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<blockquote data-quote="Rygar" data-source="post: 7719937" data-attributes="member: 6756765">I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I think there's a fairly high chance hobby stores are doomed.Hobby stores depend on Magic the Gathering to survive, Pokémon makes a fair amount of money but it's appeal is limited to children and only those in specific age ranges, so not serving a market that has large amounts of disposable income.&nbsp; Board games sell relatively well but they aren't products that bring people in to a game store every week, you buy one and then you go home and play it.&nbsp; RPG's we'll get to in a minute.Mtg appears to be in a precarious position right now.&nbsp; The game is plagued with an increasingly high cost of entry and WOTC's handling of the product line makes purchases no longer playable at faster rates.&nbsp; $50 cards aren't bizarre anymore, especially in some of WOTC's formats.&nbsp; The alternative is drafting, which is $15-$20 a game.&nbsp; They've been releasing more and more products beside their primary line and stores are marking them up *hugely*.&nbsp; I've seen stores markup boxes more than 200% of MSRP before they're even released.&nbsp; IMO it isn't sustainable, especially since we're talking about a 25 year old product with probably tens of thousands of cards out there, so its not like they're really producing anything new, just producing the same cards with different names.If Mtg tumbles hobby stores don't have anything to turn to that would sustain them.&nbsp; 10 year olds are not going to support the cost of a game store.&nbsp; Selling boardgames isn't going to do it either.&nbsp; RPG's could have, but WOTC shot the hobby stores in the foot.&nbsp; For RPG's to sustain a game store they needed products they could sell in fair numbers on a regular basis.&nbsp; WOTC doesn't make those.&nbsp; They killed Dungeon and Dragon, so no more revenue from magazine sales to D&amp;D players.&nbsp; They don't do regular modules, so no more revenue from selling pre-written adventures other than one every few months.&nbsp; They don't do supplements, so no more revenue from those books.&nbsp; They killed the novel lines, so no more revenue from selling novels based on D&amp;D.&nbsp; WOTC's business plan is the core books and an adventure path every once in a while.Pathfinder's aging, it had the right model, but with 3.x approaching 20 years of age, it's unlikely to get the rapid penetration it would need to sustain hobby shops.So I don't think hobby stores will last much longer.&nbsp; All of their products are on Amazon, and with WOTC pursuing a policy of disinterest in D&amp;D there's no fallback if Mtg were to finally fail.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rygar, post: 7719937, member: 6756765"] I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I think there's a fairly high chance hobby stores are doomed. Hobby stores depend on Magic the Gathering to survive, Pokémon makes a fair amount of money but it's appeal is limited to children and only those in specific age ranges, so not serving a market that has large amounts of disposable income. Board games sell relatively well but they aren't products that bring people in to a game store every week, you buy one and then you go home and play it. RPG's we'll get to in a minute. Mtg appears to be in a precarious position right now. The game is plagued with an increasingly high cost of entry and WOTC's handling of the product line makes purchases no longer playable at faster rates. $50 cards aren't bizarre anymore, especially in some of WOTC's formats. The alternative is drafting, which is $15-$20 a game. They've been releasing more and more products beside their primary line and stores are marking them up *hugely*. I've seen stores markup boxes more than 200% of MSRP before they're even released. IMO it isn't sustainable, especially since we're talking about a 25 year old product with probably tens of thousands of cards out there, so its not like they're really producing anything new, just producing the same cards with different names. If Mtg tumbles hobby stores don't have anything to turn to that would sustain them. 10 year olds are not going to support the cost of a game store. Selling boardgames isn't going to do it either. RPG's could have, but WOTC shot the hobby stores in the foot. For RPG's to sustain a game store they needed products they could sell in fair numbers on a regular basis. WOTC doesn't make those. They killed Dungeon and Dragon, so no more revenue from magazine sales to D&D players. They don't do regular modules, so no more revenue from selling pre-written adventures other than one every few months. They don't do supplements, so no more revenue from those books. They killed the novel lines, so no more revenue from selling novels based on D&D. WOTC's business plan is the core books and an adventure path every once in a while. Pathfinder's aging, it had the right model, but with 3.x approaching 20 years of age, it's unlikely to get the rapid penetration it would need to sustain hobby shops. So I don't think hobby stores will last much longer. All of their products are on Amazon, and with WOTC pursuing a policy of disinterest in D&D there's no fallback if Mtg were to finally fail. [/QUOTE]

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