Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Daiymo" data-source="post: 352487" data-attributes="member: 2539">While the layoffs are a bit disconcerting, a boycott would do no real good. A large parent company like Hasbro is only concerned about profit margin and market share. Even if a product is still profitable, if it is less so than say the previous year or years, companies tend to slash the first and easiest resource at hand to make the books look better-the labor force.Its a hallmark of modern economy. All companies do it, regardless of how short sighted it may seem. On the bright side, I tend to agree with what some have already put forth. With the OGL, and the current 3e products in the pipeline, what else can WoTC produce, other than fluffy stuff? WoTC's stategy it seems has been to introduce an open source product that serves as a framework for others to make supplements &quot;ie software&quot; for. If this is the strategy why do you need a big staff? I mean it seems this has been WoTC/Hasbros plan. They discontinued support for the old TSR settings that supposedly glutted and divided the market/fanbase(Planescape,etc..) and&nbsp; have gotten out of magazine publishing. Their strategy seems clear. Sell core rulebooks and collect liscence royalty for cross media products-film, tv, computer/video games/novels. Low overhead, high profits. Support the very profitable FR setting, little else, until the next &quot;edition/revamp&quot; of the game. The setting search and the corporate feelers to us about whether we what &quot;crunch&quot; or &quot;fluff&quot; seem to be in line with this plan. Scale back products and hence expenses, at least till the econonmy recovers. Some of this Im sure is based on the company's study of gamer demographics and fanbase- and I'm sure it has decreased as the excitement surrounding the launch of 3e has waned since its initial release two years ago.Luckily we consumers have the OGL.So some product in some form will get made by someone.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Daiymo, post: 352487, member: 2539"] While the layoffs are a bit disconcerting, a boycott would do no real good. A large parent company like Hasbro is only concerned about profit margin and market share. Even if a product is still profitable, if it is less so than say the previous year or years, companies tend to slash the first and easiest resource at hand to make the books look better-the labor force. Its a hallmark of modern economy. All companies do it, regardless of how short sighted it may seem. On the bright side, I tend to agree with what some have already put forth. With the OGL, and the current 3e products in the pipeline, what else can WoTC produce, other than fluffy stuff? WoTC's stategy it seems has been to introduce an open source product that serves as a framework for others to make supplements "ie software" for. If this is the strategy why do you need a big staff? I mean it seems this has been WoTC/Hasbros plan. They discontinued support for the old TSR settings that supposedly glutted and divided the market/fanbase(Planescape,etc..) and have gotten out of magazine publishing. Their strategy seems clear. Sell core rulebooks and collect liscence royalty for cross media products-film, tv, computer/video games/novels. Low overhead, high profits. Support the very profitable FR setting, little else, until the next "edition/revamp" of the game. The setting search and the corporate feelers to us about whether we what "crunch" or "fluff" seem to be in line with this plan. Scale back products and hence expenses, at least till the econonmy recovers. Some of this Im sure is based on the company's study of gamer demographics and fanbase- and I'm sure it has decreased as the excitement surrounding the launch of 3e has waned since its initial release two years ago. Luckily we consumers have the OGL.So some product in some form will get made by someone. [/QUOTE]

Verification