Uh-oh... what does this mean for our beloved game? :(

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Topps Reports Improved Q3
WizKids Down
January 04, 2007

Topps reported its fiscal Q3 (ending November 25th) results on Wednesday. Sales for the company were up 8.1% vs. the year ago period, and earnings were $3.7 million, vs. a $3.7 million loss in the year ago period. As was the case last quarter (see "Sports Cards Lift Topps"), much of the increase in sales was attributed to improvements in sales of sports products, which were up 11% in Q3 and 40% year to date.



WizKids, on the other hand, was down substantially vs. the year ago period, and those declines are expected to continue in fiscal Q4. The WizKids declines were related to both reductions in sales of Pirates vs. the year ago period, and "softness" in its core gaming products.



There are apparently some improvements expected, however. In the conference call, management said it believed that the restructuring it had put into place combined with some things that are "too early to announce" will begin to turn the WizKids business around.

I think battlemasters have to take it apon themselves to help the struggling company to reachout and connect with those new players, most already have begun to seek new ways to interest the mostly young crop of new players. by listening to these new recruits, battlemasters can begin to understand what it is that they want. if you look to 40k, most players like the customization, and the epic scale of the game. already battlemasters have given so much to wizkids and i think wizkids should give more back to them.

I believe that campaign style events where players have the ability to biuld persomal armys and characters(Solaris VII) will in turn spark more personal interest. the idea that over time and good tracking, the thought of biulding an army or stable tracking and seeing results, good or bad, will incline players to want to participate and BUY in mechwarrior games and product. for instance, when faction wars were around I went out and bought as much ROTS stuff as i could find. this concept would work well with the new Acion Pack Format that will be introduced later this year.
Batlemasters are the frontline for wizkids, and they should take batter care of them to inspire there loyalty and devotion to get this product out their and to come up with new creative game concepts. my battlemaster has repeatedly put forth personal collection and money to help with generating new intrest and players. he has repeatedly came up with new scenarios and concepts to keep the player base that he has. thier are many battlemasters out there that have commited themselves to this task and i think wizkids and the rest of our gaming community should recognize their great work.

With the decline in profits, wizkids should be able to indentify root problems with the sitiuation at hand. instead of creating fortress wizkids, they should look to see if it is actually from within that this dark age is growing. for some part, they have looked into their own and have made moves to rectify what they can, but that only levels their decline, What else is it that they will have too do to shine the spotlight back onto this game that has a long and glorious history, what is it that will bring back the attention to this game.
the most common theme that I have seen here and at venues around is"I'd wish they'ed release ......" the common call for battletech era mechs. this thought has echo'ed all over, which most of us all agree. personally I would like to see a larger class dropship and more epic level multi-player games. these battles draw they most watchers and spark the most interest. More people have asked "what is this" and have been more intrested during a large scale, multi-player game. even 4oK players have stopped to come witness the game that looked fun and facinating, that didnt take half a life time to paint and glue or had to make countless armor saves and morale checks that slowed the game down.
in the end wizkids have a game that seperates itself from others, that can bring in the new player and satisfy the vetrens. it just boils dow to wizkids having the imagination to steer it in the right direction, and to the rest of us to take pride in our game and help bring in the new players.
through unity, peace.

As this text reminds us, WizKids went through some major restructuring in the middle of the year. I would not expect them to have recovered from that already.

Overall, the gaming industry has been in decline in the past few years. This has affected WizKids as much as anyone else. I think they are in better shape now, with Topps as a sort of "umbrella" to catch them and help them stay afloat. Of course, they will have to turn things around soon or Topps will drop them. But without Topps' support, they may not have made it this long.

[Of course, they will have to turn things around soon or Topps will drop them. But without Topps' support, they may not have made it this long.]

This is the bottom line for Wizkids.

It's going to be interesting to see what cards WizKids plays from their somewhat diminished hand. Knightloser brought up a few ideas that have in the past brought new players in the game. When there are events where many people play at the same time with and with large scare pieces (Ares, Dropship) usually draw interest towards the game and hopefully new players. Part of what I see the problem is that the vets of the game have kept it afloat with their vehement loyalty to the brand and the product and their veracious consumption in the quest of finding that prized unit. However, with the restructure a lot of familiar faces disappeared and the players lost a set of eyes and ears aimed at the inner workings of both the company and the game (KevinG being the most noticeable). This created a vacuum between the company and it's players. (which was then taken care of by the valiant efforts or our beloved MissInformation and the newcomer sensation JSaunders) Right now the real question is "How do we keep our current players engaged and at the same time bring in new ones?" With Solarias Seven and the promise of "Action Packs" hopefully we can keep the game alive while WK puts in motion their plans.

If the MechWarrior train is done running, them I'm pretty glad I was able to ride it.

Every time WizKids has a down quarter, everyone goes nuts and predicts the end. Fact is, no one knows anything about the future of the game more than Jonas Saunders, Kelly Bonilla, and whatever suits at Topps to which they report.

Let's take a breath.

i just think we gotta do a better job of improving OUR player base, and return it back to the levels when I first started

yeah, instead of complaining about how much trouble MW or WK is in financially, why not help that situation by bringing new players to the game?

take your friends to War College events hosted at your venue, give them pieces from factions you don't play, start regular game nights, i could go on and on...

as Defiance, Ohio once said, "action comes easy, its the moments just before that are hard"

I think 2007 is liable to be a good year for WK, simply as the shift to Action Packs is designed to bring the game out to the mass public. While some sales will be to random players that never buy anything else, if some sales generate new players who in turn help WK continuing towards profitability, it will only help.

The biggest problem I've seen is attracting new players. Retaining them is easy, in comparison, but I have high hopes for the action packs. How vets respond to the AP concept is another issue entirely, but if more folks show up and play, I think we 'old fogies' will manage to teach the new kiddies how to play ;)

Perhaps ditching the game that originally made Wizkids so successful wasn't such a good move after all?

And by ditching it, I mean seemingly giving up on it after Sinister...

While it is a bit disheartening, I can't say I'm suprised. WK has been ignoring their core games too much. They've been choosing to get more games out on the market instead of improving, or even maintaining the quality and enjoyment of their most important (IE; highest revenue and customer base) games.


I don't see how Wizkids firing lots of their staff, or, as WK called it, the "reorganizaion", will help anything. IMHO, it's pretty obvious that they don't have enough people for everything. Linknet hasn't been updated since August; it's having the same problems its predecessors had.:cry: At any rate, maybe this is the kick in the pants they need to get back on track. We can still hope.

Linknet? Heck, I've posted a few questions on the Q/A thread and most were answered or attempted to get answered by other members. Not the JSanders or MissInfo.
When was the last time anyone even saw an answer by missInfo? Last I heard in either forum (here or WKs) was a joke about Flavio making a return.
I think they shot them selves in the foot by reorganizing too many people and now are streached to thin.
I wish them all the luck and help I can give them for this game. But now I'm even forced with no venues. Can't get new players when all the game shops in town are to far away.

2007 is still early. I wait with growing fever for the Action Pack and SolarisVII rules. Even if I have to buy them online to get them.

Anyone else struck as odd that there is no MW con Piece this year?

The silence out of WK regarding MW for the last 20ish days is in itself huge message in my mind. Combine that with no Con piece and I am not having great hopes.

You know what has really bugged me lately? They are making a big deal out of Heroclix's fifth anniversary, and Mechwarrior was released the same year. Not a note about it. Not a "thank you!" or a "Yes, we have a big event planned for you guys too." Nothing.

I'm hoping that Trevor is right, with what he posted in the Oregon vs WizKids thread. I hope there is great stuff ahead that they haven't announced yet. Here's to hope!

For the sake of the game, Battlemasters should focus not just on recruiting new blood, but more on recruiting players who will assist and multiply his efforts in growing and maintaining a stable and vibrant community.

Thus, the emphasis of the venue's events should focus on FUN rather than winning or prize hunting. Why? More fun means the players will stay and even share the hobby with more people. They will stay even if the lose a couple of times because they simply enjoy mw and the crowd.

The days of divisive ideals such as Rankings and Win-Loss records, or silly pissing-contest rivalries are detrimental to the game. Fellowship among all players should prevail and must be upheld as a higher value compared to being the "top" player. These values will keep any community strong be it a gaming or quilting community.

Just my 2 centavos worth of ramblings.