I blame you too... 8)
We were on break!
It's our belief that Ars Magica Fifth Edition, once Dies Irae is released, stands as a complete game product line with impressive long tail backlist value and full support from over three dozen and change sourcebooks, supplements, and scenarios.
This is publisher speak for "it's not dead."
We've been selling Over the Edge, Unknown Armies, and our d20 books continuously for years without any new books being printed for those. Seriously. Core books of OtE and UA2 go out to distribution every month and people keep restocking on those.
I'm not saying that folks are wrong for being disappointed. I value every comment and opinion put forward on these forums and I'm always reading them. But I think that it's wrong to state that any game line is dead so long as you can still play it, and still buy books for it (such as if you're becoming a player for the very first time and want to see what it's all about.)
Just as long as you make reprints of the core books and realm books, I think this game will be popular for years.
I think this is a very important point. A RPG is dead the moment it is OOP. Keep on reprinting the books, and the game will stay alive.
By the way, what happens to the digital publishing of the backlist when there won´t be new books? Wait a year after publication?
I´m not too happy with this, as I would love to see at least all the tribunal books in a current (as it were) edition. The collector in me is groaning about not being able to have the full range of books. But then, my wife is going to be happy, as I won´t need any more shelf space for ArM books...
My exact situation! 