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> However there’s a chance more people will remember it as the failed kickstarter instead …
On BGG and French TricTrack (sp?), it was well-known that GameZone had nothing to do with the original HeroQuest. Of course, BGG is a minority of boardgamers, and I don’t know what the reaction to HQ25 was in Spain and other countries. Restoration Games also has a reputation on BGG, so I’m sure the game’s going to make its funding, at least.
> If this is a no-brainer then why didn’t GW buy the rights and cash in ?
I’m thinking miniatures. GW sold other boardgames with miniatures, and stopped because wargamers found out it was cheaper to buy the boardgames with miniatures than buy them individually. Space Hulk is another BGG favorite, but GW only released a limited numbers.
> Why hasn’t Hasbro/MB done something to reboot it ?
I think the hobby market is too small for Hasbro/MB or otherwise not their target. They did reboot it with DragonQuest and failed. I suppose they also make MUCH more money on their other games, suchas Monopoly and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O. I don’t think the hobby market is of interest to them, although, IIRC, they were part of the original release of the Lord of the Rings boardgame, which FFG took over. Maybe had WotC been around, though, Hasbro/MB would have had them publish HQ, much like they did with the D&D HeroScape games. Note that, if HQ were published today, it would cost MUCH more than its original price, maybe $50 or $75 or more per copy, out of the price range mass-market parent would pay for a “kid’s game”.
Hasbro/MB’s attempt at the hobby game market was the Avalon Hill brand failure. Hasbro/MB bought the rights to Avalon Hill games, yet was only interested in Acquire. They flopped or had limited results with Cosmic Encounter, Las Vegas (?), Monsters across America (?). and maybe one or two other titles. Betrayal on House on Haunted Hill was actually their breakaway successful game, still popular and even with a Scooby Doo variant after all these years. However, the game is published by Wizards of the Coast, not Hasbro/MB. Hasbro / WotC’s Magic the Gathering: Arena of the Ancients was a reboot attempt at HeroScape, but didn’t last terribly long, perhaps because of their components. WotC certainly could develop a dice-pool dungeoncrawler, but its components would be more like their Magic : Arena boardgame, with its soft plastic and cardboard.
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Another thought is that HQ is still in more demand as a hobby game, rather than a mass market kid’s or party game, and Hasbro/MB doesn’t have the sales channels for hobby games. Asmodee, of course, does, but, of course, wasn’t around to introduce HeroQuest alongside Settlers on mass market shelves.
