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It feels to me like Hasbro has lit a fire under Wizards of the Coast, and given them
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<blockquote data-quote="Smeelbo" data-source="post: 5133905" data-attributes="member: 81898"><p><strong>Let me explain my reasoning</strong></p><p></p><p>Actually, the quote at the top of the thread is <u>mine</u>, from a thread in another forum. And I am not bothered at all.</p><p> </p><p>Currently, I am a buyer and manager at a small but fairly successful game store in the Sacramento area. I have been working in the game industry, retail, wholesale, development, publication, distribution, marketing, support, and so on for almost 30 years now. Here is what I am seeing now:</p><p> </p><p>First, <em>from a game store's point of view</em>, there will be no significant new <em>4E D&D</em> product for the <u>4th Quarter</u>, that is the all important <u>Christmas Retail Season,</u> which for <u>most</u> game stores accounts for nearly <u>half</u> of annual sales volume. That is, I do not expect that game stores will do well with <em>D&D Essentials</em>, because game stores tend to sell primarily to the <u>existing</u> base of gaming customers, and are not well positioned to recruit large numbers of <u>new</u> customers. <em>D&D Essentials</em> will have almost <u>no</u> appeal to existing <em>4E</em> customers.</p><p> </p><p>Second, <em>Wizards</em> is being <u>nakedly</u> aggressive in promoting 4E. For example, the last two promotional adventures, <em>PHB3 Game Day</em> and <em>D&D Encounters</em>, unlike previous efforts, have an actual staff of over two dozen credited, including a designer, an editor, <em>and</em> a managing editor. They are by far the best effort to date, having taken me only an hour or two to fix the errors, omissions, inconsistancies, and lameties, compared to 10-20 hours for previous adventures. They <em>almost</em> don't suck.</p><p> </p><p>Further, <em>Wizards</em> is using both carrots <u>and</u> sticks to promote these events. The package for <em>D&D Encounters</em> includes numerous goodies, including a digtal camera, and a <em>Pizza Hut Gift Card</em> for $25. The <u>stick</u> is that if our store does <u>not</u> host these events, we will have to wait <u>ten</u> days to sell new <em>D&D</em> material, ten days that <em>Barnes & Noble</em> will have those goods for sale. No hobby store can really afford to refuse, otherwise their competitors will get a ten day head start. Of course, <em>Barnes and Noble</em> does not have to host <u>any</u> <em>D&D</em> Events.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>D&D Encounters</em> promotion itself directly pushes specific products by <u>penalizing</u> players <u>in-game</u> who do <u>not</u> use those products. For each player that attends, the event coordinator is supposed to record their <em>Reknown</em>, <u>nominally</u> a measure of how successful and therefore famous their character is. At specific <em>Reknown</em> thresholds, the player gains an additional encounter power for their character. However, the <u>largest</u> rewards are for using specific products. Someone playing a <em>PHB Human Ranger</em> using a photocopied character sheet will seriously have one less encounter power at first level than a <em>Psion Shardmind</em> made using <em>Character Builder</em>. Use of specific products are rewarded more heavily that completing all the quests offered, more than roleplaying <em>"greatness."</em></p><p> </p><p>Third, sales of <em>4E</em> books <u>suck</u>. Whereas I used to bring in a dozen or more of each new 4E book for opening week, I am down to half a dozen or <u>less</u>, depending. Sales of <em>Martial Powers 2</em> were <u>pathetic</u> compared to <em>Martial Powers 1</em>. Looking at <u>my</u> sales numbers, non-<em>D&D</em> RPG sales will soon surpass <em>D&D</em> sales. And by soon, I mean in the next month or two.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p>So, to sum up, <em>from the perspective of the game shop</em>:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>4E</em> sales suck, and are dropping every month.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><em>Wizards</em> witholds product from stores that do not host their events</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Players at the events are disadvantaged without specific products</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is no new product for existing customers for Christmas</li> </ul><p>Sounds to me like <em>Wizards</em> is having a do-or-die moment. Who would be lighting a fire under <em>Wizards</em> <u>except</u> <em>Hasbr</em>o?</p><p> </p><p><strong>Smeelbo</strong></p><p><strong><em>Abuser of BBCodes</em></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Smeelbo, post: 5133905, member: 81898"] [b]Let me explain my reasoning[/b] Actually, the quote at the top of the thread is [U]mine[/U], from a thread in another forum. And I am not bothered at all. Currently, I am a buyer and manager at a small but fairly successful game store in the Sacramento area. I have been working in the game industry, retail, wholesale, development, publication, distribution, marketing, support, and so on for almost 30 years now. Here is what I am seeing now: First, [I]from a game store's point of view[/I], there will be no significant new [I]4E D&D[/I] product for the [U]4th Quarter[/U], that is the all important [U]Christmas Retail Season,[/U] which for [U]most[/U] game stores accounts for nearly [U]half[/U] of annual sales volume. That is, I do not expect that game stores will do well with [I]D&D Essentials[/I], because game stores tend to sell primarily to the [U]existing[/U] base of gaming customers, and are not well positioned to recruit large numbers of [U]new[/U] customers. [I]D&D Essentials[/I] will have almost [U]no[/U] appeal to existing [I]4E[/I] customers. Second, [I]Wizards[/I] is being [U]nakedly[/U] aggressive in promoting 4E. For example, the last two promotional adventures, [I]PHB3 Game Day[/I] and [I]D&D Encounters[/I], unlike previous efforts, have an actual staff of over two dozen credited, including a designer, an editor, [I]and[/I] a managing editor. They are by far the best effort to date, having taken me only an hour or two to fix the errors, omissions, inconsistancies, and lameties, compared to 10-20 hours for previous adventures. They [I]almost[/I] don't suck. Further, [I]Wizards[/I] is using both carrots [U]and[/U] sticks to promote these events. The package for [I]D&D Encounters[/I] includes numerous goodies, including a digtal camera, and a [I]Pizza Hut Gift Card[/I] for $25. The [U]stick[/U] is that if our store does [U]not[/U] host these events, we will have to wait [U]ten[/U] days to sell new [I]D&D[/I] material, ten days that [I]Barnes & Noble[/I] will have those goods for sale. No hobby store can really afford to refuse, otherwise their competitors will get a ten day head start. Of course, [I]Barnes and Noble[/I] does not have to host [U]any[/U] [I]D&D[/I] Events. The [I]D&D Encounters[/I] promotion itself directly pushes specific products by [U]penalizing[/U] players [U]in-game[/U] who do [U]not[/U] use those products. For each player that attends, the event coordinator is supposed to record their [I]Reknown[/I], [U]nominally[/U] a measure of how successful and therefore famous their character is. At specific [I]Reknown[/I] thresholds, the player gains an additional encounter power for their character. However, the [U]largest[/U] rewards are for using specific products. Someone playing a [I]PHB Human Ranger[/I] using a photocopied character sheet will seriously have one less encounter power at first level than a [I]Psion Shardmind[/I] made using [I]Character Builder[/I]. Use of specific products are rewarded more heavily that completing all the quests offered, more than roleplaying [I]"greatness."[/I] Third, sales of [I]4E[/I] books [U]suck[/U]. Whereas I used to bring in a dozen or more of each new 4E book for opening week, I am down to half a dozen or [U]less[/U], depending. Sales of [I]Martial Powers 2[/I] were [U]pathetic[/U] compared to [I]Martial Powers 1[/I]. Looking at [U]my[/U] sales numbers, non-[I]D&D[/I] RPG sales will soon surpass [I]D&D[/I] sales. And by soon, I mean in the next month or two. So, to sum up, [I]from the perspective of the game shop[/I]: [LIST] [*][I]4E[/I] sales suck, and are dropping every month. [*][I]Wizards[/I] witholds product from stores that do not host their events [*]Players at the events are disadvantaged without specific products [*]There is no new product for existing customers for Christmas [/LIST]Sounds to me like [I]Wizards[/I] is having a do-or-die moment. Who would be lighting a fire under [I]Wizards[/I] [U]except[/U] [I]Hasbr[/I]o? [B]Smeelbo[/B] [B][I]Abuser of BBCodes[/I][/B] [/QUOTE]
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