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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Osgood" data-source="post: 5379776" data-attributes="member: 32792">Well, I bought a new Pontiac about a year before the brand was phased out and GM went into chapter 11 bankruptcy, so I think its flawed logic to suggest a product cannot be on sale/in production while a company is dying.To offer an older business analogy, when Coca-cola test marketed "New Coke" back in the mid-80's the tiny but vocal segment of the focus groups that spoke out against the change was considered inconsequential. Despite New Coke's initially strong sales and overwhelming preference in taste tests, the minority who preferred old Coke fought the good fight.  Coke Classic* returned to the market less than 3 months later, and New Coke slowed drifted into obscurity.  Never underestimate a vocal minority.I have no idea what the exact financial position at WotC is... I certainly hope it is healthy, but their dramatically different business decisions over the past year or so suggest otherwise.  For good or ill most companies live by the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it motto.  In my experience, business only changes rapidly when things are going very badly.I'm not one to suggest there is anything wrong with WotC making money, even their "cash grabs" are reasonable gambits for a business.  But the Essentials, the new DDI strategy, the burst experimental product lines (race books, adventure sites, boxed sets, collectible cards)--some of which have come and gone, and apparently canceled or postponed products (Nentir Vale Gazetteer, Human racial book) strongly imply the bottom line is not looking good.I really hope that I'm wrong, because I love 4E and hope it continues for years to come.*I find the fact that they now refer to the old character builder as Character Builder Classic amusing, and maintain a pipe-dream that it will likewise resurface, but WotC is not the Coca-Col Company...</blockquote>

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