The most recent issue of Game Trade Magazine, #157, has a large feature article on Edge of the Empire.  GTM tends to be what retailers use to order product from Alliance Distribution that is too new to be in their yearly cataloge. As such, it has to have pretty solid lead times for ordering so product gets to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there and release dates aren't missed.  They can't afford to speculate on release dates like Amazon and a few other sites can because it is much more critical for them to be correct.

I tell you that, to tell you this:  GTM #157 says April.  So my money goes solidly on April. (Page 5 of this PDF: http://www.gametrademagazine.com/downloads/GTM157Games.pdf ) 

When in April?  Not entirely certain, but Barnes & Noble is saying the 28th.  Being a Sunday, that seems a bit odd.  It could just be a 'safe' date for now, being so late in the month.  

I am expecting an April to the first weekend in May release. This makes sense in my mind due to the Star Wars Game Experience happening on May 4th at FFG. I think they would want it handy by that weekend for added buzz for the event.

I'd expect it to be on the boat for 5-6 weeks, so if it's going to drop in April, it would have to leave the printer within the next week or two.

Not sure when this got posted, but since they're including the EotE game in the announcements of games for their May the 4th celebration weekend, I think it's likely FFG be expecting to deploy it around that time, at least.  May be just before or just after for everybody, but the question remains:

When will then be now?

SOON!

-WJL

Having your big product for a new RPG line come out at the same time you're hosting a major game day would make the most sense from a business perspective.  Get folks to try out this hot new game, and have the books on hand to purchase if they like it and/or want to learn more about it.

Between GAMA's citing of "April Release" along with Barnes & Noble citing the 28th as when they'll have the books in stock, I'm thinking that April 30th would be a reasonable expectation of a street date.  Altough with the GAMA trade mag, I can't help but wonder how far in advance those are printed, so the April Release may have been based on FFG information at the time, which may or may not still be 100% accurate due to factors outside of FFG's control (such as delays at the printer or from shipping).

At the risk of being accused of being contrarian, the Games Trade pdf says that it's scheduled to ship in April.  I'm not sure if that's what you meant by "GAMA". 

Based on how the "upcoming" tab on this site defines "Shipping Now", it takes 7-10 days to distribute the product to stores before it's available.  So if we're still 5-7 weeks out (4-6 weeks "on the boat" plus another week for distribution), it should be available in late April earliest, and thats if it gets on the boat, like, tomrrow.  I think an early May release (lining up with their event) is pretty likely, provided they get the books to the boat quick.

-WJL

LethalDose said:

Sooon.

They could also have some early copies from the printer for the event (like many companies do for events like Gen Con). It could be that you can buy a corebook at this event but still wait for the rest of the shipment to make it to distributers. 

Given that I used to run the Holocron podcast for SW:TOR before the game even entered serious beta, I can confirm that release date speculation is indeed 'fun'.  

However, unlike the Video Game Industry, the table top game industry (along with the book industry, etc.) can't afford to monkey around with these sorts of things.  You either know when you are releasing the book/game/etc or you don't.  There isn't really any room for pushing these things back on a moments notice so you tend to be VERY sure when things are due out and meet that deadline.  Too many things on the production side have to coordinate with too many thing on the distribution side to even think about missing a deadline.  If you aren't sure when all that is going to come together, then you don't put it up for the distribution side of things until you ARE sure.

Typical lead time for solicitation of upcoming products is generally about 3 months, or it was ten years ago when I had my own store.  I can see where that might have shortened a bit over the years as the process has refined itself and incorporated new technologies, etc.  That three month lead time is all about the distributors figuring out how much product people are going to want, how much they have to have ready to go out the door as soon as it arrives, and how much they will likely need on hand to meet follow up orders.  On the retail side of things, pre-orders do much the same thing.  How much interest is there and how much will I need to meet it?  Most distributors do not randomly say, "Oh we'll take 3000 copies," unless they have good indication that 2,800 of them are going to go out the door on day one.  Product just sitting on a shelf costs money when it isn't doing anything.  Missing a deadline at this stage, when pre-orders are placed and product is expected, isn't just a minor faux pas, it is likely someone's job going away.  The table top game industry operates on thin enough margins as it is without that kind of screw up costing extra money.

If Game Trade, and by extension Alliance, say April, then I think we have to contend with the fact that it WILL be April.  Might be early April, might be late April but I feel confident that product will be leaving the warehouse in April on the way to the Local Game Store.  Generally speaking, Tuesdays and/or Thursdays are when most FLGS' get product from Alliance.  That'd be the Tuesday or Thursday AFTER it is shipped out.  So if we assume April 28th is in fact the actual release date, I think, with some confidence, we can expect product in stores no later than May 2nd.  Just in time for the big event.

Donovan Morningfire said:

I've never seen them get one right for an RPG product that wasn't from WOTC.

Part of that is the issues of getting things into distribution for the whole RPG industry.

Part of that is Amazon making shit up when not given information as specific as they want.