As Catalyst Game Labs first Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun products street around the world, Catalyst is more committed than ever to providing additional support to retailers and distributors. The following two items are useful tools any retailer or distributor can use to better sell Catalyst products.

• The CGL Stock Numbers Lists provide a comprehensive and uniform list of exactly how Catalyst assigns its stock numbers across all its game line. This allows retailers and distributors (as well as players), at a glance, to know exactly what a product is and how it supports the line. For ease of reference, both the Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun Stock Numbers List PDFs are ready for download.
• The large, in-universe timeline covered by the Classic BattleTech rulebooks and sourcebooks can be confusing. Catalyst is instituting a new “Classic BattleTech Eras” branding, which will enable retailers and distributors (as well as players) to understand where a product falls within the on-going storyline. An easy-to-use explanation PDF of the Classic BattleTech Eras is ready for download, including easily recognizable logos that will make such identifications simple. The era logos will also appear on sell sheets and on-line product pages, as well as the back of each future sourcebook.

“Catalyst is pleased to continue our commitment to retailer support” said David Stansel, Operations Manager. “We’ve already taken many steps to create a better working relationship with distributors and retailers, and these additional items are solid tools to continue that work.”

According to Mitch Gitelman, computer game developer FASA Studios has closed their doors. This has sparked a lot of posts around the net saying that “FASA has closed,” or “Shadowrun is dead” or “BattleTech is dead” — and that’s created some confusion, because to traditional gamers, FASA [or, more fully, “FASA Corporation”] ceased operating as a publisher in 2001, but both games live on.

Regardless of the state of the BattleTech / MechWarrior & Shadowrun computer game licenses [FASA Studios was part of Microsoft, and Microsoft still holds the rights to computer games set in the BattleTech and Shadowrun universes], neither of those great properties is dead, and the closing of FASA Studios does not affect Catalyst Game Labs and our production schedule in any way.

As we’ve seen in the past, while individual companies and operations may fall down, Shadowrun and BattleTech are still going strong. We look forward to seeing what happens next to the digital versions of our beloved universes!