Decipher after the Star Wars license

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Decipher after the Star Wars license covers Decipher, Inc. after its Star Wars license ended on 31 December 2001. Decipher kept publishing The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek card games until 2007 and launched role-playing games and an original-IP card game. Layoffs and an embezzlement case weakened the company.

The Star Wars games wind down (2001–2002)

Decipher announced on 28 December 2001 that Lucasfilm had not extended its license.[1] The trading-card rights went to Wizards of the Coast, which planned a new Star Wars card game with Episode II content for 2002.[2] The license loss ended all three of Decipher's Star Wars games: SWCCG, the Young Jedi CCG and the Jedi Knights TCG.[3]

SWCCG's last expansion, Theed Palace, shipped in December 2001.[4] Young Jedi's last set, Boonta Eve Podrace, was released on 5 September 2001,[5] and Jedi Knights had its second expansion in October 2001.[6] Remaining SWCCG product was sold off at heavy discounts.[4] Some of it was later repacked by third parties; see Unofficial repackaged products.

In early 2002 Decipher set up the volunteer Players Committee to run SWCCG tournaments and rulings.[7] It donated over one million dollars in product, promotional material and financial backing to it.[8][4] See History of the Players Committee.

The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek (2001–2007)

Decipher had acquired the card-game license for New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings films in 2001, which became its main line once Star Wars was gone.[3] The Lord of the Rings TCG won the 2001 Origins Award for best trading card game.[9] In 2002 Decipher relaunched the Star Trek CCG as Second Edition, first released on 12 December 2002.[10]

Both lines ended in 2007, when Decipher's licenses expired. The Lord of the Rings TCG closed with its final expansion, Age's End.[11] On 12 December 2007 Decipher announced that the Star Trek CCG would end with the expansion What You Leave Behind.[12]

Role-playing games (2002–2005)

In 2002 Decipher acquired most of the studio of Last Unicorn Games and published Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings role-playing games on its own CODA system.[3][13] The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game won the 2002 Origins Award for best role-playing game.[14] Decipher shut down its RPG lines around 2005.[3]

Youth licenses and WARS (2003–2005)

Decipher tried the younger market again with .hack//Enemy (2003; 2003 Origins Award for best trading card game),[15] Beyblade (2003) and Mega Man NT Warrior (2004).[3]

The WARS Trading Card Game, released in October 2004, was Decipher's only card game on its own intellectual property. It used rules adapted from SWCCG, with backstory by Michael A. Stackpole. After two releases it was put "on hiatus" in May 2005.[16] In 2005 Decipher also cancelled .hack and Mega Man and laid off up to 40 employees.[3][17]

Embezzlement case

In March 2009 Rick Eddleman, Decipher's vice president of finance since 1993 and Warren Holland's brother-in-law, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the company from 2000 onward.[18] He was sentenced on 27 July 2009 to six years and five months in prison.[19]

Fight Klub and later years (2008–)

In late 2007 Decipher replaced its home page with a teaser promising "a player revolution" in 2008.[20] In March 2008 it began recruiting founding members for Fight Klub,[21] a card game built on several action-film licenses, released in February 2009.[3] In January 2012 Decipher's site announced it would also host How to Host a Murder material.[22]

Decipher's WARS setting continued in fiction: Grail Quest Books published two novels, and from 2021 Arcbeatle Press reprinted and completed the trilogy as WARSONG.[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Star Wars Announcement, decipher.com (Wayback, 1 June 2002)
  2. ↑ Wizards of the Coast Gets Star Wars CCG, ICv2, 1 January 2002. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Decipher, Inc., Wikipedia. Preserved copy: pending (queued for the Internet Archive). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 SWCCG Collecting Encyclopedia 3.2, Players Committee (4 May 2026), pp. 3–4. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  5. ↑ Young Jedi Collectible Card Game, Wikipedia. Preserved copy: pending (queued for the Internet Archive). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ Jedi Knights Trading Card Game, Wikipedia. Preserved copy: pending (queued for the Internet Archive). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ The Star Wars Players' Committee, decipher.com (Wayback, 11 June 2002)
  8. ↑ Star Wars PC Gets Generous Decipher Donation, TheForce.Net. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  9. ↑ Origins Award Winners (2001), Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  10. ↑ Star Trek Customizable Card Game, Wikipedia. Preserved copy: pending (queued for the Internet Archive). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ Lord of the Rings TCG Ending Long Run, Decipher, 2007. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  12. ↑ Star Trek CCG Ending Long Run, Decipher, December 2007. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  13. ↑ Mark Lardas, Decipher Cracks the Code to Lasting Success, TDmonthly 2:9 (September 2003). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  14. ↑ Origins Award Winners (2002). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  15. ↑ Origins Award Winners (2003). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  16. ↑ WARS Trading Card Game, Wikipedia. Preserved copy: pending (queued for the Internet Archive). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ Waterside bets on cards, Waterside Capital Corporation. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  18. ↑ Norfolk man pleads guilty to embezzling more than $1.5m, The Virginian-Pilot, March 2009. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  19. ↑ Game company embezzlement was betrayal to family, The Virginian-Pilot, July 2009. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  20. ↑ Happy Holidays!, Decipher, December 2007. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  21. ↑ Fight Klub blog, Decipher, 2008. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  22. ↑ Fight Klūb – Community, Decipher, January 2012. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  23. ↑ Dani Messick, Elkhart publisher breathes new life to nostalgic sci-fi universe, The Goshen News, 27 October 2022. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
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