You're the Head of WOTC. Now What?
- Thread starter Edgewood
- Start date
Hmmm...
Either cut back the entire DnD arm and have 2-3 people making a couple of books a year.
Or:
Really embrace the digital age and try to go big:
Provide hi res maps for use in VTTs.
Change DDI to be a pay web service.
Partner with a software company to build official tools based on said web service.
Open up software licensing for 3rd party developers.
Bring back PDFs for 4E. (Because people are getting them anyway)
Bring back PDFs from earlier editions (because as the keepers of that lore it's our responsibility to preserve it and make it available)
Change DDM to produce minis that represent MM entries.
Explore the option of selling minis direct, online order only allowing customers to pick the quantity and the individual minis they want.
More ads, more commercials, more product placement.
Re-open the idea of WotC stores, but not for retail primarily, take the game cafe approach.
Roll out either a Facebook based, or home grown social networking tool tied to the game cafe.
Official iPhone/iTouch/iPad/Android apps.
... there's more I think but now I'm bored...
Either cut back the entire DnD arm and have 2-3 people making a couple of books a year.
Or:
Really embrace the digital age and try to go big:
Provide hi res maps for use in VTTs.
Change DDI to be a pay web service.
Partner with a software company to build official tools based on said web service.
Open up software licensing for 3rd party developers.
Bring back PDFs for 4E. (Because people are getting them anyway)
Bring back PDFs from earlier editions (because as the keepers of that lore it's our responsibility to preserve it and make it available)
Change DDM to produce minis that represent MM entries.
Explore the option of selling minis direct, online order only allowing customers to pick the quantity and the individual minis they want.
More ads, more commercials, more product placement.
Re-open the idea of WotC stores, but not for retail primarily, take the game cafe approach.
Roll out either a Facebook based, or home grown social networking tool tied to the game cafe.
Official iPhone/iTouch/iPad/Android apps.
... there's more I think but now I'm bored...
Thornir Alekeg
Albatross!
First off, I would sell my shares in Hasbro, as they obviously have lost all touch with reality in hiring me as CEO of WotC.
That done, it is time to gather data.
- Which aspects of WotC are profitable? What does it take to maintain that profitability?
- What projects are in the works - not new supplements to current games, but real new games that have the potential to become the next big thing, gaining new market share?
- Understand expectations from the Hasbro bosses - what is their risk profile in order to gain market share? Figure out how much support and committment I would have for long-term projects that won't realize results for some time.
- Big new projects/releases don't get public release dates until we are close enough to be sure we can meet them with a good product.
- Either move all-in with respect to the electronic aspects of our products (character builder, game table etc.) or get out. No halfway attempts. Evaluate developing in-house talent to do so.
Once this is all complete, make all decisions based upon a d20 roll.
That done, it is time to gather data.
- Which aspects of WotC are profitable? What does it take to maintain that profitability?
- What projects are in the works - not new supplements to current games, but real new games that have the potential to become the next big thing, gaining new market share?
- Understand expectations from the Hasbro bosses - what is their risk profile in order to gain market share? Figure out how much support and committment I would have for long-term projects that won't realize results for some time.
- Big new projects/releases don't get public release dates until we are close enough to be sure we can meet them with a good product.
- Either move all-in with respect to the electronic aspects of our products (character builder, game table etc.) or get out. No halfway attempts. Evaluate developing in-house talent to do so.
Once this is all complete, make all decisions based upon a d20 roll.
Last edited:
arscott
First Post
1) Acquire Paizo, if possible. Keep pathfinder in print alongside 4e. Keep them in print until 3rd quarter 2012.
2) New Edition of Dark•Matter, based on the Star Wars Saga Edition, planned release 1st quarter 2011. Advance the setting from 2001 to present day, with significant changes. If the original D•M was the first season of a conspiracy TV show where we start to see how weird the world really is, this is the last season where the $#!* has hit the fan, the conspiracies have been revealed, and the fate of the world is on the line.
3) Magic can keep on trucking. Everybody loves it. But create a stand-alone version that can be sold as part of the boardgame line (see below). Something like Dominion in character.
4) Major focus on boardgames through 2015. New line of strategically challenging boardgames with heavy marketing towards teens. Get these in Toy stores and Video-game stores.
5) After extensive Beta testing along the lines of Pathfinder, Release new edition of D&D in 3rd Quarter 2014--Slightly simpler, eschews Hardcovers in favor of Boxed sets, Uses the BXCM model rather than the PHB/DMG/MM model. Market as part of the boardgame line, and include BG components like dice, minis and spell cards.
2) New Edition of Dark•Matter, based on the Star Wars Saga Edition, planned release 1st quarter 2011. Advance the setting from 2001 to present day, with significant changes. If the original D•M was the first season of a conspiracy TV show where we start to see how weird the world really is, this is the last season where the $#!* has hit the fan, the conspiracies have been revealed, and the fate of the world is on the line.
3) Magic can keep on trucking. Everybody loves it. But create a stand-alone version that can be sold as part of the boardgame line (see below). Something like Dominion in character.
4) Major focus on boardgames through 2015. New line of strategically challenging boardgames with heavy marketing towards teens. Get these in Toy stores and Video-game stores.
5) After extensive Beta testing along the lines of Pathfinder, Release new edition of D&D in 3rd Quarter 2014--Slightly simpler, eschews Hardcovers in favor of Boxed sets, Uses the BXCM model rather than the PHB/DMG/MM model. Market as part of the boardgame line, and include BG components like dice, minis and spell cards.
I'd look at the following changes:
- Encourage more third-party support for 4e;
- Publishe a 4e Unearthed Arcana;
- Electronic publishing of older adventures, supplements, and settings; and
- Publish a Modern SAGA with updated mechanics and the modular NPCs and streamlined approach for GMs used in 4e. Featured settings would include Star Frontiers, GIJoe, Dark Matter, a PG-13+ urban fantasy, and many of the other good capsule settings from d20M.
Otherwise, I like what they've been doing.
- Encourage more third-party support for 4e;
- Publishe a 4e Unearthed Arcana;
- Electronic publishing of older adventures, supplements, and settings; and
- Publish a Modern SAGA with updated mechanics and the modular NPCs and streamlined approach for GMs used in 4e. Featured settings would include Star Frontiers, GIJoe, Dark Matter, a PG-13+ urban fantasy, and many of the other good capsule settings from d20M.
Otherwise, I like what they've been doing.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
First, leave Hasbro. Hasbro should be pumping out D&D action figures, Magic-based action figures, playsets based on classic adventures and stuff like that. They're not, so kiss them goodbye.
Fire the marketing department. All of them.
Second, no division but design and development has any say-so over what goes into a D&D edition.
Those would be the first things that spring to the top of my head.
Fire the marketing department. All of them.
Second, no division but design and development has any say-so over what goes into a D&D edition.
Those would be the first things that spring to the top of my head.
This is not likely to happen, unless somebody comes in with a huge amount of cash to buy WotC from Hasbro.
Ampersand999
First Post
Since a lot of people are clamoring for the pdfs to return, but I haven't seen anyone discuss how to best do this. Here is what I would do:
1) Put the price of the .pdf at a point where it will reflect the cost of the intellect and staff Wizards uses to produce the books minus what would it cost to have it published. (So instead of $49.99, it would probably cost $9.99. Printing is expensive.) It wouldn't be at the same price as the hard cover books. As everyone who has to deal with Amazon is finding out, people aren't going to pay the same price for an online download as they would purchase a hard cover. (And the ones that do are finding that their sales are much less than they'd thought.) The markets aren't the same, and really, the best way to thwart the pirates is to make the value of the .pdfs such that only a few people so completely and utterly cheap wouldn't purchase the .pdfs and prefer the pirate's way.
2) Have the online pdfs be part of the DDI subscription, and then, you can bump up the subscription price from 5/7/9 to 9/11/13 a month depending whether you're on a year, quarterly or monthly cycle. You might even recouple all of the lost revenue you could have by not selling enough hard cover books.
3) Now, whether this means you keep the compendium or not, that would be up to staff and marketing. I'd keep it at this point.
4) Have some sort of D&D and Magic:the Gathering tie-in/cross-over. Why not? And if Hasbro wants me to cross D&D with something else (like they've did recently with the D&D Heroscape game), I'd go for it.
5) I'd sell the rights to the "Classic" line to Paizo.
1) Put the price of the .pdf at a point where it will reflect the cost of the intellect and staff Wizards uses to produce the books minus what would it cost to have it published. (So instead of $49.99, it would probably cost $9.99. Printing is expensive.) It wouldn't be at the same price as the hard cover books. As everyone who has to deal with Amazon is finding out, people aren't going to pay the same price for an online download as they would purchase a hard cover. (And the ones that do are finding that their sales are much less than they'd thought.) The markets aren't the same, and really, the best way to thwart the pirates is to make the value of the .pdfs such that only a few people so completely and utterly cheap wouldn't purchase the .pdfs and prefer the pirate's way.
2) Have the online pdfs be part of the DDI subscription, and then, you can bump up the subscription price from 5/7/9 to 9/11/13 a month depending whether you're on a year, quarterly or monthly cycle. You might even recouple all of the lost revenue you could have by not selling enough hard cover books.
3) Now, whether this means you keep the compendium or not, that would be up to staff and marketing. I'd keep it at this point.
4) Have some sort of D&D and Magic:the Gathering tie-in/cross-over. Why not? And if Hasbro wants me to cross D&D with something else (like they've did recently with the D&D Heroscape game), I'd go for it.
5) I'd sell the rights to the "Classic" line to Paizo.
jgbrowning
Hero
I'd call up Hasbro and ask "Where the hell are my D&D toys sets for kids? Where are castles and knights and dragons and playsets with the Dungeons and Dragons name on them?"
joe b.
jmucchiello
Hero
To answer seriously, the only place I would meddle in the first six months would be to understand how the original digital table top initiative tanked so badly and then I would put it back on course (unless my findings explained why I shouldn't).
That, and finding out the state of the D&D licensing issues in computers and film. I'm sure it's a complete nightmare that would occupy my weeks and months.
That, and finding out the state of the D&D licensing issues in computers and film. I'm sure it's a complete nightmare that would occupy my weeks and months.
Similar Threads
