Former Wizards of the Coast CEO Launches New RPG Company

I'm not sure I understand his market. Rich RPG-noids who have a lot of money to foot a vanity film based on their game? Web-viewers who will watch the movies for a fee? Ad revenue from a website featuring the movies? All of the above?

Haven't read the article, so I shan't claim this is a criticism of it, but it seems to me like any/all of those options are a pretty shaky foundation for a new company. Most online "RPG movies" that are successful started out as little amateur projects with very little overhead that caught on virally and became unexpected successes. That can work, because there's no initial need for profit or investment capital. The makers are doing it for themselves as much as anything else. Then it becomes popular, then profitable.

But it seems like the odds of it working like that for every movie you make are so low as to be ludicrous. I can count the number of really popular RPG-based webmovies on one hand. There are as many really UNpopular ones as there are stars in the sky.

I guess if the company gets two or three hits out, they might attach some reputation of quality to their name...but even then...I dunno. Seems thin.

Maybe they'll kickstart each movie individually. Cuz, you know, there aren't nearly enough RPG-related Kickstarts right now.

(^_^)

sidenote:
I'm sad about our world. It's true he was endangering his company and that is what makes it sad. If it was not obligatory, and it was his upper executives, I don't see the big deal. We've become a world where the easily offended lord over us. And I doubt it's ever going to change.

on topic:
As for his idea? My gut is that it won't fly. But smart people are generally panned until they hit it big. So maybe I'll be wrong. I wish him well. He did save D&D. That means I'll cut him a lot of slack.

I wish him all the luck in the world. I, however, am not interested in the least.