First up, let me say that Posthuman’s Catalyst / BattleShop Amnesy Program is a good move and a great gesture from Posthuman and Adam Jury.
In short, if you bought Eclipse Phase RPG products from Catalyst Games’ BattleShop then Posthuman will replace your products. This matters because PDF RPGs sometimes update and without a valid product you won’t get this update.
In the deal you get %100 of your money back in coupons so you can re-buy the game over at DriveThruRPG.
By the way, Eclipse Phase normally costs £35 but is currently on sale for about £10. I’m going to buy a copy.
So how come Posthuman are dishing out coupons in the first place?
A quick check of Posthuman co-founder Rob Boyle’s blog confirms that Eclipse Phase was licensed to Catalyst Games Labs back on October 2009.
Skip a head to April 2010 and over that the Eclipse blog Rob is writing about taking back control of the Eclipse Phase IP.
The same blog post has a snippet from a press release announcing Catalyst Games Labs wouldn’t be working with either WildFire and Posthuman Studios any more.
This press release makes it sound as if Catalyst Games Labs had to call the end of things – perhaps due to the economy – to focus on their core BattleTech and Shadowrun lines.
Catalyst Game Labs is currently engaged in negotiations to end its agreements with WildFire and Posthuman Studios. Once the terms are finalized, Catalyst will no longer publish CthulhuTech or Poo: The Card Game for WildFire, nor will they co develop and publish Eclipse Phase for Posthuman Studios.
“It’s been fantastic to be involved with growing CthulhuTech alongside WildFire, while also launching Posthuman Studios’ Eclipse Phase,” said Randall Bills, Managing Developer. “We love both of these universes and want to seem them grow and flourish. However, in our current situation we need to re-focus on our core brands of BattleTech and Shadowrun, while developing our original games. As such, while we are parting ways with both companies, we’ll be doing everything we can to support WildFire and Posthuman Studios as they assume the full mantle for their game lines.”
It could well that Adam’s choice of the word “Amnesty” is simply due to dramatic flair. I suspect that’s true.
But I also suspect both companies (as companies should do) tussled for the financial upper hand.
Not sure what Catalyst Games Labs offered to Posthuman in exchange for selling their products – but it would have to be something more than just virtual shelf space. That’s easily enough found at DriveThruRPG/RPGnow.
I doubt the two companies ever actually went to war – but I bet it was tense.
I’m glad that fans loyal enough to pay for the PDF game haven’t been caught up and caught up in the exchange. Two thumbs up to Posthuman for the coupon program.
