fearsomepirate
Hero
That's only true if we make the implicit background assumption that mismanagement and poor execution of an otherwise perfectly fine business model doesn't happen. Sadly, I think that is rather the norm these days instead of the exception in the corporate world. Was the 3e design team shuttered because of a poor business model? Or was it shuttered due to interference with a perfectly good business model by yahoos from Hasbro who didn't know the territory and therefore wanted to do a bunch of stupid stuff that the games professionals tried unsuccessfully to fight off?
In a way, it's both. Hasbro was unhappy with WotC's profits and wanted them to make more money, and just about everybody at the top either quit or was fired. What followed (along with shuttering all the WotC stores and other things) was D&D 3.5, where WotC decided to do all the stupid stuff that killed AD&D 2e, but do it faster and harder and with more guys in suits...and then do it again with 4e, but this time anger your old fans, too.