No WotC At Gen Con This Year?

It looks like Wizards of the Coast will not be attending Gen Con this year. They've just posted a list of the conventions they'll be attending in 2016, and noted their intention to support conventions that they don't normally get to attend. "Gen Con is not on this list because we are changing things up to support more conventions and locations. Even though the Dungeons & Dragons team won’t be there we know our friends at Baldman Games will be hosting plenty of D&D adventures. It’s safe to say there will be ample opportunity to play Dungeons & Dragons during Gen Con. We’re excited to head to some new conventions this year and meet folks who don’t have the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis."

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The list of conventions WotC will be attending is Winter Fantasy (February, Fort Wayne, IN), Gary Con (March, Lake Geneva, WI), PAX East (April, Boston MA), Origins (June, Columbus OH), and PAX Prime (August, Seattle WA).

Chris Perkins will be hosting another Acquisitions Inc event at PAX East, and Origins will be the "D&D tabletop gaming event of the year" with sneak peeks and a return of the D&D Open. PAX Prime will have the highest concentration of D&D staff present.

Read more about their convention plans here.

 

[GrumpyGamer]

I have no complaints with the Baldman Games people; my experience with them has been very positive. With that said last years GenCon without Wizards support was not a good experience. The location that they had in the main hall was terrible due to the crowd noise, and made concentration on gaming very difficult. This was in stark contrast to the 5e launch party at GenCon which was amazing: a few actors, a few wall dividers, a few authors, and life like castle walls go a long way. I don't see Baldman Games having the budget to fix these issues and pull off GenCon correctly.

From a 5e perspective I think I might try to make it to Origins as the con description looks awesome. From a general gamer perspective it might be time to try and make it to Pax.

 

[cmad1977]

I thought this was settled last year when there was controversy about the rewards people didn't get from WotC at GenCon. Mearls was rather clear that WotC wasn't interested in GenCon anymore.

Seriously. They talked about this already. Other venues are superior in regards to panels, Q+A sessions and (by far most importantly) media attendance/attention. Gen-con is great for gaming, but to dump resources into it is basically preaching to the choir.

 

[Beleriphon]

It's the only US-based one that non-American fans tend to be able to go to, too.

Actually, I take that back - the PAXes are bigger than Gen Con, I think. Lots of folks from around the world there, I should think.

PAX East and Prime are big enough that they pull in non-gaming media now. Hell, PAX Prime got big enough they expanded to the East coast and Australia now.

 

[tomBitonti]

I think folks are focused too much on how many people are going, and instead consider *which* people are going. Consider - is there anyone so motivated as to go to GenCon that isn't already up on what WotC is doing? It isnt' really a big marketing opportunity if they aren't reaching new people - attending GenCon would be fan service, at best.

But isn't fan service an important thing?

"Fan service, at best" is dismissive, and I would shy away from a company with that presentation.

Thx!
TomB

 

[Jiggawatts]

What will they do if they are up for an Ennie, just not be there to accept the potential award?

 

[darjr]

Also please note that Wizards WAS at gencon last year. They were weeling and dealing behind the scenes and were available for many a podcast interview. And if I'm not mistaken Mike Mearls even ran a game or two.

Coarse I could he fuzY

 

[Feeroper]

WOTC has not been at Gen Con "Officially" for the past 3 years.. the past 2 you were hard pressed to even find a mention of them... So this is not shocking in the least bit.

Plus Mearls himself talked about LAST YEAR - http://www.thetomeshow.com/e/gencon-2015-mike-mearls-open-question-discussion-hour/

WotC was there in force for 2014 - they had a huge vendor area and play area, and there was panels as well as a major 5e and ToD launch party. It was quite good. 2015 was the first year with a noticeable lack of WotC presence.

However I completely understand their reasoning for not focussing on Gen Con, I just wish they would have some presence beyond Baldman Games (who do a great job for AL).

 

[cmad1977]

But isn't fan service an important thing?

"Fan service, at best" is dismissive, and I would shy away from a company with that presentation.

Thx!
TomB

Fan service gets you 'The Hobbit' trilogy.

 

[Vampyr3]

WotC was there in force for 2014 - they had a huge vendor area and play area, and there was panels as well as a major 5e and ToD launch party. It was quite good. 2015 was the first year with a noticeable lack of WotC presence.

However I completely understand their reasoning for not focussing on Gen Con, I just wish they would have some presence beyond Baldman Games (who do a great job for AL).

They were there, but they were NOT in the main show area, it was in the back of the Play area, but yes the panels were good.. Sorry I forgot about the panels..

 

[DEFCON 1]

There's also the possibility that while the "D&D department of Wizards of the Coast" aren't going to be there in an official capacity, who knows if some of the employees (like Jeremy Crawford mentioned earlier) might go on their own time and own dime (as "fans" moreso than "employees".) So you could still see them around (and they might do interviews or sit on other non-D&D panels) for all we know.