Charles Ryan (and others) out at WotC?

[Fighter1]

...which, if you are a gamer in a group where the DM has all the necessary materials, like mine, may be absolutely nothing. Several players in my group don't even have PHBs

Huh? No PHB? NO PHB!? NO PHB!!!!!! Unheard of! It’s blasphemy!!!! Get out the torches and pitchforks! Put the crosses up in the town sqaure!!!! Get the oil! Get the hounds! We will vanquish these evil beings from our midst!!!!

Or perhaps some people are just cheap?

Just joking...or maybe not

 

[William Ronald]

This is one reason why I have been a vocal proponent for the average gamer to be more active with their LGS and tell them specifically what products they want to see on their shelves and then follow through by making those purchases at the store. The decline in sales of RPGs isn't because gamers aren't buying. If that were the case, Gen Con would have been a miserable year instead of most manufacturers having stellar sales. The problem lies in a breakdown somewhere in the distribution to retail side of things.

I think this is one of the big problems in the gaming industry: poor communications. Like yourself, I have walked into stores where the staff new little about games and gaming. However, I do try to patronize stores which have a knowledgeable staff.

Possibly a good introductory product might make an impact in attracting new people to the industry.

As for who could afford to buy the D&D brand in the gaming industry, one possibility is Peter Adkison. However, I don't see any indication of an upcoming sale of the license or WoTC.

 

[DaveMage]

One last thing, if Hasbro were to sell the D&D brand, it would be sold for no less than $30 million dollars...

Cool - it's nice to finally have a ball-park figure to target.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

I think this is one of the big problems in the gaming industry: poor communications. Like yourself, I have walked into stores where the staff new little about games and gaming. However, I do try to patronize stores which have a knowledgeable staff.

Possibly a good introductory product might make an impact in attracting new people to the industry.

As for who could afford to buy the D&D brand in the gaming industry, one possibility is Peter Adkison. However, I don't see any indication of an upcoming sale of the license or WoTC.

Why would peter buy D&D again?
WOTC was Peters company, He bought TSR for 1 million (or was it 5?) all those years ago, and the d20/ogl renessance was born. Eventually he sold WOTC to Hasbro, and bought Gencon from WOTC.

As far as I understand Peter is very happy and satsfied just managing gencon, which grows every year.

As much as the man loves D&D why would he want to buy back the company or even the IP he sold, after years, for more then he sold it to begin with?

He would REALLY have to love D&D a whole whole lot to take such a financial loss and commitment.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

I said this once before. If we as gamers want to have...better control, or say on the market, one very good way to "try" and do that is start buying stock in companies like WOTC.

Think about this for a second.. HAS stock is currently worth 20.50$ a share (as of 1 hour ago?) Thats half the price of their recent books.

For the same cost of one big WOTC book a person can buy two stocks (and thus have two votes at any shareholder meetings)

Now, the way public companies work is that most stockholders choose a proxy to vote for them. This one person holds many many proxy votes. This enables the stockholder to avoid attending every stockholder meeting and what not.

However, every, and i mean every stockholder, even someone with a single share, has a right to speak at these meetings.

If some gamers started to buy stock, in WOTC for example, at the very least once a year we'd be able to voice our conserns and other issues to the company brass directly.

I doubt we'd ever have enough collectivly to have a major voting peice of the company, but we only really need a voice.

Its just a pipe dream....

 

[CharlesRyan]

Sorry I've been a little slow to get back on this thread--the last few days have been a little hectic. I just wanted to step back in and say thanks to everyone who posted so many kind and supportive comments.

My family and I really appreciate the support!

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Sorry I've been a little slow to get back on this thread--the last few days have been a little hectic. I just wanted to step back in and say thanks to everyone who posted so many kind and supportive comments.

My family and I really appreciate the support!

In case I havnt already I'll do it now! thanks for all your hard work on our favorite game and I hope you and your family sees the holidays well!

 

[kenobi65]

If some gamers started to buy stock, in WOTC for example, at the very least once a year we'd be able to voice our conserns and other issues to the company brass directly.

People do that all the time at various publicly-held companies. They show up at the annual meeting, say, "I own three shares of your company, and I demand you do [X]."

They're generally seen as cranks, unfortunately. And, in this case, the D&D players represent buyers of one of the smaller product lines in one of Hasbro's smaller divisions. It's sort of like showing up at the Coca-Cola annual meeting, and complaining that you can't find Tab anywhere.

 

[francisca]

Sorry I've been a little slow to get back on this thread--the last few days have been a little hectic. I just wanted to step back in and say thanks to everyone who posted so many kind and supportive comments.

My family and I really appreciate the support!

Best of luck to you.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

People do that all the time at various publicly-held companies. They show up at the annual meeting, say, "I own three shares of your company, and I demand you do [X]."

They're generally seen as cranks, unfortunately. And, in this case, the D&D players represent buyers of one of the smaller product lines in one of Hasbro's smaller divisions. It's sort of like showing up at the Coca-Cola annual meeting, and complaining that you can't find Tab anywhere.

First off I never said we should demand anything. I said it would enable us to have a voice where the company has to LISTEN. They dont have to act on what they hear, but it gives us a voice that is less easily ignored then emails to custserv.

That voice CAN be used to benefit, IF we pool together and decide what we want to say, and send our own proxy to relay these thoughts. OR if we appeared enmass as a group.

Point is, a voice can be a powerfull thing. And if used intelligently and well it can sway other vote holders.

This is why in the modern buisness world boards of directors try as hard as possible to AVOID general votes on issues because they know how much power the voting stockholder can hold, and they fear it.