Is WOTC headed for a TSR-ending? :/

Silverblade The Ench · Oct 13, 2009

with yet another of the great folk who've worked at WOTC going, sigh, and various other issues (like the hypocriticial and myopic attitude against pdf sales)...is it just me or do you feel that WOTC is headed down the same path TSR did, until eventual...crash?

Now, depsite what some folk blather about, I feel that TSR did an *amazing* job of most of the AD&D products, absolutely fabulous material was created in the 90s. It was just their bad management that fluffed it up (such as forcing settings ot fit novel lines etc), and a cheapening of some products (see the last Forgotten Realms boxed set they produced, ugh, appalling interior design etc)

Likewise in the WOTC era, I find 4th ed absolutely fantastic, bets ed yet for me

The DDI stuff I is I think, the lynch pin, and achilles ankle, of it all.
D&D *NEEDS* to go digital or it dies, that's hard fact, folks.
If you wanna play by yourself with increasingly fewer gamers as they age, die, move away etc until NO one is left playing, and refuse to accept the validity of the fact the youngsters, our next D&D players, are VERY digital-based, then you have yer dman head in the sand.
D&D must adapt to the new age, hence, digital.
the character and monster builder etc are superb tools, better than anything else I've ever seen to date for our beloved game, so, the products I believe are rock solid

But, the prior fiasco which seemed ot have brought the "Hasborg" out of their DungeonDimension to vent wrath at WOTC HQ boded little good, really, and ESPECIALLY what they did with Dragon and Dungeon, which were outstanding magazines before they got ripped out of Paizo's hands.
Creative, talented folk are rare and precious....losing them is damn stupid. It's cutting off yer nose to spite your face, to coin a well-used phrase.

So, I worry... :/

UngainlyTitan · Oct 13, 2009

Jeez! the Sky is always falling, isn't it?

I got the impression from the Rouse's farewell that he was going voluntary and onto bigger and brighter things.

As for WoTC, I belive they have a pretty good and solid vision of where they want to go and I have no real quibble with the basic strategy. I agree that digital is the way to go but I do realise that initially they got it horribly wrong.
However, getting software development horribly wrong is nothing new, software companies do it often enough and companies that have no prior experience in software projects do it very often.
The interesting is that WoTC have not retreated from their vision but they have learned from their mistakes.
They are still working toward their grand vision (or some closely related version thereof) but they are doing it in small steps and learning from each iteration.

AllisterH · Oct 13, 2009

Why do people forget that WOTC ALSO produces this little game called Magic the Gathering?

I mean, sure, it's not THAt popular or Successful but still

On a more serious note, I would look more at how WOTC's other divisions are doing. Namely, the novel department and M:TG.

Hell, how much revenue does Avalon Hill, Heroscape and even Maple Story (seriously, what the hell is this one anyway?) bring in for WOTC' s coffers.

Mouseferatu · Oct 13, 2009

ardoughter said:
Jeez! the Sky is always falling, isn't it?

The sky fell over a year ago. Now we're all drowning in sky pieces.

Also, the world is going to end in 2012, but humanity will survive because the government has made a deal with the gray aliens (who are causing global warming, BTW) to transport us all to Earth 2, where we'll all live under a socialist regime ruled by atheist lizard people.

Get your catastrophes straight, for Pete's sake!

Kzach · Oct 13, 2009

Is your bridge being repaired?

Klaus · Oct 13, 2009

Mouseferatu said:
The sky fell over a year ago. Now we're all drowning in sky pieces.

Also, the world is going to end in 2012, but humanity will survive because the government has made a deal with the gray aliens (who are causing global warming, BTW) to transport us all to Earth 2, where we'll all live under a socialist regime ruled by atheist lizard people.

Get your catastrophes straight, for Pete's sake!

Dude.

Earth 2 is the Justice Society one. Get yer Multiverse straight!

Damn whippersnappers...

Philotomy Jurament · Oct 13, 2009

Silverblade The Ench said:
…is it just me or do you feel that WOTC is headed down the same path TSR did…

For me, something like that has already happened. With TSR, I found myself not being in step with the style/focus/direction of the products in the 2e period (really, that started in the late 1e period, but I soldiered on for a while). Eventually, I quit buying the new D&D stuff, ran other games and editions, and stopped caring about what TSR was doing. When WotC released 3.0, I got interested and started buying (new) D&D stuff, again, and that held true up until shortly after 3.5, when I started finding myself out of step, once more. Took a look at 4e, but it was an even greater departure from my kind of D&D, so again, I'm back to "not buying the new D&D stuff, running other games and editions, and not paying attention to what WotC is doing."

Obviously, that's just my personal take on the situation, and it says nothing about the overall success of 4e or of WotC as a business.

DaveMage · Oct 13, 2009

Silverblade The Ench said:
is it just me or do you feel that WOTC is headed down the same path TSR did, until eventual...crash?

Only if Slavicek's next column says "there's a problem with the printer."

amethal · Oct 13, 2009

Silverblade The Ench said:
with yet another of the great folk who've worked at WOTC going, sigh,

Edition wars not make one great.

ExploderWizard · Oct 13, 2009

WOTC isn't in a situation even close to TSR in the later days. Although very important to gamers, D&D is just one small piece of the business.

It is possible that the pen and paper rpg known as D&D will one day cease to be supported and the D&D brand represented by card games, movies, novels, or television. Either way, WOTC will probably be OK.

D&D, the game was the backbone of TSR and when it started to fail, so did the company. For WOTC, D&D is a marketable IP that can be morphed into whatever form will generate the best, and most sustainable revenue.