WotC Wizards of the Coast Is Moving -- But Not Far!

Wizards of the Coast has leased 110,000 square feet in a new office development in Southport, an area of Renton, a city near Seattle in Washington. The company is already based in Renton, which is where D&D has been based since WotC acquired TSR.

Renton’s Southport, the 727,000 square foot office complex developed by SECO Development located on the southern shores of Lake Washington, has found another tenant to occupy its modern office space. Hasbro’s gaming subsidiary Wizards of the Coast

SECO’s Southport Development Scores 110,000 SQFT Lease with Gaming Developer Wizards of the Coast - The Registry

Renton SECO Development Southport The Partners Group Wizards of the Coast Hasbro

news.theregistryps.com

 

[Dioltach]

Smart move: hiding from Justin Lanasa's lawyers!

 

[Von Ether]

It was from the real estate company's press release.

Ideally, the marketeer should be more up to snuff, but it rarely happens. Mostly because in that sort of marketing, you want your client (the real estate company) to approve quickly it so you can spend more time reaching out to the press.

Speaking of the 90s, I heard the story of a reporter who was so upset they had to cover a sci-fi con they pretty much did a "look at these freaks" hit piece. A group of the fans and writers, then set up a faux tech start up and specifically requested the reporter cover it. After they got the story published, the fans outed the reporter's sloppy fact checking.

 

[billd91]

This is an extremely silly take.

Almost everything you know about what's going on in the world is the product of a reporter, outside of stuff in your immediate vicinity, even if it's been laundered through social media posts.

Now, are there outlets that get stuff wrong? Yep, just like there are businesses and professionals of all sorts that make a mess of things.

Generally speaking, I don't think much of cable news or even local broadcast television news, but most of what is accepted fact was reported and verified by a newspaper reporter, usually a local newspaper reporter making less than a school teacher's salary, and then regurgitated by progressively better paid (and less close to the source) other outlets.

I have to agree. There may be a media outlet or two that have set themselves up as propaganda ministries and op-ed pages have always been space for editors and a paper's columnists to set an agenda (sometimes even drawing the contempt of their reporters), but I wouldn't tar the whole journalism field with that.

Part of the problem is that, while people get into journalism to inform, these outlets are still businesses and that means they have to compete with each other for the public's attention. That means they're more likely to inform you of stuff they think will get your eyeballs more than their competitors - and that means spending more effort on the sensational stories where "if it bleeds, it leads" or Kim Kardashian's butt than on spending a lot of time fact checking WotC's move to new offices 5km away.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Could be why the new playtest packet has not dropped. It is in a box in the move.

 

[Morrus]

This is an extremely silly take.

Almost everything you know about what's going on in the world is the product of a reporter, outside of stuff in your immediate vicinity, even if it's been laundered through social media posts.

Now, are there outlets that get stuff wrong? Yep, just like there are businesses and professionals of all sorts that make a mess of things.

Generally speaking, I don't think much of cable news or even local broadcast television news, but most of what is accepted fact was reported and verified by a newspaper reporter, usually a local newspaper reporter making less than a school teacher's salary, and then regurgitated by progressively better paid (and less close to the source) other outlets.

Indeed. Journalism is an honoured profession. Sure tabloids exist, and they're very noisy, but so do good journalists who work hard and even put themselves at risk to cover stories. There may be taboioid writers out there, but there are also Lois Lanes.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I haven't read the story, but I'm wondering if this means that their branch offices in Bellevue (Eastgate) are going to consolidate again.

SouthPort is a fun little area that should be a booming space, but opened just prior to the pandemic

Does it have any craft breweries? Because it should have craft breweries. And then I should come visit...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Indeed. Journalism is an honoured profession. Sure tabloids exist, and they're very noisy, but so do good journalists who work hard and even put themselves at risk to cover stories. There may be taboioid writers out there, but there are also Lois Lanes.

Exactly! I may have sounded like I was painting them all with the same brush - but this is my whole point. It doesn't have to be this way. All you have to do is care enough about doing your job well... to do it well. This goes for every walk of life.

I understand that people often don't get paid enough to care, but I think there's a place for caring for its own sake. For your own sake. For everyone's sake. The world is just a better place when people take pride in their work.

In particular in times when it takes so little effort to do it better than this.

 

[Abstruse]

One thing to keep in mind as mainstream press coverage of TTRPGs increases is reporters are going to get these assignments with fast turnaround times on a subject that's not their beat. I only have to do two columns a week so, when I come across a game I don't know, I can take some time to read enough to get at least a basic understanding...but I also have a foundation with 30+ years playing TTRPGs and almost a decade covering them as a journalist.

For example, when Modiphius announces a new Skyrim game, I don't have to go looking for an About Us page on their website to know they make Fallout, Star Trek Adventures, Conan, etc. because I already know that. Someone who covers video games likely won't, and will have to look it up. And they may go on Modiphius's website and see Tales from the Loop, "Oh hey I remember that TV series from Amazon", then go and write "Modiphius, makers of Tales from the Loop based on the Amazon Original series..." not knowing Modiphius is just the distributor for Free League or that the series was based on the artbook that the RPG was based on. It's not their beat, they don't have the basic background knowledge of the industry, and they're doing their best with harsh deadlines.

Internalize this now because it's going to get way, way worse when the D&D movie's marketing campaign kicks into high gear and a bunch of entertainment industry people with no gaming experience at all will be writing about the subject.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Internalize this now because it's going to get way, way worse when the D&D movie's marketing campaign kicks into high gear and a bunch of entertainment industry people with no gaming experience at all will be writing about the subject.

D&D's resurgent popularity should help there. Pop culture journalists are much more likely to know the ins and outs of D&D (although there will probably be some cringeworthy takes) than a real estate journalist is.

A lot of them have already heard about how they got things wrong writing about Stranger Things -- I've certainly written to a few saying that Vecna, the actual D&D villain, wasn't in the show; they were just using him as a codename for the unique-to-the-show character.

 

[Abstruse]

D&D's resurgent popularity should help there. Pop culture journalists are much more likely to know the ins and outs of D&D (although there will probably be some cringeworthy takes) than a real estate journalist is.

A lot of them have already heard about how they got things wrong writing about Stranger Things -- I've certainly written to a few saying that Vecna, the actual D&D villain, wasn't in the show; they were just using him as a codename for the unique-to-the-show character.

Maybe, but I doubt it. There have been over the last decade at least five attempts I can remember to make a D&D movie: Cortney Solomon's attempt to hold onto the license and Hasbro's attempt at the same time to make a film, then the conflicting projects after that legal dispute was resolved between the movie we're getting, the Joe Manganiello attempt to get a Dragonlance film off the ground, and the TV series that's gone through at least two showrunners so far with no hints of forward momentum on the project.

On top of that, D&D's got three major breakout media projects - the new Dragonlance novels, Baldur's Gate 3 leaving early access next year with console releases, and the movie itself. On top of that, WotC's promotion for the D&D game itself is going to be split between Dragonlance and Planescape with both of those products coming out next year. All of that's going to make for a confusing mess for any entertainment journalists looking to pad wordcount by adding extra background information to their column. I'm trying to decide which is going to happen first, Entertainment Weekly saying "Based on the novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman..." or Hollywood Reporter going "The multiverse-spanning story based on the Baldur's Gate video game franchise..."