Are Licensed RPGs Dead?

A short piece on PlayDevil is determined to bring some exposure to the recent lack of role-playing video games based on licensed intellectual properties (read: Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer).  Here’s the basic premise of their argument:

…what strikes me as odd is that there are no new games coming out using licensed systems and worlds, despite the mini-resurgence of table-based RPGs.

D&D 4th Edition is out now, Warhammer Roleplay is stronger than ever with a fantastic new system, and there is a new Warhammer 40K RPG, Rogue Tradee, focusing on trading and intergalactic travel. Call of Cthulu is as strong as ever, but Betheseda has shown no signs of releasing another game based on the system. Yet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you couldn’t move for Forgotten Realms games, or other D&D titles. So what’s happened?

…

The last ‘˜proper’ new release was NWN2 way back in 2006, and whilst the hardcore community has been supporting the title as ever with modules on top of the official expansion packs, the last console titles was the action-focused Dark Alliance 2 way back in January 2004.

With D&D, we know that there’s currently a legal nightmare ensuing over the licensing rights. And you really can’t count Warhammer out just yet, as Relic is hard at work on their Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine action RPG. What we’re truly missing, though, is a new Vampire: The Masquerade RPG…