Wizards of the Coast GTS 2010 Seminar

This post is the liveblog for the Wizards of the Coast seminar at GTS 2010. It will begin at 0900 on Wednesday, March 24. UPDATE: time is now 1:00 PM Pacific time.

  • 3:07 AM: Trask The Wizards of the Coast seminar will begin at 0900 on March 24, 2010 MST. This is a liveblog, so do not refresh your page. New content will appear automatically.
  • 12:10 PM: Trask The time zone is PST.
  • 12:28 PM: Trask For more great Gama trade show content, subscribe to our RSS feed.

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  • 12:29 PM: Trask
  • 12:46 PM: Haaldaar
  • 12:49 PM: Haaldaar We are now seated waiting for the fun to start.
  • 12:50 PM: Trask
  • 12:50 PM: Trask We begin!
  • 12:52 PM: Trask Greg Leeds talks about state of the business
  • 12:53 PM: Trask 2009 was a good year. Record performance driven by Magic sales.
  • 12:54 PM: Trask Wotc wants to expand the hobby game industry as a whole
  • 12:54 PM: Haaldaar It is good to see thy WOTC is optimistic of 2010 sales. Mostly driven by the Magic The Gathering engine.
  • 12:54 PM: Trask Scott knoblich vp of sales is speaking
  • 12:56 PM: Trask Active players for wotc 330000. 20 percent increase in 2009
  • 12:56 PM: Haaldaar
  • 12:56 PM: Trask On iPhone. English is suffering. Sorry.
  • 12:56 PM: Haaldaar More Magic and D&D players then ever before.
  • 12:57 PM: Trask Focus more on Magic and DnD and instore play.
  • 12:58 PM: Trask WPN has three levels.
  • 12:58 PM: Trask Wizards Play Network
  • 1:00 PM: Trask Focus on building a game community In a retail store.
  • 1:06 PM: Trask Bad news. The seminar was rescheduled. They are covering the wpn now. The Magic and D&D seminar is now at 1300 pacific time.
  • 1:22 PM: Trask We will cover the seminar at 1:oo. See you there!
  • 4:53 PM: Trask
  • 4:57 PM: Trask Comments are on, but moderated. Post away! Be sure to comment in the liveblog frame so I can see your comments.
  • 5:00 PM: Trask WOTC GAMA seminar starts in 5 minutes!
  • 5:03 PM: Trask Pat Hildebrant speaks about MTG
  • 5:04 PM: Trask Presenting some facts onmtg history
  • 5:05 PM: Trask 2 million events since it began
  • 5:06 PM: Trask 2009 mtg sales up 70% over previous year
  • 5:07 PM: Haaldaar MTG Duels of the Planeswalker (X-Box Arcade Game) doing very well. Plans to keep adding new content.
  • 5:08 PM: Trask 2009 events up 35%
  • 5:09 PM: Trask Rise of eldrazi is a large set 248 cards
  • 5:09 PM: Trask Big monsters in the new set
  • 5:10 PM: Trask Deck Builders Toolkit is aimed at beginners that want enter the deck building arena
  • 5:11 PM: Haaldaar Exactly. Looks like the Deck Builders Toolkit will be a gateway for new players from the starter decks to booster packs.
  • 5:11 PM: Trask Archenemy multiplayer format. All vs one format
  • 5:11 PM: Trask June release
  • 5:12 PM: Trask 2011 core set. 60 card intro deck. Increased from 40.
  • 5:12 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:13 PM: Trask Releases 7-11-2010
  • 5:18 PM: Trask Focus on Friday Night Magic events
  • 5:18 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:19 PM: Trask Added store locator to Magic articles on web site
  • 5:20 PM: Trask Magic will shift focus to multiplayer games. Archenemy and Planeswalker
  • 5:21 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:21 PM: Trask PT San Juan will have Archenemy preview.
  • 5:23 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:23 PM: Trask D&D section starts
  • 5:24 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:25 PM: Trask 1.5 million players. 24 million lapsed players
  • 5:25 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:25 PM: Trask August is the Dark Sun release
  • 5:26 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:26 PM: Trask D&D redbox returns
  • 5:27 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:28 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:28 PM: Trask Changing the way people enter the game.
  • 5:28 PM: Trask Red Box is a complete game experience.
  • 5:30 PM: Trask After Red Box is the DM kit followed by Monster Vault that includes monster tiles
  • 5:30 PM: Trask New books are trade paperback. Cheaper for new players
  • 5:32 PM: Haaldaar All of the new D&D Essentials will have new material. Not a reprint of existing product.
  • 5:33 PM: Trask The old hardback books are still supported.
  • 5:34 PM: Haaldaar No rules changes. This is still 4.0
  • 5:37 PM: Haaldaar D&D tiles will move to core sets for what everyone needs then expansions to add new stuff. No need fr more releases with empty cooridors.
  • 5:38 PM: Trask D&d board games. Coop play
  • 5:38 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:39 PM: Trask Board games use similar rules and have the ability to use each others parts
  • 5:39 PM: Haaldaar Castle Ravenloft the board game. Haaldaars loves him some Ravenloft.
  • 5:40 PM: Trask Board games use miniature sculpts from the d&d mini games. They are monochrome, not painted
  • 5:40 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:41 PM: Trask Lords of Madness miniature set. Fully random. Comes out late this year.
  • 5:41 PM: Haaldaar Moving away from the visable figure. Only one release now planned per year. 60 figures in set. 1 huge 5 random per pack.
  • 5:42 PM: Trask Gargantuan Orcus $75.00
  • 5:43 PM: Haaldaar $75 gargantuon Orcus. “Super Exclusive” to bring up demand. Hobby stores only.
  • 5:43 PM: Trask Tightly controlled release of Orcus. Hobby shops only. No Barnes and Noble release.
  • 5:45 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:47 PM: Trask Talking about dnd encounters setup. It will be run in seasons and one season will be a Dark Sun preview.
  • 5:48 PM: Trask Gamma World for 4E
  • 5:48 PM: Haaldaar WPN stores will get D&D product 10 days earlier then other channels (I.e. Amazon.com)
  • 5:49 PM: Haaldaar WOTC will be working hard to build and maintain game days in the stores.
  • 5:50 PM: Haaldaar No more promo minis from WOTC. Too expensive with there scaling back on the mini line.
  • 5:55 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:55 PM: Trask
  • 5:55 PM: Haaldaar
  • 5:55 PM: Trask
  • 5:57 PM: Haaldaar Meeting is over. If anyone has questions, please comment and we will try to get answers. Thanks for watching!
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trask

Trask is a long-time gamer, world traveler and history buff. He hopes that his scribblings will both inform and advance gaming as a hobby.

17 thoughts on “Wizards of the Coast GTS 2010 Seminar

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  • March 24, 2010 at 9:08 pm
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    Was the seminar delayed further?

  • March 25, 2010 at 5:24 am
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    “5:25 PM: Trask 1.5 million players. 24 million lapsed players”

    Just WTF is a “lasped player”. That’s the kind of BS labelling that pisses me right off.

    • March 28, 2010 at 9:18 pm
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      kiltedyaksman,

      Actually “Lapsed Player” doesn’t have any nefarious meaning. Lapsed has multiple variations of the meaning in the English language. And from being present at the event, and listening to the presentation, it most certainly was referring to players that WOTC has failed to keep in the game.

    • May 18, 2010 at 7:30 pm
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      Lapsed Players are those like me, that have fallen away from D&D for one reason or another.
      My reason was 4E.

  • March 25, 2010 at 5:32 am
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    D&D 4e is designed as a mini’s needed game, why the transition away from the minis as they were, isn’t the scrimmage game a good way to bring people to the store to play? If they are also canning the freebie minis what sort of incentive do DMs get for running on game day, I haven’t seen the tokens myself, but I prefer something a little more dimensional. Granted I can buy reaper, citadel and other minis, but the D&D ones were nice and inexpensive enough.

  • March 27, 2010 at 7:28 am
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    As a corporate myself, I can tell you what I hear, reading between the lines. The line is not doing that well. Not as well as they had hoped. If things are working, you don’t shift strategies. I’m not sure what a lapsed player is, but it doesn’t sound good.

    Now 1 Mil is nothing to sneeze at, but a lapsed player doesn’t sound like they’re buying anything to me. I think if we say players up, we’d hear those exact words.

    This sounds like Plan B water bailing to me. Not a death knell by any means, but regrouping and maybe a little smoke.

    Still, I’ll buy a giant Orcus miniature. You’ve got me there.

    • May 19, 2010 at 12:54 am
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      I’d guess that a lapsed player is someone like me. Someone who used to play regularly but has stopped playing dnd for whatever reason. I’ve had a look at 4E and it’s just not something I want to play, and most of my friends play 3.5. If WotC could make old editions disappear I’m sure they would. I’d like to know how they arrived at the figure of 24 million though.

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  • April 10, 2010 at 5:57 pm
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    “1.5 million players. 24 million lapsed players” for DnD only? (All editions I take it.)

    Was that count for just the U.S. or world-wide? I’d be curious to the distribution of players overseas…

  • April 10, 2010 at 11:22 pm
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    My guess with the lapsed players is the one’s like myself who have stopped buying product from WotC with the release of 4E. I was at Gen Con when they announced in 07 and was not impressed with how they handled the presentation. Saying that a DM couldn’t run a challenging game because the rules were broke. Maybe they couldn’t but as a seasoned DM of 20+ years I got over being tied to the letter of the rulebooks a long time ago. Comments like those and others had my group and myself stay with our house 9.5 version. The best of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3.5 plus all our books and modules are still usable. Wizards made a bold move with 4E but, I think they slighted quite a few of that 24 million with the handling of its release. I still play and support my local store as my budget allows and still bought minis until they made it 5 per box for the same price. Too many changes that made the buying of their products just not an option. I get most of my minis from ebay or other online stores in singles now to make sure I get just the ones I want. I will end with one last comment, I am almost glad that Gary is not here to see the fall the game has taken and this time not from outside but from within.

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  • April 19, 2010 at 8:15 pm
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    Our group were heavy purchasers for 3e and 3.5e materials. Once 4E was released, we dropped out. We’re still playing 3.5e and have no intentions of changing. We have plenty of material to use. If anything, the move to 4e helped us understand we didn’t have to buy anything else to enjoy the game we love.

  • May 18, 2010 at 5:53 pm
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    If they want players to return to the game, they need to focus on their core demographic.

    4.0 was interesting enough that we all bought the books and figs and gave it the old college try, but in the end it just isn’t D&D anymore. All combat oriented with little opportunity for role-playing.

    Start publishing *new* 3.5 content. We’ll buy it.

  • May 18, 2010 at 11:24 pm
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    Mark – Paizo is still doing 3.5 (technically “Pathfinder”, but it’s compatible) stuff. http://www.paizo.com/

    (I have no affiliation with Paizo or anything; I’m just a geek who likes their stuff)

  • May 19, 2010 at 9:01 am
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    They might have arrived at the “lapsed player” figure by counting sales of D&D player books up to 4E, multiplying by some coefficient that takes into account used book sales or players who don’t buy their own minus books sold that never get used. That total minus the number of 4E PHB sales taking into account the coefficient above (understanding that the used market effect will be different because these books are still in print).

    That assumes they consider anybody who has played a D&D in the past but who is not now playing 4E to be “lapsed”.

    But I’m just guessing really. It’s not like we have ID cards that we swipe when we start a session.

    As for me, I’m definitely a “lapsed D&Der” because I wrote my own rules and play every Sunday. Heck, I’d play during the week if my girlfriend would stand for it!

  • May 19, 2010 at 9:54 am
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    I still play AD&D (first edition) every week. I wonder if that makes me lapsed in their view. I’d guess it does, although it’s not technically correct.

    If anything, it’s WotC who lapsed, not the players

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