I'm very impressed with UA, but I'm a relative newbie to the game. I was introduced to it less than a year ago. I do hype the game to other people, stressing the much-acclaimed sanity system, and the seriousness and intensity of the game's themes.

However, I am somewhat expecting that I will watch the game die. First, because horror RPGs are a less popular niche than sword-and-sorcery, and a niche that, furthermore, is already heavily colonized by WoD and CoC. Secondly, UA's freeform rules are heavily dependent on GM ruling -- while makes them fast and flexible, it's standing exactly opposite to the current RPG industry trend towards defined-action engines which provide players with an exhaustive menu of the things their characters may do.

In my view UA is also not newbie-friendly. Its intensity and focus on character is great for those who already have experience in other RPGs, but not very accessible for those who don't. This applies another limitation on the potential player base.

It'll be a shame to see UA go, but I can't really blame Atlas for directing their resources to areas that are hotter right now. My biggest hope for UA is for an explosion of homebrew material available on the Internet to keep the player base involved until some day when the industry zeitgeist swings back to favouring free-form, psychologically driven titles.

So your suggestion is to what... just sit back and let the game die?
This is why WoTC can pump out a card game for 4.0 and make money off it. You get the games you deserve...
And I have to disagree with you on almost every point.
1) Just because there are other games in the genre means that another possibly superior game is irrelevant?
2) Freeform rules... wow. Just go and read the CoC rulebook and comeback to me on that one.
3) Current RPG trend towards action.
looking at my bookshelf and some of the best selling games on drivethrurpg and i see FATE/FUDGE (Dresden files esp.) and GUMshoe right near the top. NONE of these are action heavy. And considering the next book was to be a source book for the Order of St. Cecil things had the potential to get VERY violent (but i usually have at least one large fight in at least every game session when i play so i don't see how UA is any less action anyways).
"areas that are hotter right now" like what "furry pirates" or another ccg?

Your suggestions are fine. I don't have any others. Though pestering Atlas is probably the least effective of them. If they're going to gamble on producing new UA material, Atlas needs to hear that lots of people want it, not that a handful of people want it really badly. Realistically, games, even great games, with a small-but-dedicated base tend to lose out to those with broader appeal. Always have; always will. Rage against the dying of the light, sure, but keep some perspective; no-one's going to take your books away. When UA "dies," it doesn't stew the flow of new official material -- there hasn't been any for years -- it only removes the possibility of new official material coming someday. That hasn't stopped the people who are still playing first edition D&D, and it's not going to stop you either.

And I don't think you really disagree with me so much as you just really want it to be otherwise.
1) Taking on an already-entrenched competitor in a tight market sector is already hard. Taking on TWO such behemoths was ballsy in the extreme. The deck was stacked against UA from day one.
2) CoC's ruleset is not indicative of what's currently attracting people to games. CoC is ancient by RPG standards.
3) I can't say whether there's a trend towards action in games. Any game can be as action-heavy as the GM wants. But when I visit brick and mortar game stores, I see the lion's share of shelf space given over to slick hardcovers with full-colour printing on every page and rule systems that I call "defined-action" where, instead of emphasizing the freedom of a character to try anything and relying on the GM to adjudicate it fairly, they offer the player choice from a sort of menu of clearly-defined actions and abilities. I don't much like this trend in rule systems, but it looks like that's what's profitable right now.

I want the new books, too, but I don't really expect that Atlas will take long-shot gambles for my benefit. Unless they're secretly a cabal of Entropomancers. But that's unlikely because same-school adepts have difficulty cooperating.

Oh, shit! I need to pour my annual libations in memory of the Book of Glamour and Kithbook: Boggan. Thanks for reminding me.

"Ran into some issues in the editorial process" sounds more like... creative or legal disputes of some kid.

Neville, without knowing anything in particular, I can bet it was legal.

It's all going to video games. Defined action lists, 'solid' rules by inflexible GMs, bonuses, bonuses, bonuses...

Part of the reason I love UA is because it doesn't feel like a video game, it feels like a role playing game. Something that modern games tend to lack.

Apart from Dark Heresy.

Aw man, that's some really terrible news! Unknown Armies is by far the most fun I've ever had with a tabletop game. The system, the world setting, the abilities... it all makes for a setting and for stories and character development that feels very real and complex to me in a way that other games just- don't provide.

I would GLADLY do my part to help [hell, I'm sick of borrowing my room mate's UA books anyway]. However, I must agree with Neville and Caesar that it's likely some sort of legal or creative issue behind the scenes. We've all seen it before: creative or financial conflicts rise-up between the makers of a game, book or movie and BAM, there goes the likelihood that it will ever yet see the light of day. : \ I can certainly say that, if they wanted an illustrator who would just cry gratefully and work for pennies, I'd be happy to submit myself, BUT. I would imagine that it's definitely something bigger than a lacking presence in the book prettification department.

Hopefully things will work out and we'll be able to see that next UA book sometime!!

Like V:tes, we will rise again ! and perhaps see another book in the next few years. Either way, we can wait. As long as someone in Atlas Games remembers Unknown Armies. There is still hope...

And we all know how much Adepts put into Hope, right people? hehehe