Greater Than Games Shutters Due to Tariffs

Greater Than Games, the publisher behind the superhero-themed Sentinel Comics RPG, has shuttered due to the ongoing tariff war between the United States and China. Flat River Group, Greater Than Games' parent company announced that they've reduced Greater Than Games' staff "in response to ongoing economic pressures resulting from the international tariff crisis." Additionally, all new projects from the publisher are suspended due to the tariff situation. However, Flat River Group will keep Greater Than Games' website open for the time being, with in-stock products available and current catalog products produced "as needed."

While Greater Than Games is best known for publishing Spirit Island and Sentinels of the Multiverse, they also published Sentinel Comics, a superhero RPG set within the world of their Sentinels of the Multiverse games. The global tariff war has impacted board game publishers, most of whom rely on Chinese manufacturers to produce games. Some RPGs are also produced in China or printed by other overseas publishers, thus making them eligible for the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in recent weeks.

 

[payn]

 

[Reynard]

That sucks.

I wonder if some of the board game companies will attempt to pivot to digital versions. In recent years we have seen some very good and accurate digital adaptations of well loved tabletop games.

 

[payn]

That sucks.

I wonder if some of the board game companies will attempt to pivot to digital versions. In recent years we have seen some very good and accurate digital adaptations of well loved tabletop games.

As much as I love a good physical set up, I can see some game benefiting greatly from a digital setup and calculation so that longer more involved games can be paused and resumed as needed. Also, saving on set up and calculation can make some of them play faster too.

 

[RestlessRevenant]

There likely goes my SotM: Disparation expansion...

I think this is just the beginning of the downsizing within the industry.

 

[Christian Hoffer]

That sucks.

I wonder if some of the board game companies will attempt to pivot to digital versions. In recent years we have seen some very good and accurate digital adaptations of well loved tabletop games.

Spirit Island has a digital adaptation! In general, they're a solid way of drawing in secondary interest, but obviously require a totally different skill set than typical board game production.

 

[Umbran]

... they also published Spirit Comics, a superhero RPG set within the world of their Sentinels of the Multiverse games.

Correction: the game is called "Sentinel Comics: The Role Playing Game"

 

[RealAlHazred]

Correction: the game is called "Sentinel Comics: The Role Playing Game"

View attachment 403016

Yep, Darren Watts was doing a lot of work for them when he passed. This is a blow.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I'm quoting myself from the manufacturer tariff thread, because the link is useful and there's more to FRG's decision making here than GTG:

I haven't seen this BGG news post mentioned here. Appears that Flat River Group is doing a lot more than "just" shuttering GTG over the tariff situation. Also some news on Pandasaurus.

For those who weren't aware, the majority of the KS add-ons for the Sentinels RPG remain unfulfilled (and unfinished) even years after the campaign and are probably at serious risk of never appearing at all. They were all due this year and early next as of the last set of promises, but that was assuming there was a real staff and freelancers working on them.

The card game's Disparation supplement is also unfinished, but given the much larger potential for profits off of it I suspect the three people left at GZG (the original founders of GTG) will prioritize getting it ready for printing. If they shave back the fancy bells and whistles and focus on the cards themselves it might be affordably printable in the US, or at least not in China.

Also, it's been established over the last week that:

• FRG holds the rights to the entire Sentinels IP, not Christopher & Adam.
• The creator of Spirit Island is confident that they retain the rights to that game, and have further plans for it going forward.
• Handelabra Games (who do online Sentinels games, most notably the card game) has an expansion in the works and no plans to stop, so their licensing agreement with FRG appears to be unaffected.

 

[Cergorach]

"Shuttered" isn't the correct word to use here, the company is still operational (as the press release indicates), it's just put all (new) projects on hold.

Honestly I wonder if the Distributor (Flat River Group) behind this company is seeing stuff outside of the tariffs situation, and/or if there was a lot of damage from the pandemic era (KS+higher costs), this (tariffs) just being the last straw that broke the camels back...