Well after years of debate it is official CCG and TCG giant and creator of such hit games as Heroclix, Mechwarrior, and Pirates of the Spanish Main is no more. Owned by the TOPPS corporation a mega mainstay of the Sporting Cards industry has decided to disolve Wizkids as of yesterday November 10th 2008 and refocus on their Sports franchises. Sadly all games at this point are canceled including Mechwarrior, Heroclix, Haloclix, Horrorclix, Pirates of the Cursed Seas, and Star Wars Pocketmodel Battles among others. While there may be some hope left for Heroclix one of the Industries highest selling items, the rest are DONE.
As a die hard gamer I feel for the players of those games. The Gaming Industry has been hit hard in the last few months with companies downsizing and in this case ceasing to exist. Wizards of the Coast famous for it's D&D RPG(Role-playing Game) has had massive cut backs in staff and even canceled their highly popular D&D Minature Skirmish game in favor of a different strategy. Other games have been put on notice as well that things better get better or they would be facing the Axe as well. Their Star Wars Miniatures game(the top selling Collectible Miniature Game) has had it's sets reduced from 60 to 40 piece sets and could see price increases in the near future. Avalon Hill's Axis & Allies Miniature game (also produced by Wotc) has also seen drastic cut backs in set size and prize suport. I can only hope Star Wars miniatures isn't next to go. Only time will tell I guess.
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914
Could this be the end of collectible Miniature games? I certainly hope not, but things are indeed looking bleek. My life will be a lot emptier without these games. However I feel Wizkids kinda shot themselves in the foot on this one with some dreadful games and poor support of others. I am a huge fan of thier Pirates line and it will be missed. R.I.P my friends and may you all go down with your ships.
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