WotC: Goodbye, Loren Greenwood, hello Greg Leeds

[boerngrim]

Hi,
Well, it seems like the new boss has a lot of experience managing a brand and keeping it profittable. Hasbro probably wouldn't put this guy in charge of a brand if he was incompetent. Of course, I'm not thrilled with the apparent direction of WOTC/D&D at this time anyway. Bah! what do I know?

 

[Tetsubo]

Hi,
Well, it seems like the new boss has a lot of experience managing a brand and keeping it profittable. Hasbro probably wouldn't put this guy in charge of a brand if he was incompetent. Of course, I'm not thrilled with the apparent direction of WOTC/D&D at this time anyway. Bah! what do I know?

It has been my experience that management types (and those hired by management types) are often picked because of *who* they know, not *what* they know.

The "Old Boy" network is alive and well in the US of A. I've seen it again and again.

 

[Ranger REG]

Hi,
Well, it seems like the new boss has a lot of experience managing a brand and keeping it profittable. Hasbro probably wouldn't put this guy in charge of a brand if he was incompetent. Of course, I'm not thrilled with the apparent direction of WOTC/D&D at this time anyway. Bah! what do I know?

Apparently the new boss came into the office late while WotC is undergoing an edition makeover.

I wonder if he has the power to put a stop to this and will he use it if we ask him to?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Apparently the new boss came into the office late while WotC is undergoing an edition makeover.

I wonder if he has the power to put a stop to this and will he use it if we ask him to?

Only if you can give him some solid evidence that 4e is "New Coke" all over again and that it would be more profitable to stop right now.

Don't think its going to happen.

 

[The Red Priest]

My thoughts too. My guess is Leeds has:
1. An MBA
2. Never played D&D prior to taking his new position (and maybe still hasn't)
3. No concern what happens to the hobby, only what WotC's bottom line is during his tenure.

I'd be delighted if it turned out that points 2 and 3 were wrong but I fear the worst. :\

Points 1 and 2 are rather irrelevant.

I dunno. Lorraine Williams was proud to have never played D&D, and look how well that turned out.

I'd say Point 2 was relevant for the game that you play.

 

[Ranger REG]

Only if you can give him some solid evidence that 4e is "New Coke" all over again and that it would be more profitable to stop right now.

Don't think its going to happen.

Isn't one of the past WotC presidents a former Coke ad exec?

 

[qstor]

Apparently Hasbro made the decision. Personally, I'd rather have Bill Slavicsek.

I'd rather have someone that's played D&D before but not Bill Slavicsek.

I'm sure they're planning 5e for 2016 now.

Mike

 

[hong]

I'd rather have someone that's played D&D before but not Bill Slavicsek.

I'm sure they're planning 5e for 2016 now.

No doubt they are. And...? A company with a long-term strategic plan is a smart company.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'd rather have someone that's played D&D before but not Bill Slavicsek.

What's wrong with him?

Personally, I don't mind if the guy played D&D before but the Prez is also responsible for the other RPG lines.

 

[WayneLigon]

The trend analysis tells me two things:
The gamer/businessmen (Gygax and Adkinson) both were successful
and
The gamer/businessmen not having majority ownership/control came back to bite them.

The initial blush of D&D's sucess had absolutely zero to do with any sort of business acumen on the part of anyone involved; they were surprised at the level of sucess it enjoyed. First via word-of-mouth through the college network and then the nationwide free advertising that came with the Egbert case. D&D was a sucess but not from 'gamers being in charge'.

Similarly, WoTC was an also-ran company until they stumbled into sucess with Magic and then Pokemon. The fact a gamer was in charge had nothing to do with their sucess and in fact probably contributed to their inability to control costs that led to the embarassing rounds of firing highly sucessful designers, etc. Remember those? Yay! You saved D&D with a new edition that cleaned up all the old problems and brought tons of gamers back into the fold! Oh, and here's your pink slip.

Stumbling into sucess is a nice thing to happen but don't confuse it with being a good manager or businessman, or with making good decisions.

In case you think WoTC was some sort of gamer paradise back in the day, here's a little look-see into what a company run by gamers is like.