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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AaronBurr" data-source="post: 421220" data-attributes="member: 2604">RPG IndustryThe following exchange was made between Mearls and Pramas.See below for exchange, or just read my comments.A lot has been said about how companies like Whizkids and products like d20 add money to the retailers thus make more money available for "fringe" products.  A typical response has been that the "industry" is fad driven.  This is very true, especially when concerned with release dates.  Gaming is very much like the film industry in this regard.  For the most part you either want to be an established franchise (Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lethal Weapon, or in gaming D&D, World of Darkness) or you want to have a marquis player (Mel Gibson, or in gaming maybe Monte Cook) or you want to be the most recent blockbuster (XXX, Armageddon, Whizkids).  Blockbusters might be a creation of marquis or they might create it as the case may be, if they fit a niche in the market.Even if you are the franchise/marquis product you still don't want to compete with a similar offering on your release date (the time you are most likely to make a profit) or the money for that genre will be split thus minimizing the profit for both.  This analysis is true for the gaming industry to a certain extent.  Essentially both views are correct.  Hot products do add money, but almost all products can be considered to be in the same genre (I know there is more than one, but the market isn't huge to begin with) thus release dates become important as does longevity of fad.  It is bad business practice to come out at the same time as a new d20 or Whizkids explosion, of course that is essentially once a month so the only answer is to try and either cover a true cult group or to find a new niche (which is exactly what Whizkids did, they boomed into existance as did Wizards with Magic).  There are a lot of great products out there that aren't going to have "line making" appeal, but would do better without Whizkids.  Though this is true, it is better to have Whizkids in the industry because they will eventually pan out (or expand the market with new buyers) who should look to other games in the long run.  Of course those games will have to be releasing at the right time.  An example of this in the film industry would be when you see a film (good) of a particular genre not making it because of the market and a similar film or even a rip-off making it two years later.Originally posted by mearls In essence, Shane's analysis makes no fundamental sense. More money in the hands of retailers from Whizkids and d20 means more buying power, means a readier market for other products.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------That makes perfect sense and it should be true, but it isn't. It's one of the many peculiar things about the game industry. When Whizkids puts out something like Heroclix, it sucks up a huge amount of the buying dollars distributors and retailers have for that month. That's no big surprise, but this is where it gets interesting. You might think, "Well, OK, I won't see big sales this month, but next month when everyone is flush with all that Whizkids money, they'll come back and order my stuff." Except that they won't. The game industry is so frontlist driven that your product from the previous month is old news and distributors and retailers are on to next thing. Furthermore, even though the channel should be swimming in dough after a hit release, it is not a rising tide that lifts all boats. For whatever reason, that extra money is not reinvested in a variety of other products. It goes to buying more Whizkids stuff, or the latest fad product like Yu-Gi-Oh, or to pay off old debt, or any of a million other places. So even in cash rich months, most publishers don't see any corresponding rise in their orders.</blockquote>

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