Wizards won't have a booth at GenCon

According to this article over at io9.com, "Wizards will not have a presence on the Gen Con exhibit floor" (the exhibitor's map at the GenCon site confirms this).

Wow. Nothing. I realize they're trying to lay low in order to build excitement for D&D Next, you'd think they'd have something there to, I dunno, hump M:tG or something. This is the 20th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering, for crying out loud. You'd think they'd want to make a splash with that other than just tournaments.

They will be running events, and are an official sponsor of the convention, but no booth.

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Also, please don't forget the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary Kickstarter going on right now! 900 monsters, suitable for most OSR-type games, all under one cover. Can you help get us to having an illustration for each and every one?

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D&D sales now *third* behind Pathfinder and...

ICv2's latest rankings of retail gaming sales is out, and the news is grim indeed for Wizards of the Coast.

Not only are they once again being bested for RPG sales by Pathfinder, but now FFG's Star Wars RPG has apparently overtaken them as well. The Pathfinder thing is old news; they've been beating 4E regularly for quite some time now. The Star Wars thing is new, though, and I think D&D's weakness in the retail sector is driven largely by the perception that 4E is a lame duck, with everyone holding off major buying until 5E (DnD Next) comes out.

Sure, Magic: The Gathering is still undisputed king of collectible card games, and is their cash cow in the same way that Munchkin is for Steve Jackson Games, but D&D is a prestige title and it can't help but be embarrassing for them to be beaten consistently by a company they fired from publishing their D&D house organ...

Overall, though, the picture seems bright for the hobby gaming industry as a whole. Sales are up, new stores are opening, and more people are playing. Which is a good thing, regardless of what they're playing.

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