News Digest 153
This is a copy of the “script” we used to organise Brainwaves Episode 153. It is not a full transcript but should give you an overview of the news as we reported it. Quotes are in italics.waves
Headlines
WOGD investigation by Rascal
- Our top story this week is a bit of a summation of the work down by Rowan Zeoli over at Rascal news. This has been a months long investigation from the Rascal team. We urge you to check out the full article over on that site. We would also like to thank Corey from our Discord for bringing this one to our attention.
- World of Game Design is a company that works with publishers to represent them at conventions. They run games and events at conventions, help with crowdfunding, publish games themselves, run organized play programmes, and sell games for clients at conventions.
- Over the last few years WOGD has represented Modiphius Entertainment (publishers of Star Trek RPG amongst others), Stockholm Kartel (publishers of Mork Borg), Monte Cooke Games(Home of the Cypher system RPGs amongst other titles, Marvel, and numerous small publishers.
- The report by Rowan Zeoli alleges that the company exploits workers and clients, often putting clients off for months and promising employees raises and jobs that never materialise
- The overall thrust of the report can be summarised by this quote from the piece
- From the outside, the company might seem like a boon to the industry, a well-oiled machine placing a cornucopia of games in front of eager, unaware audiences; from the inside it was a house of cards built on handshake deals between naive but passion driven creatives. Atop it all is Jared Nielsen, a man who claims his road to hell was paved with good intentions.
- These allegations came to light after a post on Twitter by game designer Ian Yusem back in August. It began
- PSA: World of Game Design (WOGD) is unlawfully selling my books, please do not buy my stuff from them.
- They currently owe me an estimated thousands of dollars in unpaid consignment sales and have failed to return my full inventory after I gave them notice over 3 months ago.
- Jared Nielsen was interviewed by Rascal for the piece. He describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur and software architect”
- , interview with Rascal, serial enterpeneur
- The report details incidents from 2021 – 2024. They begin with Nielsen having issues fulfilling a completed crowdfunding project and bringing on Zac Goins for research, writing, and editing services. Goins would go on to become the company’s creative director later that year.
- Goins brought with him several freelance clients including Modiphius Entertainment.
- When representing clients at conventions WOGD effectively presented themselves AS that client. This led to them operating 13 booths at Origin Games Fair in 2023.
- Goins appears to have done a decent job liaising with crowdfunding clients but was moved on to a different role. This is where things start to fall apart.
- Many clients have told Rascal that communication become almost non-existent or border line insulting when Nielsen took over the work that Goins had been doing. One client said
- “Jared’s opinion was that, as the creator of the TTRPG, I was not in a position to ask where and how my book was being sold and alongside what products it would be featured.”
- Things really started to go downhill at Gencon 2023. Nielsen had secured the unsold stock from Modiphius entertainment which was about $250k worth of stock. He told employees they would have to transport across town in 12 hours before the convention closed. One quit on the spot.
- Over the next year WOGD tried to dig itself out from this hole. Nielsen concentrated on larger clients, leaving many smaller publishers unpaid, unsure if there were any sales, and unhappy at the way they were being treated.
- This lack of sales data may be due to the fact the fact that there was no electronic tracking of inventory, mostly being done with pen and paper.
- Employees were now getting regular complaints from clients and the public at conventions about delayed kickstarters, Nielsen’s treatment of publishers, and the generally poor communication from the company.
- In December of 2023 it emerged that Nielsen had taken on no new consulting clients in the last two quarters of the year. He had also been mixing the finances of WOGD with an offshoot company called Tabletop Fanatics that was yet to launch. Goins was meant to be in charge of Tabletop Fanatics when it eventually launched.
- As 2024 started, Goins expressed concern at the workload of employees and missing promises relating to pay. Employees, including Goins, recommended focusing on conventions and existing projects, but Nielsen ignored them.
- Goins eventually resigned in the run up to FanExpo Philly in May of 2024.
- After Goins left Nielsen created accounts that showed himself as sympathetic and also claimed that Goins had stolen from the company and would have been fired if he hadn’t resigned.
- There are numerous other allegations in the piece including
- Not using a properly zoned warehouse until 2024, they used a residential place owned by an employees mother between 2023 and 2024. Nielsen confirmed this in the interview with Rsacal.
- Make employees work 40-50 hour weeks and take on expenses that were never paid back
- Making staff work 60 hours, and in one case 85 hours, shifts in the run up to Gencon 2023.
- Not paying staff.
- Nielsen kept the financial state of the company to himself claiming at times that there was a lot of ‘Voodoo math that goes into making all this work
- Failed to insure and properly register a company van and then ask an employee to drive it with expired dealer paper plates.
- The company has continued to struggle on over the course of 2024 but has run into numerous issues along the way, despite making profit at some conventions.
- Zac Goins responded to the Rascal piece on the day it was published. Posting on Facebook Zac said
- I’m very unhappy to continuously hear my former employer has taken to implicating and outright stating I resorted to theft while at the company…among other things.
- This has been told to me by first-hand accounts numerous times, beginning several months ago, and this article adds additional sources to the pile.
- To be very clear: I stole nothing.
- My time at WoGD was positive, in that it allowed me to work alongside so many incredible team members and clients. There’s nothing I like better than helping creators make and sell cool shit. My reasons for leaving were due to increasing frustrations of not being able to do just that.
- Since my resignation in April, I have maintained a quiet, upbeat stance, pointing numerous frustrated WoGD clients back toward the company and encouraging them to work things out in a professional manner. When faced with angry clients, I have assumed directly my own share of responsibilities and apologized.
- I had hoped that this professional demeanor would be met in kind, and I appreciate all the people employed at WoGD who have done so.
- Moving forward, I strongly ask that WoGD management follow the role models of their current and former employees.
- This industry is a supportive, friends-uplifting-friends space. It has no room for this sort of nonsense, nor should it.
- When Rascal asked Nielsen about all the allegations in their report he said
- “When [employees] leave they blame everything on whatever but the reality is I truly care about them and when they made mistakes I paid for them, when they underbid a contract I covered them… These are my people. I care about them. I love them dearly. I care about the industry more than I should. I really want people to get their stuff published. That’s my main goal.”
Hasbro conference call
https://www.enworld.org/threads/hasbro-hit-with-layoffs-wizards-of-the-coast-impacted.707539/page-2
- In a press release published on the 24th of October, Hasbro, owner of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, among other brands, reported a strong financial turnaround in the 3rd quarter of 2024. Net earnings of $223.2 million for the quarter reversed the significant loss of $171.1 million during the same period last year.
- While revenue declined by 15% due to the sale of the entertainment division eOne, Hasbro still reported an operating profit of $329 million which is at least in part due to the company’s layoffs of just under 100 employees, including people from the Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons teams, earlier this year.
- Chris Cocks, Hasbro’s CEO, meantime declared that growth in the gaming and licensing segments were the main reason for profitability. He said this:
- “Outperformance within our gaming and licensing businesses in the third quarter highlights the strength in two of our highest profit areas. Our key initiatives around digital, licensing and reinvigorating our product innovation are bearing fruit.”
- Gina Goetter, Hasbro’s Chief Financial Officer added:
- “We continue to execute our turnaround efforts and are poised to finish the year with improved profitability, cash flow and operational rigor.”
- Magic: The Gathering recorded a 3% revenue increase, largely due to the successful BloomBurrow and Duskmourn releases. Monopoly Go! also generated $30 million in quarterly revenue. At the same time, Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming revenue dipped 5%.
- The press release continues by saying that sales for Dungeons & Dragons products remain robust, with the 2024 Player’s Handbook outperforming expectations by 50%, marking it as Dungeons & Dragons’ fastest-selling item. D&D Beyond, the digital companion platform, now boasts 19 million registered users, with direct-to-consumer revenues being 60% of Dungeons & Dragons sales.
- Overall, Hasbro reported $630 million in year-to-date operating profits. However, concerns remain about how layoffs in the Dungeons & Dragons team, particularly the departure of critical team members, could impact the brand’s sustained growth.
FSC award
- The FSC is the Forest Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable management of the world’s forests. Products can be marked with FSC certification to show that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests
- The FSC gives out leadership awards every year to celebrate companies, organisations, and products that have made the move towards using sustainable wood.
- Many tabletop game companies have started using FSC certified products in their games. One such game is Life in Runterra, a release from Hasbro designed by Eric Lang which has won a leadership award for 2024.
- Hasbro said of the award that they were
- “very proud that a game inspired by ecological succession has become the first board game to win an FSC Leadership award”.
- The FSC said
- “These remarkable organizations are leading the charge from forest stewardship to final product, inspiring us all with their commitment to responsible forest management.
- “Their work sets a powerful example for sustainable practices across the entire supply chain, paving the way for a future where forests and the people who depend on them thrive for generations to come.
News
Commander Format Update
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-the-commander-format-panel
- Last episode, we covered the firestorm that had engulfed the community of the Commander format of Magic: The Gathering.
- The response by Wizard of the Coast was to bring control of the rules in-house to mitigate some of the abhorrent abuse the previous rules committee was receiving, prompting mass resignations from the volunteer-led group.
- On the 22nd of October, Magic designer Gavin Verhey announced the new 17-member Commander Format Panel (CFP). The list includes individuals from a diverse group of backgrounds throughout the Magic community
- According to Verhey’s blog post:
- “We want feedback from players in our community who are close to the format, are from all around the world, and who each have their own unique perspective. This isn’t running every set’s cards through them (though, on occasion, we may relay individual cards or mechanics for feedback), but it is discussing anything around the format we plan on doing or trying out.”
- Veryhey further says he expects the numbers to reduce after a short time due to his want to have “extra eyes and experience” during the transitionary period, but also all the panel members will be paid for their time.
- “Getting seventeen Commander players to agree on anything is a tall order, and these people are specifically chosen in part because they have diverse opinions. Ultimately, myself and other designers at Wizards are going to make the final calls, but I do expect that most of the time majority opinion on the panel will win out.”
Summit award finalists
- The Summit award is a historical board game focused prize that aims to recognise games that have brought new players to the hobby or introduced new subjects and perspectives.
- The award was created by the San Diego Historical Games Convention, an organisation which aims to create a diverse and supportive gaming community dedicated to playing, discussing, designing, and promoting historically-based board games.
- Four games are up for this year’s prize
- The British Way; Counterinsurgency at the End of the Empire, designed by Stephen Rangzas
- Halls of Hegra, designed by Petter Schanke
- Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution Civil War designed by Alex Knight
- We are COming Nineveh designed by Harrison Brewer, Rex Brynen, Juliette Le Neaheze, and Brian Train
- This is the third year of the Summit award with previous winners being Red Flag Over Paris in 2022 and Votes for Women in 2023.
- All the nominees will have been available for play at the convention that took place from the 8th – 11th of November and the winner will be announced by the end of the year.
- Discussion: Another one of those awards we admire that is trying to bring a positive change to their particular section of the tabletop games community.
Jobs, Opportunities, and Events
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs
Dragonmeet Attendance
30th November
Patreon Shoutouts
Kevin Bertram
James Naylor
Shaun Newan
game-a-lot.fun/en
facebook.com/gamealotboardgames
Our Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/thegiantbrain
Fanroll
https://fanrolldice.com/ref/2783
Outro
Food for Fought
- A selection of culinary curiosities for the end here. As we may have mentioned, 2024 is the 50th anniversary of DUngeons and Dragons, and we’re not finished yet with the tie in items.
- New Holland Brewing and Distilling is based in Michigan in the USA, and they have paired with Wizards of the Coast to release this month, both a D&D bourbon barrel-aged Stout, but also a D&D mead cask-aged bourbon whiskey.
- No prices as of yet, but they’ll be available from mid November. Have a look if you’re interested. (it’s a bourbon whiskey because bourbon needs to be at least 51% corn, distilled in the US and stored in an oak barrel, and a whiskey with an E because only scottish whisky is apparently allowed to have no E in it.) (I’m no drinks expert so please don’t take that as gospel)
- But that’s not all! What better to pair bourbon and beer with than MEAT.
- Mythical Meats, another American company, has paired with WOTC to bring out an Adventurer’s Rations set of meat sticks. There’s 12, one for each class
- LET IAIN AND OLIVER SUGGEST CLASSES AND I GIVE FLAVOURS.
- The whole pack is about $75 again have a look if yuo’re interested.
Our Links
Thanks very much for listening. If you like what you’ve listened to then the best way to help us out is to share the podcast and drop us a review and rating on itunes. You can also follow us on
Oliver: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/3bMx2HK75r
Blusky:https://bsky.app/profile/giantbrain.co.uk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giantbrainuk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegiantbrain
Website: https://giantbrain.co.uk/
Email: [email protected]
