Non-English Expansions shortages (remake editions)

[Kurgan]

It's been brought to my attention a few times now that for our fellow HQ fans in countries with the dominant language being other than English, there have been reported shortages of the expansions in Italian, Spanish, (presumably also) German, and French.

Seems that customers can easily obtain the retail version of the Game System in these languages, but the expansions sell out and don't get restocked, forcing fans who want them to order English versions from elsewhere and then rely on (or do) fan translations. This coming after news that the Spanish edition had some errors and buyers were sent replacement materials free of charge with corrections (and new editions were corrected out of box).

I've also been told that the "Hero Collections" have not been translated officially from English. Granted, this isn't a big deal for the (long ago sold out exclusive) Guardian Knight since he's part of Rise of the Dread Moon now, but once those stocks run out it's a pity that scalpers seem to have taken over HQ expansions outside of US & Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

Anyone else have any updated news on this? My suggestion is to continue to give civil complaints to Hasbro's Consumer Care (whether email, phone or post). I'm also glad to hear that some friendly fans are willing to ship to their fellows overseas at cost rather than the ridiculous markups that scalpers would demand.

One other comforting thought is that thanks to places like this, it isn't so impossible to find translations to use based on the vintage versions. Classic era translations exist (whether official or fan-made) for all of the remade ones. But then you have the Hero collections, Rise of the Dread Moon, Spirit Queen's Torment, Prophecy of Telor, and any new material included with Against the Ogre Hoard (and later this year we think, Jungles of Delthrak) to contend with that have no legacy/classic era equivalent.

I really appreciate the good work that HQ fans do to help each other out!

[Kurgan]

The part that really confuses me is WHY Hasbro can't simply put translated PDFs of their various expansions up on their Consumer Care website for free?

It would cost them a lot less to do this than to reprint stock and distribute them to these countries again, and they already know people are buying the English versions and trying to translate them.

They could even do this for languages that don't previously exist for these expansions (rather than just the "canonical" French, Italian, German, and Spanish). Classic era HeroQuest was available in a lot more languages in the 90's than it is today, so much of the work is already done (granted, I don't know the quality of those specific translations).

I suppose when it comes to the Hero Collections you're not talking about instruction booklets/quest books, but cards. They might worry that someone would print off those cards and sell low quality bootlegs. But here's an idea cut into those underground profits... just release the dang things yourself!

[HispaZargon]

In Spain that's totally true, there is lack of stock of most of the HQ expansions in Spanish language. Once they are available for retail for 4 or 5 months exists the risk of not finding them in any shop, including Amazon.

To the list of non sense policies followed by Hasbro about non-English products of HQ for me the most blatant one is the official online quests... why are they only released in English? Trasnalating them to other languages would be really cheap, in my humble opinion, it is a free online creation, physical space is not needed to store them anywhere like the expansion boxes!

[Kurgan]

Good point, HZ, I had forgotten about the "online quests" !

At least those online quests (except Rogar's Hall) can be played in the Companion App, even though the voice acting is all in English only... while the text can be viewed in other languages. But just you are out of luck if you want to run them as Zargon, right?

[Kurgan]

An article was posted online yesterday that seems to confirm those worst fears... but is it only talking about Spain (which is bad enough for all the fans that affects), or does it have bigger implications? This is something I would like to hear Hasbro publicly comment on:

https://lacuevaroja.com/blog/post/hasbro-confirma-no-habra-reimpresiones-de-expansiones-de-heroquest

(original)
Hasbro Confirma: No Habrá Reimpresiones de Expansiones de HeroQuest
visibility 730 Views 22/03/2024 comment 0 comentarios person
Posted By: La Cueva Roja
list In: Juegos de Mesa

Hasbro, la compañía detrás del renacimiento del icónico juego de mesa HeroQuest, ha anunciado una decisión importante que afectará a los fans y coleccionistas: no se realizarán reimpresiones de las expansiones de HeroQuest como parte de su política de empresa. Esta noticia ha sorprendido a la comunidad de aficionados, que esperaba poder completar sus colecciones en el futuro.

HeroQuest ha disfrutado de un resurgimiento en popularidad desde su relanzamiento. Las expansiones, que añaden profundidad y complejidad al juego, son especialmente codiciadas por los jugadores.

La decisión de no reimprimir estas expansiones parece estar en línea con una estrategia de edición limitada, que busca preservar el valor y la exclusividad de las expansiones existentes. Esta política no solo afecta a la disponibilidad del producto sino que también podría tener un impacto significativo en el mercado secundario, donde los precios de las expansiones probablemente aumentarán.

A pesar de la decepción que esta noticia pueda causar entre los entusiastas de HeroQuest, Hasbro continúa comprometido con el desarrollo del juego, prometiendo nuevas aventuras y expansiones en el futuro. Los jugadores pueden esperar más contenido emocionante que seguirá expandiendo el universo de HeroQuest.

Los aficionados de HeroQuest, aunque enfrentan la realidad de las expansiones limitadas, tienen mucho que esperar con los próximos lanzamientos y la continua evolución del juego. La comunidad sigue siendo fuerte y el legado de HeroQuest más vibrante que nunca.

(DuckDuckGo english translation):
Hasbro Confirms: No Reprints of HeroQuest Expansions Visibility 718 Views 22/03/2024 comment 0 comments person Posted By: The Red Cave list In: Table Games [Hasbro Confirms: There Will Be No Reprints of HeroQuest Expansions]

Hasbro, the company behind the revival of the iconic HeroQuest board game, has announced an important decision that will affect fans and collectors: no reprints of HeroQuest expansions will be made as part of its company policy. This news has surprised the amateur community, who hoped to be able to complete their collections in the future. HeroQuest has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity since its relaunch. Expansions, which add depth and complexity to the game, are especially coveted by players. The decision not to reprint these expansions appears to be in line with a limited-edition strategy, which seeks to preserve the value and exclusivity of existing expansions. Not only does this policy affect product availability, but it could also have a significant impact on the secondary market, where prices for expansions are likely to increase.

Despite the disappointment this news may cause among HeroQuest enthusiasts, Hasbro remains committed to the game's development, promising new adventures and expansions in the future. Players can look forward to more exciting content that will continue to expand the HeroQuest universe. HeroQuest fans, while facing the reality of limited expansions, have a lot to look forward to with upcoming releases and the game's continued evolution. The community remains strong and the legacy of HeroQuest more vibrant than ever.

I'm simply reporting here. Please read carefully!

[j_dean80]

Long story short, no WoM, Dark Company or Dwarf/Wizard packs.

[Vorimir]

I think the idea is that they are not reprinting already releases expansions like Kellars Keep or Return of the witch lord. A lot of people skipped them at first because they had the older ones, same figures, price raised from 25 to 35 euros... And later they wanted them.

So ir more about no re-releasing expansion from 2021, Im positive about WOM and even Dark Company coming to HQ21.

[Kurgan]

Going by what the App says they are committed officially at least through June 14, 2025. The AH team are willing to go way beyond that as long as the franchise is successful (and they get the go ahead to do it, they have plans). So I wouldn't count out any early 2025 releases.

But it stinks if you're in a country where the expansions in your native language are gone once they are sold out! (at least if you can still buy the Game System that's something, importing and translating means fewer people get to branch out, but maybe it means more people will make their own stuff and share it?).

[Vorimir]

By the way, the Hogre Horde spanish translation is a bit odd, not surw if this has been professionaly done or IA/Google translated. Some words/expresions dont really fit.