Going down in Flames - West End Games and Catalyst Games

Add another dead company to the funeral pyre. Look like West End Games is going (has gone) down in flames. Geek Related gave me all the info on this whole event (but to be honest I really haven't cared about West End Games in decades) but the freak out on RPG.net did make me laugh. And to add to the excitement of late, Wildfire has filed a Chapter 7 request in the US Bankruptcy Court against Catalyst Games (who is really InMediaRes and a lot of other company names too. Thanks you again Geek Related for all the good info in this one). I must say, I don't know what is happening in the world of RPG publishers, but I wish some of these people would grow up and act like business people. REAL business people, not thieves in disguise as gaming fans. Talk to you later...

Catalyst Game Labs Negotiating To Part Ways With WildFire And Posthuman Studios

You tell me what it means.  Read about it here!

Pricing yourself out of the market…

I have been thinking about this one for a few days and I think I might have made a major decision in my life. Here goes…

I think I am going to stop collecting comic books.

After nearly 30 years of collecting comics I think the current prices of $2.99 to $3.99 for 22 pages (and some cause 30 pages) of monthly stories, the price is not justified. I LOVE COMICS!!!! Everything about comic I love, but the price increases (sneaky as many of them have been) and the lack of quality in many books make me want to quit buying comics. I bought 4 comic books on Wednesday and it could be nearly $16. FOUR. COMIC. BOOKS. Comic books cost too much. We can debate the quality of the work until the cows come home, but $2.99 for 22 pages (13.5 cents per page) is too much. Shonen Jump is the size of a small phone book and only cost 4.99 for 352 pages (1.4 cents per page). I don’t care that it is black and white comics. I care that for me to get the same amount of comic content I will need to spend around $32 - $33 in US comics. WTF???????

I love comics, but I think I can find something else to love if I have to and I will save that money to use for something else. You just priced yourself out of the market for me. Talk to you later…

Did you write a business plan for your business?

After yesterday blog post I got a few comments here and on twitter about One Bad Egg and their business plan. All of it got me thinking, do most RPG publishers have a actual written business plan? LPJ Design (as the PDF publisher) does not; but I have written two business plans for spin-off business (One died in it initial creation; the other one is for Grammar and is currently in process). While writing both business plans I think it gave me a real understanding of what a business is and should be. Paizo, to me, feel like a company that had a great business plan in place, and they have followed the business plan to success. Why don't we "business people" in the RPG industry do business plans? We spend all this money on making products to sell online and at con, but we miss the most basic step to help make our business a long term success by not doing a business plan. Why? Is is too much like "real work" and as publishers that happen to be gamers and fans that we want to avoid that?

The RPG industry is dying a slow death. While we don't like to admit it it is happening, the only way to really save it is to start thinking long term what we can do to keep the industry healthy. The sad part is that most of us are not thinking our doing long term things, we are just doing things to boost our own egos and expand our personal brands without look finding ways to get new people interested into the gaming industry. We all need to get together and create a long term business plan for the success of the gaming industry and how we can help individually. I hope this inspires you to do something. Talk to you later...

One Bad Egg...Now cooked!

Well it looks like One Bad Egg is going out of business as of TODAY. While they have supported 4E WOTC since the beginning, their inability of getting big sales (300+ on their products with most of them did even reach 100. His words not mine!) and not enough creative desire to keep themselves going is what killed them. While it sucks that ANOTHER RPG company has gone down in flames , I have to wonder, if they had followed mine or even Gareth's business model, maybe they would still be operational. It is not really that complicated to stay in business if you are a RPG publisher. I mean if I have been doing this for nearly a decade and my business has brought me 5 computers (4 desktops and a laptop), several trips to Indianapolis, New Orleans, Baltimore, California and Las Vegas, countless meals, hundreds of thousands of written words, thousands for pieces of artwork and my 2003 Honda Civic, so you could do it too. But don't forget, it is actual work I am doing. Maybe One Bad Egg forgot it was. Talk to you later...