Is WOTC headed for a TSR-ending? :/

[thecasualoblivion]

What WotC seems to get criticized for most often in the 4E era is bad marketing and bad customer relations. TSR was certainly guilty of these. However, bad marketing and bad customer relations aren't what killed TSR. Bad business decisions killed TSR. I don't see WotC making TSR-like bad business decisions, so I have to disagree with the OP.

 

[Raven Crowking]

What WotC seems to get criticized for most often in the 4E era is bad marketing and bad customer relations. TSR was certainly guilty of these. However, bad marketing and bad customer relations aren't what killed TSR. Bad business decisions killed TSR. I don't see WotC making TSR-like bad business decisions, so I have to disagree with the OP.

This.


RC

 

[smug]

...and that the brand is transitioning to the digital era, as you say it needs to do, with great skill...

I would disagree with that. The digital transition just wasn't bad enough to kill them (they're big enough), but it didn't look to me to have been an example of software project excellence.

 

[Inyssius]

I would disagree with that. The digital transition just wasn't bad enough to kill them (they're big enough), but it didn't look to me to have been an example of software project excellence.

Take it up with the Ench--I was trying to paraphrase him, not express my own viewpoint.

Likewise in the WOTC era, I find 4th ed absolutely fantastic, bets ed yet for me
The DDI stuff I is I think, the lynch pin, and achilles ankle, of it all.
[...] the character and monster builder etc are superb tools, better than anything else I've ever seen to date for our beloved game, so, the products I believe are rock solid

Silverblade here appears to be saying two good things about a company, and somehow extrapolating from those two high points a curve which ends in doom.

 

[Klaus]

You can't repopulate the planet with D&D books.

Monteiro Lobato, one of the greatest writers inBrazilian history, said "A country is mad with men and books".

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I just tossed a dollar in for the $170M lottery. If the stars align and I win while DnD goes up for sale, I will purchase it and promise to hire diaglo as lead designer. His hand chosen staff will be nicknamed the 'Cultists of ODD' as an ironic nod to the most recent Wilderlands of High Fantasy box set.

Hmmm... and Frank Mentzer, Rob Kuntz, Tim Kask, and Jim Ward will also be brought in as part of the R&D team. Their motto will not be Work Hard, Play Hard but will be instead modified to Work Hard, Nap Long.

Nicolous Logue and Wolfgang Bauer can be in charge of adventure creations, though kept in a large cell and watched closely as they are not quite right in the head. James Jacobs would be assigned their guard and beat them back when required by a replica built to look like the Rod of Seven Parts. Their books will come with a warning label "Warning: Do Not Read Before Going To Bed Unless Accompanied By A Nightlight".

Ed Greenwood and the remnants of Judges Guild will head Campaign World Development. Following Ed Greenwood's original vision, all inns of this world will be replaced with wench-filled Meadhalls along with associated debauchery. The Gygax brothers will be invited playtesters. The Cooks would be brought back part-time to keep Planescape alive.

Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, and that really good artist from Troll Lords Games will wallpaper our interior with scantily clad women while Brom will be brought back to give some candy to the ladies while also delving in the surreal. Boris Vallejo swings both ways.

Finally, smoking and beer would be allowed at GenCon along with baked treats to be sold from the Mentzer clan. GenCon festivities would end outside with a ring of dancing girls in summer dresses in time to minstrels, the top of the last of the kegs being cracked open by an axe-wielding Conan-look-alike, and the fallen night accentuated with a firecracker being lit and tossed off the top of the GenCon building by a long-bearded elderly man in gray robes and crooked, pointy hat.

So in conclusion, WOTC losing DnD would not be the end of the world... if the stars align.

 

[kenmarable]

Only if Slavicek's next column says "there's a problem with the printer."

In yet another "the sky is falling" thread, this is really funny. Thank you.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

'There's a problem with the printer'? Can someone let me in on the cult reference?

 

[CleverNickName]

My crystal ball is in the shop. So all I can really say is, "Gosh I hope not."

 

[Relique du Madde]

'There's a problem with the printer'? Can someone let me in on the cult reference?

If I remember correctly, problems with getting products printed (ie lacking the funds to get the product printed) lead to the death of one RPG companies Bill Slavicsek worked with, or at least was the cover story for the company's death.