D&D 5E Wizards not taking Gencon seriously?

[Umbran]

It's really not all or nothing, despite the way you're trying to spin it here.

That doesn't touch the economics of the thing, though. We are talking about a $100K or so price tag for the major presence at the con that folks are saying they expect.

How does that pay off well for them?

Let us break it down for a moment - on Amazon right now, the PHB is selling for about $27. Amazon's standard markup is 15%, so let us use that as a gauge - WotC gets $23 per sale. Let us ignore the production costs on that book, and say it is pure profit. They'd have to sell 4300+ of them to break even on the Convention. Is WotC's presence at the con going to lead to them selling 4300+ more PHBs then if they weren't there? Or 4,300+ more of *any* products?

If we can't make an argument that this is economically positive for WotC, we shouldn't be expecting them to be present. If the argument is really, "I feel disrespected for WotC not taking the effort to be at *my* con," then the issue isn't WotC's marketing, but our sense of entitlement.

 

[exile]

I think GenCon was more useful to WotC when they had an edition that received a lot of product support aimed at players. Players like myself, who played in whatever living campaign was in vogue at the time, would attend GenCon (and other cons), play a bunch of games, and buy all the product to support our characters.

Now that 5e has so little player-aimed product, there is less incentive to give us a great con play experience.

 

[Kinak]

Can't speak for anyone else and I've no idea if this has been typical of this year's GenConners or not but I've already told at least ten people here at home how disappointed I was with WotC's lack of presence.

Our group was curiously split. We have some old-timers (both coming with us and folks we hang out with at the Con every year) and some newer gamers.

The newer gamers didn't much care, but they also had no contact with 5e at the Con other than hearing oldtimers talk about it. They demoed plenty of games and bought lots of new stuff, just all in the exhibit hall, where D&D wasn't.

The old-timers were either disappointed or resigned to it after having been disappointed previous years. One was straight-up furious at WotC when they announced the movie literally the day after GenCon. Even the old-timers who run 5e were disappointed in the lack of presence and seminars.

I also ended up chatting to some exhibitors who were totally confused by WotC's lack of presence. Not angry, just like "did I somehow miss the WotC booth? Because I can't imagine they're not here."

So, while I'm sure some people were happy, you're not the only one who was disappointed with WotC's approach to the con.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[DEFCON 1]

I think "player expectation" is really the beginning and end of it.

Players "expected" extra swag from the All-Access Pass because in past years players got it. When the players didn't get it this year, they got upset. Not because they were promised it... but merely because they "expected" it.

Players "expected" the Dungeons & Dragons area at GenCon would be as large and as grand as it has been in years past. When it wasn't as grand as it had been, they got upset. Not because they were promised or told they would get it before they arrived... but merely because they "expected" it.

Players "expected" an PC-related adventurer's guide for the Elemental Evil path because they heard from some random non-WotC source of its existence. But when they were told this product was not actually being put out because WotC hadn't even announce they were making it and it was only because some random dude went digging through the depths of the internet and just happened to find some non-official info of a potential product with book cover that was uploaded erroneously and then started telling everyone "Here's what's coming out next!"... people got upset. Not because they were promised this product, but merely because they "expected" it.

People saw all manner of potential game mechanic ideas throughout the course of the D&D Next playtest. When the game was finally released those mechanics weren't there and they were pissed. Not because they were promised the game was going to have those mechanics, but merely because they "expected" it.

Expectation can be a terrible thing. Getting your hopes up can lead to having your heart broken. None of us can help it-- we are creatures of habit and when we get used to things a certain way, we expect those things to continue. But it's not the other person's fault when they no longer fulfill your expectations. Your expectations are all your own doing. So if you decide to do something under the "expectation" of what you think is going to occur, rather than actually "knowing" what is going to occur... your anger after the fact is not the other person's fault. Yes, you still have to work through your own disappointment... but in truth the anger you feel is your own making and fault. You really are just angry at yourself for being mistaken or getting fooled. It's just goddamned hard to accept that that's the case, and most of us don't want to admit it to ourselves.

It's far easier to throw the blame at someone else. But that's not fair nor right. And we all need to man up and accept it.

 

[KingsRule77]

Since WoTC's lack of presence will have no effect on wether we purchase a product they produce it was sound business to have a limited presence. The small fraction of disappointed people at GenCon aren't a large enough population to be concerned with.

 

[Osgood]

That doesn't touch the economics of the thing, though. We are talking about a $100K or so price tag for the major presence at the con that folks are saying they expect.

How does that pay off well for them?

Let us break it down for a moment - on Amazon right now, the PHB is selling for about $27. Amazon's standard markup is 15%, so let us use that as a gauge - WotC gets $23 per sale. Let us ignore the production costs on that book, and say it is pure profit. They'd have to sell 4300+ of them to break even on the Convention. Is WotC's presence at the con going to lead to them selling 4300+ more PHBs then if they weren't there? Or 4,300+ more of *any* products?

That argumemt seems to assume that D&D is the only thing WotC would be touting with a booth. It's not as if also having Magic or AH games at the booth would cost extra money (or much extra money assuming they would need larger a booth). I'd bet they could recoup the costs with Magic alone, and any D&D sales would just be gravy.

Even so, maybe their sales alone wouldn't justify the expense, but there is an argument to be made for the marketing value. It's not as if we see a lot of ads and commercials for games, so cons remain a means of building product awareness.

 

[Umbran]

Even so, maybe their sales alone wouldn't justify the expense, but there is an argument to be made for the marketing value. It's not as if we see a lot of ads and commercials for games, so cons remain a means of building product awareness.

And, as someone has noted - if they had a major stream of player-focused products to make us aware of, then it might be worth it. But their strategy is to *not* flood us with content right now, so they don't have much new to market.

As has also been noted earlier - there's 60,000 people at GenCon, yes. But they are already highly invested players, who are probably already well-informed. This limits the value of the Con to a big publisher who doesn't have brand-spankin'-new product to push. Small publishers have lots to gain from word of mouth and exposure, but it isn't like anyone attending isn't aware of WotC and its products.

 

[DEFCON 1]

This limits the value of the Con to a big publisher who doesn't have brand-spankin'-new product to push. Small publishers have lots to gain from word of mouth and exposure, but it isn't like anyone attending isn't aware of WotC and its products.

This is also a really good point. Much ballyhoo was made of Blizzard actually having a fairly large booth at PAX East this past year, while many people were wondering why they'd bother when they have their own company convention Blizzcon every year. And the answer of course was that they were pushing Overwatch.

Big companies come and go from a lot of the conventions based upon what they have to promote. If there's something to push, maybe they spend the cash to go? If not, then they save the promotional cash in their coffers to use elsewhere or elsewhen.

 

[Pauper]

That argumemt seems to assume that D&D is the only thing WotC would be touting with a booth. It's not as if also having Magic or AH games at the booth would cost extra money (or much extra money assuming they would need larger a booth). I'd bet they could recoup the costs with Magic alone, and any D&D sales would just be gravy.

Even so, maybe their sales alone wouldn't justify the expense, but there is an argument to be made for the marketing value. It's not as if we see a lot of ads and commercials for games, so cons remain a means of building product awareness.

The counter-argument is that WotC has had very little official presense with respect to Magic at GenCon in some time, because they have a third-party vendor (Pastimes, if I remember right) who is more than willing to do the organizing and logistics for them.

My guess is that somebody at Hasbro pointed this out to the D&D folks at WotC, as well as the presence of Baldman Games, which could be the D&D equivalent to Pastimes. This first year seemed to fall down a bit, but I'm guessing if it continues, the coordination between WotC and Baldman will improve. WotC still wasn't entirely unrepresented at GenCon -- Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford were both there, though all indications are they were there not as WotC reps but on their own time.

Also, remember that Hasbro isn't really a game company but a toymaker -- and toys these days are all about branding. Didn't see any big Transformers thing at San Diego Comic Con this year? That's because there's no Transformers movie coming out, so no need to flog the brand. WotC will be at PAX because Hasbro wants them to push Sword Coast Legends, not because they think PAX is a better convention for them than GenCon. Likewise, when the D&D movie comes out, WotC will be at SDCC, but unless there's a major RPG tie-in game, they likely still won't be back at GenCon, because that's not the audience they're trying to reach.

 

[Shasarak]

At least we still have one company willing to sponsor Gencon and heavily promote DnD as well.

It does not have to be WotC.