Board games based on Star Wars or Marvel should sell like hot cakes—but apparently that's not the case, at least not in the German-speaking market. Asmodee is indirectly burying two titles: Star Wars Shatterpoint and Marvel Crisis Protocol. Localizations for both miniatures games are being discontinued.
The Marvel: Crisis Protocol and Star Wars Shatterpoint game series will soon be available in multilingual versions. This was announced by Asmodee Germany. What sounds like progress is actually a drastic step backward. What Asmodee doesn't say, but means: there will no longer be German translations for either game. Instead, the advertised multilingual packages will only contain English, Spanish, and French texts. New versions of rulebooks or tournament materials available online will also no longer be translated.
Material remains compatible, but fans are annoyed
Asmodee Germany explicitly states that the lines will not be discontinued. However, this effectively means burying both games. Fans of Star Wars: Imperial Assault, for example, know how the market reacts to such strategies. While there is a dedicated community, the topic is pushed aside in public and then forgotten. Star Wars Imperial Assault plays a virtually non-existent role in the board game scene anymore. Fans of Shatterpoint and Marvel Crisis Protocol now fear that both games could suffer a similar fate – and initial reactions on social media suggest exactly that. Younger players would be effectively excluded due to a lack of language skills; for newcomers, both miniature games will no longer be particularly attractive.
However, the material remains compatible, Asmodee says. Theoretically, fans will be able to purchase the multilingual accessory packs in the future and combine them with their existing inventory—and thus also with the German-language material. Those participating in Organized Play may play without English. Everyone else will now have to weigh up whether further investment in the two game series is even worthwhile. Anyone who has Marvel Crisis Protocol or Star Wars If you play Shatterpoint purely as a casual game, you might be satisfied with just a basic box set – but the future doesn't look particularly rosy anymore.
Bundles and sales promotions may have already indicated that something wasn't quite right with the licensed lines. Asmodee has provided a "final reason to stay away from these two games," commented one Facebook user under the publisher's announcement. Such a decision is also a blow to retailers, as new releases from game series and accessory lines provide constant incentives to buy and promote customer loyalty. "This is putting a huge damper on our small, growing local community, and I fear our trusted store will also suffer," reads one comment on Facebook.
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Fans also fear that Star Wars Legion could suffer a similar fate. So far, however, Asmodee has played it down: Legion will continue to be translated into German, the Essen-based publisher and distributor announced. One problem: Such strategies undermine fans' trust in long-term support for product lines. Players may think twice before buying new releases—especially since Asmodee, or rather, Atomic Mass Games, recently discontinued the Star Wars X-Wing and Star Wars Armada series. With the transfer of the series to Atomic Mass Games, a kind of rift seems to have occurred anyway.
Fans are disappointed, especially those who jumped on the German version of Marvel Crisis Protocol. The miniatures game wasn't initially available in a localized version, but that changed, but not for a particularly long time. "That's a really bad decision," commented one Facebook user.
In Star Wars Shatterpoint, the two squad packs “Deploy the Garrison” and “All the Way” as well as the mission pack “First Contact” will now be released in German, then it will be over.
