Tinmen”
I’m sure the acquisition rights was the best $9.95 Arcane Tinmen ever spent.
“game’s relaunch”
A former VP at Wizards of the Coast used to have a marvelous presentation he’d give about how suicidal it is for any company to launch a TCG. I forget what single percentage figure he had of the number of TCGs launched in the last 10 years that had survived longer than 24 months but it was something like 2 or 3 percent, I believe, and there was no assumption that all of those were actually turning profits.
Now to launch during a recession? Are your chances of success now down to … 1% … maybe? This is just throwing good money after bad. Honestly, they would most likely make a better return playing the blackjack tables in Reno.
– InQuest out of business
– Scrye out of business
– C&GR out of business
– VS System cancelled
– WizKids defunct
– WOTC and Diamond layoffs
– GENCON struggling out of bankruptcy
= hobby over
it had a good run