D&D General The $150,000 Question: How TSR Learned It Was Dying (And Why I Was in the Room) by Ken "Whit" Whitman

[Sacrosanct]

Worth noting that Ken only worked "for" TSR for 1 year. During that year, he actually worked for GenCon and was the conventions coordinator. He was never involved in any of the game making. You may ask yourself "weird how all these major inside conversations TSR had happened in 1 year from 1994-95." It's a valid question because his claims don't pass the sniff test.

Also of note that Ken is trying to promote his new company (yet another one) where he's charging $100 to reach out to TSR alum for scheduling appearances, so positioning himself as a TSR insider makes sense in that context. It's just too bad for him he really doesn't have those credentials despite how he keeps inferring he does.

 

[Cergorach]

I very much doubt that 5e has more than a 7 year average retention, so I don’t think he managed to identify the actual problem, let alone proposed the right solution (make sure you have customers for life instead).

Years ago someone leaked that internal Games Workshop numbers showed that the average GW games player lasts 3 years. There was a time when GW made a TON of products besides WFB and 40k, then they didn't because they thought they were cannibalizing their own sales (they were to a certain point), and now they are again producing quite a few lines besides Age of Sigmar (their WFB replacement) and 40k. And where previously those secondary lines were primarily relegated to resin or metal releases, most are now primarily HIPS plastic models. GW releases products weekly, hundreds of dollars of new product per week... GW has never done better, in revenue and profit.

How many products did AD&D 2nd Edition have in 11 years? And how many did D&D 3E have in 8 years? And how many did D&D 4E have in 6 years? Imho, the only significant slowdown in 'flooding the market' was 5e.

Probably one of the reasons for the 10 year run of 5e2014 was the continuing release of online stuff for the WOTC VTT product line at a time when on line play is what a lot of folks wanted.

I think that it's more pandemic related. People didn't have much to do but play online for years. Development might have drastically slowed down due to not being able to be/play in the same room. Production of a new edition during certain parts of the pandemic would have been impossible. It might then also have resulted in continued sales only slowing down late, thus requiring a new edition. That this resulted in a LOT of VTT demand and a 10 year gap between 'editions' isn't due to the 'natural' market movements imho.

 

[mamba]

Whatever things that Whit Whitman may have done, doesn't make his TSR observations incorrect.

Especially the observation about the '7 year pipe'.

yes, the 7 year pipe is probably accurate (if anything it feels too long). Framing it as a problem that needed solving for TSR to survive is where things go wrong.

It is not a problem that needed fixing, nor did it get fixed.

Since WOTC bought TSR:
3.0 - 3 years
3.5 - 5 years
4 - 6 years
5(2014) - 10 years
5(2024) - 1 year and counting.

Seems that WOTC is paying attention to the pipeline length and refreshing the game before folks reach the end and walk away.

nope, they refreshed because sales dropped after a year or two (the one exception being 5e), just like they did for 1e and 2e. This has nothing to do with retaining customers for seven years.

Also, you apparently didn’t if your year three sales crater, at least not in any way that keeps your business afloat. As I wrote earlier, it does not help you one bit if your customers buy the core books and then play for 20 years rather than three years, you need repeat customers (or new ones).

 

[Artamo]

I feel like Ben Riggs’ book did a better job at the explaining what happened than a water pipe analogy in a Facebook post. It could all very well have happened the way he said, but it’s still cherry picking something after the fact and acting like it’s a smoking gun.

 

[darjr]

Nope, no thanks.

 

[dbolack]

Not doubting you, but I've not heard of this guy and his rep. How/why did he get that reputation?

The old-fashioned way. He earned it. Let's start by refusing to pay a widow for her husband's work after he died....

 

[Alzrius]

But Ken Whitman is possibly the most prolific scammer active in the TTRPG gaming world today. If he told me it was raining I would need to check the sky first, and then I would have to make sure he didn't steal my wallet while I was looking up.

I'm glad someone else is saying this. Whitman already has a new page up for his latest "venture" of taking money to reach out to old TSR employees, and it's laughably barren of content, including having listings for individuals that he can connect customers to that are still placeholders. Literally, he can match you with "TSR Alumni" and "TSR Alumni" not to mention "TSR Alumni" and even "TSR Alumni." Yes, all four of them!

 

[sevenbastard]

Sure a broken clock is right twice a day so there is a chance he is correct, but he is a BEEEEEEPING BEEP of a BEEEEEEPTASTIC person who just wont go away.

 

[Maxperson]

That's exactly why it needs to be said.

Here's a link to a blog that has been tracking his scams since 2015: Not Another Dime Search "Ken Whitman scam" on YouTube and you'll get a ton of stuff. Tenkar's Tavern has a number of good ones.

He's been accused of running companies as pyramid scams. He has operated under more than 20 companies/pseudonyms. He has multiple non-delivered Kickstarters. He's been part of killing RPGs, board games, animated series, and even a movie. The list is looooong.

Thanks. That was some read.

 

[Morrus]

Sure a broken clock is right twice a day so there is a chance he is correct, but he is a BEEEEEEPING BEEP of a BEEEEEEPTASTIC person who just wont go away.

He’s not said anything there that hasn’t been publicly known and obvious for the last 25 years. There’s no special insider info there. I could have told you that.

A better insight is Ryan Dancey’s old report when he oversaw the purchase of TSR. If you want it n-depth insider info, it’s been right here on this site forever:

TSR Thread 'Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR'

Mar 16, 2000

In the winter of 1997, I traveled to Lake Geneva Wisconsin on a secret mission. In the late fall, rumors of TSR's impending bankruptcy had created an opportunity to made a bold gamble that the business could be saved by an infusion of capital or an acquisition with a larger partner. After a hasty series of phone calls and late night strategy sessions, I found myself standing in the snow outside of 201 Sheridan Springs Road staring at a building bearing a sign that said "TSR, Incorporated".

Inside the building, I found a dead company.

In the halls that had produced the...

• RyanD
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• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

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A guy who worked for Gen Con for a few months isn’t going to add anything to that.