OBT Forum

Hello there guys, it has been a while since I was really involved on the boards here, but in light of my Battletech Kickstarter order possibly shipping sometime in the next few months has made me go back to the Catalyst Games store and see exactly what has been going on for the past two years of so I have been out of the loop. At first I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of new documents up for purchase, but on further inspection some trends really began to concern me.

First off, it seems that Catalyst sells products almost wholly in digital format at this point. I see references to print books, but very little evidence that it is readily available. Now this might be something that is effecting the publishing industry in general, but for all the talk of the wonders of the digital age, it seems to me that a franchise that cannot produce new products in hard print is a franchise in crisis. Is there any sense among the rest of you that this is going to be fixed anytime soon now that the pandemic is lifting, or is this just what we have to accept going forward?

And on the topic of going forward, I read that a number of books related to the Ilkhan finally being established, something that from my memory was first touched on over a decade ago. Have we finally crossed that bridge, and if so where are the creative team planning to go from there. Despite having an official forum, a lot of the info is vague and seems to be connected to one-off statements whoever is running things these days.

What then, is Battletech as a game system and fictional universe in 2021? Is it a still vital franchise capable of inspiring works in other forms of media? Like the computer game from a few years back that apparently did really well and brought some new eyes on the fiction. Or is it stuck in some sort of stasis where it exists but does not grow in any meaningful way? Or more ominously, is this a franchise in a terminal decline, just spitting out a few more products before it shuts down forever?

I have been following this game for about thirty years now, most of my life. I always tried to explain it to anyone not familiar with it as "the richest sci-fi franchise you have never heard of." But looking on it now as a grown man, I'm really worried there is nothing left to pass on to the next generation to get them involved in Battletech and keep it growing for decades to come. Where does that leave us as fans? Do we hold out hope that new management will fix things? Or that maybe some bigger company will come along and do a reboot with all of the controversy that involves? Or do we just say, "Well, we enjoy it and that is all that really matter?"

This seems to be one of the last forums where players seem to be looking ahead and trying to tinker with the system to keep it relevant, so let me ask you guys: What are our prospects on that front? And what are our full options if something the worst does happen on the official side of production?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments.