This will be
our third installment on Hasbro, and we will take a look at Wizards of the
Coast. This is where some of my recent
posts come together, since Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is the publisher of both
Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon.
These games are arguably the
most successful of all collectible card games (CCGs), which we discussed last
week.
WotC found
its first real success with Magic: The
Gathering. This allowed the company
to expand the number of employees and office space, and allowed the financing
of additional projects including RoboRally
and The Great Dalmuti, both of which
are well known and well loved games. In
1997, WotC acquired TSR, the publishers of Dungeons
& Dragons, the granddaddy of all role-playing games. A couple years later, in 1999, the company
produce Pokémon, which sold 400,000
copies in six weeks! With such success,
WotC started showing up on Hasbro’s acquisition radar, resulting in Hasbro
purchasing the company later that year.
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Technically,
Avalon Hill falls under WotC in the Hasbro hierarchy, so all of the Avalon Hill
games are also WotC games. Setting that
aside for the moment, WotC games have a tendency to feature fantasy and sci-fi
themes. The exceptions to this rule are
the games developed while still an independent company, such as The Great Dalmuti and Guillotine. (RoboRally
is under the Avalon Hill brand.) Having
the patent on CCGs allowed them to develop more of those games, but none were
nearly as popular or long-lived. Both Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons are still strong
product lines. New developments tend to be
tied to those products, including the highly acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons board games, which attempt to capture the
role-playing game feel in a board game setting.
As for
myself, I have not played very many WotC games, and only currently own
one: Star
Wars: Trading Card Game. I haven’t
played it. We bought it after the second
movie trilogy came out. At that time, I
had not started playing games again, and several copies of the game were
purchased in mass market outlets as birthday gifts. One of them ended up in my collection.
Since all of
the recently developed games are receiving a huge amount of acclaim, I would
say that WotC is doing a great job publishing great games. Are they family games? Right now, I would say let the outlet be your
guide. Games such as Heroscape were found in mass market
outlets, and would work well in a family or casual setting. If the game is only found in hobby game
stores, it is probably more complex than most families would find fun.
How does all
of this fit together? Well, first of all
let me make clear that I haven’t talked to anyone at Hasbro or its
subsidiaries, so this is just speculation.
It would appear that the Hasbro brand is for those games marketed as “family”
or “children’s” games, WotC tends to publish specific product lines, with Avalon
Hill picking up the rest of the hobby game market. As a result, Avalon Hill games are probably
not family or casual games (with the glaring exception of Acquire). WotC labeled games
will be good, and may or may not be family games. Hasbro games will be family games, but may or
may not be good. Sorry I can’t be more
help!
In the end,
it’s going to require some research, including playing someone else’s copy of a
game if possible. In the end, that’s
always the best research. If you want me
to look at a specific game, I am always will to serve as your guide. Just let me know!
It’s
Your Move!
Related Posts:
- Down the Rabbit Hole
- Publisher Profile: Hasbro Part II – Avalon Hill
- Publisher Profile: Hasbro, Part I -- Mass Market Brands
- More Economic Game for Your Money: Acquire
Links:
