Plaid Hat responds to Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn supply, delay and rule troubles

Isaac Vega’s Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn has be faced by a growing wave of fan criticism recently, leading publisher Plaid Hat Games to issue a statement on the card game’s various troubles.

In a candid blog post, Plaid Hat founder and studio director Colby Dauch admitted that “things have not been up to an acceptable standard”, naming on-going supply issues, delayed expansions, unclear rules for competitive play and a lack of support for more widespread organised play as the key factors to have contributed to player complaints.

Dauch said that Ashes’ unavailability in stores is down to the game exceeding sales expectations, leading to a lack of stock despite reprinting as fast as possible, due to the time needed to print and ship a fresh batch to retail.

“Now that we have a couple of expansion waves under our belts, it will be much easier to make a case for ordering larger first printings of Ashes expansions so that the supply adequately meets the demand,” he explained. “Additionally, we have been unhappy with the fulfillment company we have used in the EU for the latest Ashes shipments. We will seek to have our management hire a different EU fulfillment team in the future.”

He also addressed the discussions between Plaid Hat owner F2Z and Asmodee with regards to a sale of the former to the latter, which has impacted the planned release date of Ashes expansions, leading to indefinite delays until the deliberations have concluded.

It’s a similar situation with the expansion of organised play, which Dauch said was “problematic” to discuss while the talks between F2Z and Asmodee continue.

“We have plans and we will announce them as soon as we are legally able to,” he affirmed.

One resolution that is already taking place is the refinement of the competitive rule set for Ashes, which Dauch said would be tightened by “getting rid of the overcomplicated or unintuitive elements and working on a presentation that will be easy to digest”.