[GenCon] No more Euro GenCon, can't say I'm shocked.

[Bagpuss]

Anyone would think they stage GenCon Europe on the Easter weekend, knowing it would fail so they would have an excuse to stop supporting the European event.

Funny GenCon UK had been running for several years without too many problems until someone let Peter Adkison have a go. Fact he didn't even come to the event (perhaps he had family commitments over Easter) is telling enough that he never really cared about it.

It looks like Gen Con Euro in 2004 (Amsterdam) is about to be cancelled. This from Peter Adkison:

Greetings, my gaming friends in The Netherlands,

I wanted to give you an update regarding Gen Con Europe.

We are having serious reservations about the strategy we've developed over the last few months regarding Gen Con Europe.

You had a strategy? You never would have guessed.

Essentially, we're concerned that due to language

GenCon Benelux was run mainly in English. They didn't seem to mind it seemed to be a common language for the most of the European gamers there. GenCon UK has been attended by lots of Dutch and Germans all the time I've been going.

and cultural barriers,

So Easter isn't a family or religious occasion in the USA then? That must explain you shock at the low turnout.

a large pan-European Gen Con event might be very difficult to realize. We also feel that the complexity of this task is compounded by the fact that we're an American company based in the United States.

and it didn't occur to you to approach the people that had been running Gencon UK to cover the European side of things?

Furthermore, our team has several new employees, or employees in new positions,

Who do not even know what Call of Cthulhu is (the second most popular RPG) or how to deal with an event across more than one table.

and we need to adopt a less ambitious strategy until we gain more experience and refine our systems.

Therefore, we have decided not to run a Gen Con Europe convention in 2004 or 2005.

So you just give up, great.

But we do not want to see the Gen Con brand die in Europe. Therefore we are making the Gen Con brand available for licensing, most likely on a national level.

So they do the work you can't do and you collect their profits?

Or, if someone thinks they could implement our original strategy and could develop a credible plan for doing so, we'd consider an exclusive license for all of Europe.

I appreciate the interest all of you have shown for Gen Con and your willingness to comment. While this email doesn't have great news, I thought you'd appreciate the update.

Keep on gaming!

Peter Adkison
Owner/CEO, Gen Con LLC
"The best four days in gaming!"
www.gencon.com

 

[KDLadage]

Having spoken with Mr. Atkinson several times and coming to the conclusion that he is a very bright and capable individual, a very nice guy and and overall friendly person, I have to say that I must agree with your analysis: this does almost appear to be a "planned failure."

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

That is appalling. He seems to take no responsibility for the dreadful organisation that was GenCon Europe, and is instead making vague thoughts in business speak.

I can't properly explain to you all how obvious a failure this was, or how angry I am about this.

I swear I could have done a better job at organising it than they did.

I really, really hope that someone picks this up, and I really, really hope Mr Adkinson does not earn a penny from it. Although, given that GenConUK 2003 probably lost a lot of money, he's welcome to break even by 'loaning' out the name.

 

[Carnifex]

So will we see a Gencon Uk next year?

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Not unless someone buys their license. I am infuriated by this. I may have to start a discussion on Nutkinland so I can rant properly. In fact, I will, give me a second to go start it up.

Bagpuss, would you consider registering at Nutkinland to repost that email in it's entirety? Thanks!

 

[Henry]

I really, really hope that someone picks this up, and I really, really hope Mr Adkinson does not earn a penny from it. Although, given that GenConUK 2003 probably lost a lot of money, he's welcome to break even by 'loaning' out the name.

He will, however, earn a penny if it is the "Gencon" name. I don't begrudge him one bit, since he owns it.

Originally quoted from Bagpuss:
and it didn't occur to you to approach the people that had been running Gencon UK to cover the European side of things?

Are you certain that he didn't two years ago when he took possession of the property? There may be more problems here than we are all aware of, and cannot be made aware of due to legal considerations. It is entirely possible the previous runners did not wish to continue, leaving him without a capable staff for this. (Unless you have inside word that I do not.)

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

http://nutkinland.tardisgames.com/viewtopic.php?p=99183#99183

Come to that thread if you want to hear me ranting about it...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

He will, however, earn a penny if it is the "Gencon" name. I don't begrudge him one bit, since he owns it.

Are you certain that he didn't two years ago when he took possession of the property? There may be more problems here than we are all aware of, and cannot be made aware of due to legal considerations. It is entirely possible the previous runners did not wish to continue, leaving him without a capable staff for this. (Unless you have inside word that I do not.)

OK, deep breathing from Tallarn.

Fair call, he owns GenCon, he's entitled to the money. Sorry, went off one a bit there...apologies. I shall stay calmer.

However, the reason I am so annoyed is that last year, at GenCon, when the whole Amsterdam thing was announced, I heard an awful lot of people complaining about it. Then, this year, GenCon is held at a time when a) people are not so free to go to it (as Easter is a time for people to mostly spend with their families in the UK) and b) people can't get to it (because the rail network nearly always shuts down to a certain extent over easter).

Neither of these things seems to have been noticed by the organisers.

Quite aside from a massive drop in attendance this year (I heard figures of around 60% down being mentioned, I personally thought maybe half as many as 2002), the organisation of actually getting a game was very difficult. I'll find a link to my report so people can see what I'm talking about.

Here it is...

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48699

If it hasn't been set up to fail, then it's doing a good job of faking it.

 

[Ravellion]

A few additions/observations.

1) Peter was at the con on Saturday night, at the charity auction. His wife bought his complete slavery for £200 (for a duration of 2 hours), so that is not true Bagpuss... no offence, but fair is fair.

2) LANGUAGE? Magic was released without Market Research. I think Peter thinks he doesn't need it because of this lucky success.
- multinational companies such as Mars can advertise in English in the Netherlands (no dubbing, no subtitling - pure English)
- The beggars on the streets of Amsterdam beg in English
- American and English Expats refuse to / can not learn Dutch because they find that the Dutch population immediatly switches to English as soon as they hear an English or American accent
- There is no Dutch translation of Magic or D&D, or most other English Language niche market games. This doesn't seem to make them any less viable for the Dutch market.

Above all: I have friggin' gamed in English with Dutch speakers in the FLGS in Amsterdam, to keep the game terms consistent with the rolkeplaying. The name of the store? "The Gamekeeper"... I assure you, not a Dutch name.

Peter is talking from an entirely different part of his anatomy then his mouth when he suggests that language is a barrier in the Netherlands.

3) Cultural Barriers? The cultural differences between the US and the UK are larger than between different Northern European countries, I assure you (as will most marketing experts tell you as well. Quick example: there is a reason why Britpop took off in Europe but not in the US). Strange that this simple marketing fact fails to reach someone in charge of a company... I suggest it has though.

I suspect Peter "the Janitor" knows all of 2 and 3. He just hopes we swallow his pitiful excuse. Too bad Peter. No swallowing.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi all!

Its a bit disappointing that they are just 'giving up' so soon.

Couldn't they simply run the event in the UK again but learn from the copious amount of mistakes they made this year?