Fantasy Flight Games was founded in 1995 on the shoulders of a single board game called Twilight Imperium, an epic space opera starring space cats and peace turtles. But as of this week, the Minnesota-based company’s biggest success is thanks to slightly more conventional space opera — fan favorite Star Wars.
The Star Wars: Unlimited trading card game, barely a week old at this point, is a smash hit. In a statement on social media, the publisher said it had “already far exceeded the sales of any game we have ever released.” But like its competitor, Disney Lorcana, that means cards are in incredibly short supply. That has emboldened speculators, who are driving prices sky-high on the secondary market.
A box of Star Wars: Unlimited boosters is supposed to cost just $119.99 at retail. According to at least one marketplace, eBay’s TCGPlayer, the so-called “market price” of a box of Star Wars: Unlimited boosters is now sitting at $701.36. Friendly local game stores are feeling the squeeze, especially when it comes to hosting game nights. There just isn’t enough product to go around.
Wednesday on social media, the publisher announced its plans to mitigate the issue. According to Fantasy Flight’s statement, it was always assumed that launch product would run out, just not this soon. So the strategy that they had formed for this inevitability is being put into motion a few weeks early.
“Although we still have stock available,” Fantasy Flight said on X, “the strategy we are discussing with our distribution partners is to release the available product in measured waves until Set 2 is released.” The company said the intent is to keep a “steady flow” of new cards trickling out to the most dedicated players, that is those showing up for organized events at local stores — you know, the people actually opening up and playing with the cards rather than hoarding or flipping them. Retailers were asked to keep in touch with their distribution partners for more information.
It’s unclear just how big a portion of that first print run is still in Fantasy Flight’s warehouse, but the writing is on the wall. Fans should expect prices to remain high until at least July, when the second set of cards, titled Shadows of the Galaxy, is expected to show up at retail.
Fantasy Flight’s competitor, Ravensburger, played things a bit differently during the launch of Disney Lorcana last year. The German company announced a second printing of its launch set, and pulled stock back from its planned European release to satisfy America’s demand for the game. That had the effect of lowering the cost of sealed product on the secondary market. Since Fantasy Flight’s announcement mid-week, however, prices have just kept going up.
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- Source: https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/24108645/star-wars-unlimited-tcg-sold-out-price-scalpers
