3866 Battle of Hoth (US availability)

[UnknownUser]

Apparently said game WILL NOT be released in the US this year, due to licensing issues.

Thanks alot Hasbro

[JabbaT]

Fortunately... you can still order from amazon france for EUR 36,60.

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B005WGI ... B005WGIQ44" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GuaranteedUnity]

This was also mentioned on a few other sites, but I've yet to see anything that officially confirms.

Do you have any links?

Bit of a bummer if it's true -- poor exchange rates and hefty postage usually make ordering from Europe cost prohibitive (if az.fr actually had it in stock, you'd be looking at about $60USD).

[JabbaT]

Really hope this is not official as the one from Europe is indeed expensive.

Considering the Harry Potter one is $30 USD, I would say the Hoth one would be roughly the same price.

[Legobrandon]

Wait, I don't understand. What does Hasbro have to do with LEGO releases? If regular LEGO SW sets can be released in North America, why not this game?

[zak001]

Wait, I don't understand. What does Hasbro have to do with LEGO releases? If regular LEGO SW sets can be released in North America, why not this game?

It's an intellectual property licensing issue. If Hasbro has the exclusive license for Star Wars-related board games, then LEGO can't release a Star Wars-related board game for fear of getting sued. Weren't there similar issues with minifig battle packs a while back? LEGO's license probably covers "building sets" but not "action figures"; there could either be an exclusive licensee of action figures, a set of exclusive licensees, or a prohibitive royalty attached to anything that could reasonably be called an action figure.

[silvashado]

Wonderful! It's not going to be cheap to get it. I had to pay quite a bit to get the other two europe-only board games.

Does anyone think there will be any possibility of it being released in the future in the US? Like maybe when Hasbro's license expires? Or is that never going to happen.

[melsig]

Well, shoot, my Dad was in England last week and asked if I wanted anything. I guess I'll have something to request for his next trip.

[ncbarrett]

Well, shoot, my Dad was in England last week and asked if I wanted anything. I guess I'll have something to request for his next trip.

Add +1 to that request.

[melsig]

Well, shoot, my Dad was in England last week and asked if I wanted anything. I guess I'll have something to request for his next trip.

Add +1 to that request.

I know, right? He has health issues and can't carry heavy bags, otherwise I'd ask him to load up on the sets! Actually, now I'm wondering if there are any polys or anything else (light) I should be requesting...

[Brickmythic]

What bothers me the most about Hasbro is that Wizards of the Coast had a fantastic assortment of Star Wars Universe based games. From the Living Force RPG to Star Wars Miniatures.

The products were selling great. SWM was basically the #1 selling collectible miniatures line by a margin outselling Heroclix quite a bit. Heroclix had tournament support at venues and a healthy competitive tourney circuit and it still wasnt selling as well as Star Wars Miniatures.

Then out of nowhere, Hasbro tells WotC to can Star Wars Miniatures (what many consider today, to be on of WOTC's best products ever released)

It was selling just fine. The game had virtually no tournament support from WotC and they can it???

Then out of the blue, dice and a game was included in the Star Wars action figures.

So Hasbro basically gutted what is possibly one of the best Star Wars related products EVER MADE to only be reduced to a pathetic action figure gimmick.

Yet hasbro is getting mad at Lego???

HASBRO, get a CLUE please.

your action figures werent selling because action figures are a novelty of the past. outdated junk.


I lost all faith in Hasbro when they canned Star Wars Miniatures for no reason.

Star Wars Miniatures, to this day, is still one of the top selling miniatures games, years after its cancelation,.

I hope Hasbro goes bankrupt.. (Im a baddie)

too bad MTG is around keeping them afloat.

[d84rrv]

I tried buying this from amazon.fr for ages, but got stuck with the language.

[Ice]

I tried buying this from amazon.fr for ages, but got stuck with the language.

Hi d84rrv

We have our own guide here. You can also use Google Chrome to translate everything for you.

[vynsane]

I wouldn't be too quick to write Battle of Hoth off. Most, if not all, LEGO Games see release in Europe first before making their way across the pond for some reason. The only actual news article I can find regarding this is at "BoardGameGeek.com" - everywhere else I've seen it brought up just links to that, or to another site that in turn links to BGG.

The portion of the article in question reads

A usually reliable source has informed me that Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, a new title in the LEGO games series due out in 2012 that hotted up a number of BGG News readers, will not be available in the U.S. due to licensing issues. I'll be at NY Toy Fair next week to check up on this info.

That said, yes, it could be true that it's held up in licensing disagreements, but we might just as soon see it here eventually after it's sorted out. Hasbro has an exclusive board game license for Harry Potter, but the Hogwarts LEGO Game was available in the US.

[silvashado]

Not all of the board games that came out in Europe were released in the U.S. - Lunar Command and UFO Attack didn't come out here.

Also, Battle of Hoth was not at the New York Toy Fair while it was at the one in London and Germany so that further leads me to believe that it will not be sold in the U.S.

Having said that, I'd be very very happy if it was released here. I just doubt it will.

[UnknownUser]

Not all of the board games that came out in Europe were released in the U.S. - Lunar Command and UFO Attack didn't come out here.

Also, Battle of Hoth was not at the New York Toy Fair while it was at the one in London and Germany so that further leads me to believe that it will not be sold in the U.S.

Or, maybe it could be a store exclusive (ala Atlantis Treasure).

Strange thing about UFO Attack--it was actually shown in NY Toy Fair 2011. Maybe the decision to cancel its US release was a last-minute one.

[vynsane]

^ Good point - no retailer exclusives were shown at NYTF since the entire idea of the event is to get retailers to order your products. No need to do so when retailers have already purchased exclusive rights to distribute it.

[UnknownUser]

^ Good point - no retailer exclusives were shown at NYTF since the entire idea of the event is to get retailers to order your products. No need to do so when retailers have already purchased exclusive rights to distribute it.

But then again the Orc Forge and Mandolorian fighter were shown at this year's TF and they were both Target exclusives.

[silvashado]

Or, maybe it could be a store exclusive (ala Atlantis Treasure).

Strange thing about UFO Attack--it was actually shown in NY Toy Fair 2011. Maybe the decision to cancel its US release was a last-minute one.

Hmmm... true. Hopefully it is a store exclusive and maybe it will be released later.

I remember inquiring about UFO Attack last year and a customer service rep told me that they decided not to release it in the US because it wasn't selling well in Europe. Didn't make much sense to me since the US and Europe have different interests. I think it would have done very well in the US, but oh well. I ended up getting it online at an okay price.

As for Battle of Hoth, a bunch of my friends are going to go in together to buy them from someone in England to ship together to us so we can split up the shipping costs. I may kick myself later for it if it does come out in the US, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[silvashado]

I emailed LEGO customer service about the game not being available in the U.S. and this was their reply:

Thanks for getting in touch with us and letting us know how you feel about the availability of LEGO® products. As a big Star Wars™ fan myself, I am always looking forward to the new releases so I understand how much you were looking forward to playing the Battle of Hoth™ Board Game.

We can understand your disappointment. However we do have strict licensing agreements with Lucas Arts, as Lucas Arts has other licensing agreement with other toy companies. We want to be able to keep that Star Wars licensing agreement so LEGO has to follow strict guide lines. Again we know how disappointed our Star War fans are going to be about the product not being available in the United States. We will pass your comments along to our marketing team to let them know of your concerns and disappointment.

So this confirms that it won't be available in the U.S.