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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnNephew" data-source="post: 118109" data-attributes="member: 2171">I have spoken with Peter about his buying Gen Con, and there seems to be an awful lot of altruism involved.  While keeping in mind that circumstances can change and people can change their minds, I do think it's fair to say that Gen Con's future is more secure in Peter's hands than just about anywhere else I can imagine.  Peter's passion for gaming (in particular, unabashed hack & slash D&D -- which is probably why he and my wife, Michelle, the munchkin-power-gamer-in-denial, get along so well!) is hard to match.  To call him a sharp businessman is an understatement, as well can be seen from the trajectory of Wizards over the past decade.  He's also adaptable -- over the years, we've seen him break down and rebuild the way WotC did business, even when it was very unpopular for him to do so, to serve the long-term good of the business and its stakeholders.As I understand it, Peter will be (when the due diligence is through and the deal is completed) sole owner of Gen Con.  This means that, unlike WotC, he will not answer to a board of directors or other shareholders; he can define his goals as he pleases, rather than having to be primarily concerned with investors/shareholders, as was the case at WotC.  He has told me that he's really looking forward to running a business where maximizing profit won't have to be the top of the priority list.My guess is that he will run the business to be modestly profitable, but he won't be trying to make every last penny possible.  He has a clear idea of the importance of Gen Con to the industry and the games that he loves.  I expect he'll go to great length to keep the con accessible to the maximum number of gamers and small publishers, while keeping the business viable as an ongoing concern.  (I actually suspect he'll wind up making more money than he plans to, since he has a bit of a golden touch.)Mostly, I'm happy he's back in the biz, since it means more opportunities for my character in his campaign -- Diarmuid, the Master of Shadows -- to get some experience at convention games!  (Diarmuid talks a good game, but to be useful as a rogue he really should get some skill points to allocate to things like Search and Disable Device...)-John NephewPresident, Atlas Games</blockquote>

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