 | |
| Industry | Wargaming Role-playing games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1980; 46 years ago (1980) |
| Defunct | April 30, 2001 (2001-04-30) (active operations only) |
| Fate |
|
| Headquarters | Chicago,Illinois, U.S. |
Key people | Jordan Weisman L. Ross Babcock |
| Products | Crimson Skies Renegade Legion VOR: The Maelstrom Earthdawn Battletech Shadowrun Demonworld Star Trek: The Role Playing Game The Doctor Who Role Playing Game |
| Website | www.fasa.com at theWayback Machine (archived July 13, 2001) |
| Industry | Wargaming Role-playing games |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 14, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-06-14)[1] |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Key people | Jordan Weisman L. Ross Babcock |
| Products | Crimson Skies Renegade Legion VOR: The Maelstrom Earthdawn Battletech Shadowrun Demonworld |
| Website | fasagames |
FASA Corporation was an American publisher ofrole-playing games,wargames andboard games between 1980 and 2001, after which they closed publishing operations for several years, becoming an IP holding company under the name FASA Inc. In 2012, a wholly owned subsidiary called FASA Games Inc. went into operation, using the name and logo under license from the parent company. FASA Games Inc. works alongside Ral Partha Europe, also a subsidiary of FASA Corporation, to bring out new editions of existing properties such asEarthdawn andDemonworld, and to develop new properties within the FASA cosmology.
FASA first appeared as aTraveller licensee, producing supplements for thatGame Designers' Workshoprole-playing game, especially the work of the Keith Brothers. The company went on to establish itself as a major gaming company with the publication of theStar Trek RPG, then several successful original games. Noteworthy lines includedBattleTech andShadowrun. TheirStar Trek role-playing supplements and tactical ship game enjoyed popularity outside the wargaming community since, at the time, official descriptions of theStar Trek universe were not common, and the gaming supplements offered details fans craved.
The highly successfulBattleTech line led to a series ofvideo games, some of the firstvirtual reality gaming suites, called Virtual World (created by a subdivision of the company known at the time of development as ESP, an acronym for "Extremely Secret Project") and a Saturday-morninganimated TV series.
Originally, the name FASA was an acronym for "Freedonian Aeronautics and Space Administration", a joking allusion to theMarx Brothers filmDuck Soup.[2] This tongue-in-cheek attitude was carried over in humorous self-references in its games. For example, inShadowrun, a tactical nuclear device was detonated near FASA's offices at 1026 W. Van Buren St inChicago, Illinois.
FASA Corporation was founded byJordan Weisman andL. Ross Babcock III in 1980 with a starting capital of $350 ($1,200 adjusted for inflation). The two were fellow gamers at theUnited States Merchant Marine Academy. Mort Weisman, Jordan's father, joined the company in 1985 to lead the company's operational management, having sold his book publishing business,Swallow Press.[3]
Under the new commercial direction and with Mort's capital injection, the company diversified into books and miniature figures. After consulting their UK distributor, Chart Hobby Distributors, FASA licensed the manufacture of itsBattleTech figurines to the British companyMinifigs. FASA would later acquire the U.S. figures manufacturerRal Partha, which was the licensed American manufacturer of Minifigs. While Mort ran the paper and metal based sides of the business, the company's founders focused on the development of computer-based games. They were particularly interested in virtual reality (particularly theBattleTech Centers / Virtual World) but also developed desktop computer games.
WhenMicrosoft acquired theFASA Interactive subsidiary, Babcock went with that company. After the sale of Virtual World, Jordan turned his attention to the founding of a new games venture calledWizKids.
FASA unexpectedly ceased active operations on April 30, 2001,[4] but still exists as a corporation holdingintellectual property rights, which it licenses to other publishers. Contrary to popular belief, the company did not go bankrupt. Allegedly, the owners decided to quit while the company was still financially sound in a market they perceived as going downhill. Mort Weisman had been talking of retirement for some years, and his confidence in the future of the paper-based games business was low. He considered the intellectual property of FASA to be of high value, but did not wish to continue working as he had been for the last decade or more. Unwilling to wrestle with the complexities of dividing up the going concern, the owners issued a press release on January 25, 2001, announcing the immediate closure of the business.
TheBattleTech andShadowrun properties were sold toWizKids, who in turn licensed their publication toFanPro LLC and then toCatalyst Game Labs. TheEarthdawn license was sold toWizKids, and then back to FASA. Living Room Games publishedEarthdawn (Second Edition),RedBrick publishedEarthdawn (Classic and Third Editions), but the license has now returned to FASA Corporation, and FASA Games, Inc. is the current license holder for new material.Crimson Skies was originally developed byZipper Interactive under the FASA Interactive brand in late 2000 and used under license by FASA;FASA Interactive had been purchased by Microsoft, so rights toCrimson Skies stayed with Microsoft. Rights to theminiatures gameVOR: The Maelstrom reverted to the designer Mike "Skuzzy" Nielsen, but it has not been republished in any form due partly to legal difficulties. Microsoft officially closed the FASA team in the company's gaming division on September 12, 2007.
On December 6, 2007, FASA founderJordan Weisman announced that his new venture,Smith & Tinker, had licensed the electronic gaming rights toMechWarrior,Shadowrun, andCrimson Skies from Microsoft.[5]
On April 28, 2008, Mike "Skuzzy" Nielsen announced plans to createVor 2.0.
At Gen Con 2012, FASA Games, Inc. was revealed, which includes FASA Corporation co-founder Ross Babcock on the board of directors. While FASA Corporation still owns and manages the FASA IP and brands, FASA Games, Inc would release new games and content. As of 2020, FASA Games has released contents for 2 games; a 4th edition for Earthdawn and the new game 1879 which aims to replace and/or create an alternate future '6th Age' in 'replacement' to Shadowrun.
, (FGI)| Tabletop games | |
|---|---|
| Supplements | |
| MechWarrior series | |
| Other video games | |
| Novels | |
| Other | |
Shadowrun series | |
|---|---|
| Video games |
|
| Other games | |
| Companies | |
| Related | |
