And your faith that forumites and gamers with no inside information about Wizards business goals, prospects, expenses, and outcomes from attending cons can make better decisions than the folks at Wizards whose career is oriented around such things is "overblown."
I'm not trying to stifle communication - of course everyone is welcome to share their opinion in this discussion forum.
Just because people have a right to express an opinion does not entail that they should be taken seriously. I maintain that people who bellyache that Wizards is making a huge financial mistake by not attending a con (when they attended in the last few years, and clearly would have had the opportunity to observe the consequences) are deluding themselves and conflating what they want (A big castle in the middle of the show floor!) with what is good for Wizards (spending marketing funds on ROI positive activities).
Re: "faith...is Overblown" - Let's take it back a notch before we say something we don't really mean to.
Just a friendly reminder that we can't read tone of voice in posts.
It makes sense for the larger companies to begin skipping Gen Con as it gets as big as it is. It starts to take far too much investment for them to have enough presence to promote their product to a degree that they deem significant. There's too much competition for holding peoples' attention. They can probably make a bigger impact at someplace like Origins or even their own convention. The companies are there to promote themselves, if all the gamers want is to play the games, they don't need the companies to do that for them, GM's can hold events in their stead.
I don't see what the big deal is. When people come to a convention they are interested in playing the game. The brand is handled very deftly through the Adventurer's League, which is primarily run by third-party groups like Baldman Games.
I was at PAX South this weekend and even with the small five table AL booth, there was a ton of interest in the game. The PAX conventions skew to a younger overall demographic is the perfect place to market to a new audience. The Acquisitions Inc. game is considered marketing and given its popularity, it is smart marketing.
Also, FYI, GenCon was started in '68 (technically '67 with a meeting of IFW members at Gary Gygax's house). Dungeons and Dragons was published in '74 and GenCon was bought by TSR in '75. (source: Playing at the World - Jon Peterson)
I guess for me it is hard to imagine a Gen Con without D&D. Its the Gold Anniversary to something that Gary and Dave brought about with friends. Or did everybody forget that part? The point was to bring the gaming community together then later on: Gaming related businesses. You had vendors who hawked their wares, as things grew in the good times and bad D&D and the RPGs: Living Campaigns, Dice Games, Card Games grew from that. While other companies moved on to more specialized formats (Adepticon: for WARHAMMER 40k as a for instance) can be understood.
Gen Con gives them the most exposure to the most diverse group of gamers and would be gamers. Foot Traffic from the last 5 years for Gen Con cannot lie. Nor the profits for D&D/Hasbro. The difference honestly is this. Hasbro is pushing for the D&D Brand to be its own thing away from the gaming community. What made D&D great was sharing its platform with the community. Hasbros lawyers and Corp side of things feel differently. As for Chris Perkins (head Cheese for D&D) I cannot believe he would want to leave Gen Con. Maybe he did not have a choice?? 49 YEARS has D&D been there. From Hackmaster to Pathfinder and the other awesome gaming companies throughout the years. I cannot fathom for what good reason it is for them to walk away other than Hasbro is wanting them to widen the gap between D&D and other RPGs.
I would like it noted that other game companies still trek to Gen Con despite having home area local CONs that they support and other Large CONs they support. For instance Paizo, Palliadum (Rifts, Super Heros Unlimited, HackMaster (Kenzor&Co), Green Ronin, etc. They all attend smaller and larger CONs throughout the year from Gamerhole Con to Origins. However, all come back to Gen Con. Because its the oldest and the first. 49 years of history and friendship. At least that's how I think many gamers are going to see this. I am sad that between my True Dungeon Runs and Pathfinder Society games I will not have a chance to visit the Dungeons and Dragons booth. Take pics and pick up minis. Once a year all my favorite games are under one roof were Gamers from all over come to share in the games they love. Its sad in the most prolific of ways the game that brought them all together just left us without a goodbye.
We Received no Dear John Letter. You just walked away. Not even an Open Letter to the loyal D&D Leaguers and CON goers on your own site. Just a list of the other CONs you plan on seeing. I hope that perhaps you are just hammering out details. Perhaps not. I do know that of all the Gen Cons I have attended the 50th was one I did not plan on missing. I am sad that this is the one you will be.
Gen Con gives them the most exposure to the most diverse group of gamers and would be gamers. Foot Traffic from the last 5 years for Gen Con cannot lie.
The difference honestly is this. Hasbro is pushing for the D&D Brand to be its own thing away from the gaming community.
Well said brinesbane!
Unfortunately personal differences often create rifts that never heal, especially when brought into the realm of business.
Though Dungeons & Dragons will not officially be present at GenCon 50, its presence and influence will undoubtedly be felt. GenCon 50 looks to be a completely sold out, for the first time in its history, showing that the hobby, community, and games will outlive any individual person's or corporation's involvement.
It is sad that Wizards is not at Gen Con particularly for the 50 anniversary. Of course coming to the convention is not a money maker for most companies. What it is about is showing fans that you care, excited about their product, and a way to say thank you to the fans for supporting the company.
By them not attending it is an unfortunate poor, short-sighted corporate view.
Remember that Gen Con is really expensive for exhibitors to go to, even more expensive for a big booth like Wizard had in the past. Expensive, as in EXPENSIVE. Booth costs, display costs, shipping costs, utility costs, cost of housing/transportation/salaries for employees, paying for employees to pack and unpack everything before and after the convention, plus whatever else comes up....the costs can be brutal.
Balance that against the fact that Gen Con has a large attendance, but is increasingly going after a non-gaming audience. Non-gaming, as in not particularly interested in buying things from a gaming company's booth, which does not help to offset a gaming company's expenses.
If, compared to a smaller convention that attracts a higher proportion of gamers within a smaller overall population, Gen Con starts costing say 3x as much but only really nets you 2x as many potential gaming customers you start running into a situation where you are getting more out of skipping Gen Con. For Wizards this may mean getting Baldman to run games, send out Chris Perkins or Mike Mearls to shake a few hands and sign a few autographs, and concentrate on more profitable conventions.
You could talk about "exposure", but honestly how many people who are going to Gen Con have honestly never heard of D&D, and if they want to learn how to play there are plenty of intro games to be had. The benefits of exposure are pretty limited.
If you are wondering why Wizards, or indeed any other gaming company that "should" be at Gen Con, isn't at the con, this may be part of the answer. We are also now dealing with a cap on badges which isn't going away any time soon. If the proportion of non-gamers within that capped attendance continues to grow larger and larger it wouldn't be surprising if more and more gaming companies decide to skip Gen Con in future years.
I think that Hasbro has made a business decision to NOT invest in Gen Con and instead use those resources elsewhere - one might assume to promote D&D. I've seen them reach out to more gamers via electronic and social media, free Dragon+ magazine, not to mention attendance at a lot more cons (albeit, sadly not Gen Con). That coupled with the robust development of materials and campaigns tells me that Hasbro has redeployed financial resources that can and are impacting more gamers. That's great for D&D fans.
The other side to this is that Gen Con is no longer focused on D&D. That is what works for Gen Con. They've also added many more different facets to the convention that are mostly non-gaming, i.e. anime, cosplay, spa program, etc. while those build Gen Cons numbers (which is great for them) it doesn't speak to fans of D&D necessarily. So a bigger Gen Con doesn't mean (at least under this scenario) marketing to more gamers or specificlly D&D fans.
There are many more variables to consider but from a guy that runs a small business, that's what I see.
Honestly, it's mostly because Hasbro has decided that they aren't going to get *new* players at GenCon, and the vast majority of their convention presence is directed toward new player acquisition. They go places like PAX because they can get exposure out to people who say "I've heard of DnD before, but never really seen it up close".
I think it is kind of lame that the premiere gaming convention doesn't get any actual support for one of the marquee RPG's, and *the* marquee TCG, but it is what it is.
____________________________________________________ Alec Usticke, Unofficial Gen Con Indy Facebook Discussion Group
No way it's cost. WotC had issues with Gen Con years ago and threatened not to come and were a late addition. Whatever the reason, it's ridiculous. We, the attendees, are the one's that miss out.
I've seen more behind the scenes of setting up and running trade shows than most of the posters here. I've worked with GAMA, running the card hall at Origins 2007-2010. I worked the Gen Con WOTC booth in 2010 (BEST! WEEKEND! EVER!) And I have a degree in Graphic Communication Management (publishing and printing).
There are dozens of hidden costs in running a trade show booth that you may not be aware of. The convention centers usually charge for EVERYTHING. One year we asked to move the card hall HQ at Origins and were promptly charged $200 to move the stage and tables 40 feet. (Lesson: Never run a gaming convention over a holiday weekend.)
There are costs for shipping materials, hotel rooms, badges, electricity, Wi-Fi, curtains, carpets, receiving fees, mailing fees, shirts, swag, sponsorships, travel expenses. When Hasbro bought WOTC, they expected D&D and Magic to be sacred cows, producing money hand over fist and while they have strong followings they don't come close to Hasbro's other properties. Somewhere, someone is looking over a spreadsheet and figuring out the ROI (Return On Investment) for trade shows and GenCon just doesn't return what the company wants.
GenCon is too large to be useful for teaching new players about D&D and Magic. What needs to be done at the convention is conveniently handled by Baldman and Pasttime.
Sad WOTC can't get over having to play second fiddle to piazo.
Ever since they decided to pull out of gencon I haven't spent a cent on D&D product, sure plan spending some money at piazo.