...but the fact that Wizards of the Coast has announced that they're scrapping their miniatures line and canceling three major releases from their book schedule is probably a sign that 2010 wasn't as good a year for the company as it might have been.
On one hand, this doesn't affect me directly, as I haven't picked up anything from WOTC in quite a while. On the other hand, they are the industry leaders, so if they're having a rough time of it, the rest of the industry probably isn't doing so great either.
That said, it looks like WOTC actually made it through 2010 without yet again having to lay off staff at year's end, so I guess there's an upside, as well.
From an industry stand point, you have to worry if the size of the customer base or the size of their disposable income shrinks. In this case, WOTC's troubles might have to do with losing market share to Paizo and others - bad for WOTC, not bad for the gaming community as a whole. In fact, losing market share can be a good thing if it inspires the industry leader to produce material that the community at large will like better.
ReplyDeleteFair point. Serious competition at the upper levels would be a good thing (I seem to recall a business adage that service and quality in a given field tends to increase dramatically when a third major player is introduced to the mix - unfortunately it doesn't look like any of the other companies are able to step up to that plate). While some of WOTC's problems can probably be attributes to Paizo, I suspect some of it would have happened anyways. Without hard numbers to compare, it's pretty much a guessing game.
ReplyDelete(well, we do know one thing for certain, and that is that Paizo is kicking WOTC's ass when it comes to PDF sales, but then, so is everyone else in the business)