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'''Decipher, Inc.''' was a multimedia game company established in 1983 by Warren Holland. Originally focused on board and party games, they shifted towards Collectible Card Games in the wake of the release of Magic: the Gathering and for a time were able to rival that game through the adaptation of existing media into card form. Their first foray into CCGs was an adaptation of Star Trek: The Next Generation, followed by Star Wars, Austin Powers, and of course Lord of the Rings. | |||
Decipher's focus on translating existing media into card form gave them a marketing edge compared to more original IPs, and their expertise in creating game mechanics that embodied the source material so well was the foundation of much of their success. Ultimately, the company's sales declined and led to a death spiral, which lost them the resources to continue licensing the media that was their lifeblood. Although the company avoided bankruptcy and has not officially ceased to exist, it is a ghost of its former self and has not produced any new products since 2008. | |||
For a more detailed history of Decipher's products, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decipher,_Inc. see their Wikipedia article here]. | |||
==Lord of the Rings== | ==Lord of the Rings== | ||
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Sets continued to be released until the game's ending in 2007, although various factors conspired to the game's decline beginning around 2005 (see below). | Sets continued to be released until the game's ending in 2007, although various factors conspired to the game's decline beginning around 2005 (see below). | ||
== Trouble and Decline == | == Trouble and Decline == | ||
Although Decipher at one point | Although Decipher was at one point second only to [https://company.wizards.com/en Wizards of the Coast] (sales of Star Wars CCG rivaled that of Magic: the Gathering from time to time), a number of unlucky events and risks that failed to pay off ultimately resulted in a death spiral that ended not with a bang but a whimper. | ||
In late 2001, Decipher's contract for Star Wars was up for renewal and Wizards of the Coast (then-recently acquired by Hasbro, who had an existing relationship with Lucasfilm to lean on) swiped the IP from underneath them, forcing Decipher to cease production on their most successful game to date. Warren Holland announced this loss [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS84wdG4EUI on the Radio Free Decipher podcast] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20080207033208/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/rfd011228transcript.html online]; in the end, this resulted in the formation of the [https://www.starwarsccg.org/ Star Wars CCG Players Committee], which has persisted to this day. | In late 2001, Decipher's contract for Star Wars was up for renewal and Wizards of the Coast (then-recently acquired by Hasbro, who had an existing relationship with Lucasfilm to lean on) swiped the IP from underneath them, forcing Decipher to cease production on their most successful game to date. Warren Holland announced this loss [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS84wdG4EUI on the Radio Free Decipher podcast] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20080207033208/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/rfd011228transcript.html online]; in the end, this resulted in the formation of the [https://www.starwarsccg.org/ Star Wars CCG Players Committee], which has persisted to this day. | ||
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Due to a mix of factors (including reassigning talent away from LOTR to work on WARS), the Shadows set which was a soft reboot for LOTR was unpopular with fans, and the LOTR-TCG began its long and steady decline. | Due to a mix of factors (including reassigning talent away from LOTR to work on WARS), the Shadows set which was a soft reboot for LOTR was unpopular with fans, and the LOTR-TCG began its long and steady decline. | ||
Other Decipher CCGs released during this time in | Other Decipher CCGs released during this time in 2004-2005 (for .hack and Beyblade, both attempts to recreate the success of Pokemon and Digimon in targeting younger audiences) met a similarly troubled start and quick end. The RPG lines for both LOTR and Star Trek were also canceled around then for failing to perform. | ||
Additionally the rise of social media meant that fans were perfectly capable of self-gathering, and the days of | Additionally the rise of social media meant that fans were perfectly capable of self-gathering, and the days of Star Trek huddling around a fan magazine were long gone. The Lord of the Rings [[Fan Club Official Movie Magazine]] struggled to remain profitable, which can be seen by the reduction in content and the increase in ads over the course of the publication's lifetime. In 2005 both it and the Star Trek Communicator (which had been in print in one form or another since 1979) were canceled, and the FanHQ aspects of the company appear to have withered. | ||
=== Embezzlement === | |||
== Embezzlement == | |||
Rick Eddleman, former CFO of Decipher (and brother-in-law to founder Warren Holland), worked for Decipher from 1993-2001, and was later discovered to have embezzled somewhere north of $9 million from the company, which Holland claimed was somewhere around 8% of their total revenue during that time. In 2001 $120,000 of this was discovered, and he resigned as a result. A civil suit was filed against him, and during the process of that case documents were produced that proved the full amount around 2005-2006. | Rick Eddleman, former CFO of Decipher (and brother-in-law to founder Warren Holland), worked for Decipher from 1993-2001, and was later discovered to have embezzled somewhere north of $9 million from the company, which Holland claimed was somewhere around 8% of their total revenue during that time. In 2001 $120,000 of this was discovered, and he resigned as a result. A civil suit was filed against him, and during the process of that case documents were produced that proved the full amount around 2005-2006. | ||
This | This lead to a criminal case which Holland was heavily involved with, which ended in Eddleman being convicted and sentenced to six years of jail time. | ||
Holland put together a tell-all document detailing the fraud [https://web.archive.org/web/20110321174905/http://lotrtcg.decipher.com/links/FamilyCommunication.pdf which is archived on the Wayback Machine here]. The embezzlement is implied to be why some licenses were lost--since the lines of credit which were supposed to be dedicated to that purpose turned out to be abused by Eddleman and were thus unavailable funds. | |||
While the embezzlement is often pointed to by fans (and Holland himself) as the reason for the company's failure, all of the funds were taken before Eddleman's resignation in 2001. While this no doubt had continuing ripple effects in the years afterwards (especially as Holland got involved in the civil and later criminal court cases), once discovered it could not be the root cause of the failures of the various products Decipher ''did'' bring to market, and could only have been a force multiplier. | While the embezzlement is often pointed to by fans (and Holland himself) as the reason for the company's failure, all of the funds were taken before Eddleman's resignation in 2001. While this no doubt had continuing ripple effects in the years afterwards (especially as Holland got involved in the civil and later criminal court cases), once discovered it could not be the root cause of the failures of the various products Decipher ''did'' bring to market, and could only have been a force multiplier. | ||
Holland eventually did manage to keep the company from bankruptcy by mortgaging his own home, assistance from his parents, and he and other high-level employees agreeing to low or no pay for several years. As a result, Decipher retains the rights to the various systems that they developed. | |||
Holland | |||
== End of an Era == | === End of an Era === | ||
Taking the ex-CFO to court may have satisfied justice, but it did not help the company in the meantime. With a flagging LOTR-TCG and a few unsuccessful other IP launches, Decipher had to lay off much of their staff. This began a death spiral, as fewer staff meant being unable to meet promised deadlines, which led to delays releasing sets, which cooled fan's desire to keep purchasing product (and distributor's desire to allocate space for it), which led to less revenue, which led to needing to lay off more staff, which compounded the problem. | Taking the ex-CFO to court may have satisfied justice, but it did not help the company in the meantime. With a flagging LOTR-TCG and a few unsuccessful other IP launches, Decipher had to lay off much of their staff. This began a death spiral, as fewer staff meant being unable to meet promised deadlines, which led to delays releasing sets, which cooled fan's desire to keep purchasing product (and distributor's desire to allocate space for it), which led to less revenue, which led to needing to lay off more staff, which compounded the problem. |