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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Renton, Washington, USA |
| Key people | Peter Adkison: Founder, ex-Chairman and ex-CEO |
| Industry | Collectible card game, RPG & other assorted media. |
| Parent | Hasbro |
| Website | http://www.wizards.com/ |
Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes.
Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, Inc., and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Today the company publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. Wizards has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999.
Contents |
History
Wizards of the Coast was founded by Peter Adkison in 1990 just outside Seattle, Washington, and its headquarters is still in nearby Renton.1 Originally the company only published role-playing games such as the third edition of Talislanta and its own The Primal Order. The 1992 release of The Primal Order, a supplement designed for use with any game system,2 brought legal trouble with Palladium Books suing for references to Palladium's game and system.3 The suit was settled in 1993 by Wizards paying an undisclosed sum to Palladium and agreeing not to mention Palladium's products again.4
In 1990, Richard Garfield approached Wizards of the Coast with the idea for a new board game called RoboRally, but was turned down because the game would have been too expensive for Wizards of the Coast to produce.5 Instead, Adkison asked Garfield if he could invent a game that was both portable and quick-playing, to which Garfield agreed.5
Adkison set up a new corporation, Garfield Games, to develop Richard Garfield's collectible card game concept, originally called Manaclash, into Magic: The Gathering. This kept the game sheltered from the legal battle with Palladium, and Garfield Games then licensed the production and sale rights to Wizards until the court case was settled, at which point the shell company was shut down. Wizards debuted Magic in July 1993 at the Origins Game Fair in Dallas.3 The game proved extremely popular at Gen Con in August 1993, selling out of its supply of 2.5 million cards, which had been scheduled to last until the end of the year, at Gen Con.5 The success of Magic generated revenue that carried the company out from the handful of employees in 1993 working out of Peter's original basement headquarters into 250 employees in its own offices in 1995.4 In 1994, Magic won both the Mensa Top Five mind games award6 and the Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board game of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board game of 1993.7 Magic's release has been called "Probably the most dramatic event in RPG history since the 1974 release of D&D",2 because by 1994 "A mad rush was on to create 'the next Magic.' RPG design came to a standstill at many companies as they scrambled to create a CCG of their own".2
In 1994, Wizards began an association with The Beanstalk Group, a brand licensing agency and consultancy, to license the Magic brand.8 With the success of Magic, Wizards published RoboRally in 1994; Garfield had originally completed the game in 1985, and Wizards agreed that it would publish the game after Magic, when the company had more money.9 RoboRally won the 1994 Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game.10 Wizards also expanded its role-playing game line by buying SLA Industries from Nightfall Games and Ars Magica from White Wolf, Inc. in 1994.4 In 1995, Wizards published another card game by Richard Garfield, The Great Dalmuti,11 which won the 1995 Best New Mind Game award from Mensa.10 In August 1995, Wizards released Everway and then four months later closed its roleplaying game product line, with Peter Adkison explaining that the company was doing a disservice to the games with lack of support and had lost money on all of Wizards' roleplaying game products.48
Aquiring TSR and Pokémon
Wizards announced the purchase of TSR, Inc., the cash-strapped makers of Dungeons & Dragons on April 10, 1997.4 Many of the creative and professional staff of TSR relocated from Wisconsin to the Renton area. Wizards used TSR as a brand name for a while, then retired it. Wizards of the Coast allowed the TSR trademarks to expire. Between 1997 and 1999, the company spun off several well-loved but poorly-selling campaign settings (most notably Planescape, Dark Sun and Spelljammer) to fan groups, focusing business primarily on the profitable Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms lines.12
On August 2, 1997, Wizards of the Coast was granted U.S. Patent 5,662,332 on collectible card games.4 In January 1999, Wizards of the Coast began publishing the highly successful Pokémon Trading Card Game.8 The game proved to be very popular, selling nearly 400,000 copies in less than six weeks, and selling 10 times better than Wizards' initial projections.13 There was such a high demand for Pokémon cards that some sports card series were discontinued in 1999 because most every printer was producing Pokémon card.5 The game won the 1999 National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval.10
Within a year, Wizards had sold millions of copies of the Pokémon game, and the company released a new set that included an instructional CD-ROM.14 Wizards continued to publish the game until 2003. One of Nintendo's affiliates had begun producing a new edition for the game before the last of its agreements with Wizards expired September 30th, and Wizards filed suit against Nintendo the following day, October 1st, 2003.15 The two companies resolved their differences in December 2003 without going to court.16
Sold to Hasbro
Seeing the continued success of Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering,5 the game and toy giant Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast in September 1999, for about $325 million.17 Hasbro had expressed interest in purchasing Wizards of the Coast as early as 1994, but had become impressed with the success of its Pokémon game.4 Adkison took advantage of the opportunity, stating that selling the company was the right business decision for its investors, "Pokemon was so hot and our revenues were so high that I knew I’d never get that sort of opportunity again."18 In late 1999, Avalon Hill, which had been purchased by Hasbro in the summer of 1998, was made a division of Wizards of the Coast.19 In June 2002, the computer game Magic: The Gathering Online went "live".20
Adkison personally led the team to redesign Dungeons & Dragons for 6 months, before Jonathan Tweet became lead designer.18 Wizards released the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons in 2000, as well as the d20 System. With these releases came the Open Game License, which allowed other companies to make use of those systems.4 The new edition of the D&D game won the 2000 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game.10 In 2002, Wizards sponsored a design contest which allowed designers to submit their campaign worlds to Wizards, to produce an entirely original campaign world; Wizards selected "Eberron", submitted by Keith Baker, and its first hardcover book was released in June 2004. In 2003 Wizards released version 3.5 of the Dungeons & Dragons (and thus d20) system.4 Wizards helped to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the D&D game at Gen Con Indy 2004.21
Vince Caluori became President of Wizards of the Coast in November 1999.22 As of January 1st, 2001, Peter Adkison resigned from Wizards.4 Chuck Huebner became President and CEO of Wizards of the Coast in June 2002, and Loren Greenwood succeeded Huebner in these positions in April 2004.23 Greg Leeds succeeded Loren Greenwood as President and CEO of Wizards of the Coast in March 2008.24 As of 2008, the company employs over 300 people.1
Hasbro sold Origins to GAMA,4 and in May 2002 sold Gen Con to Peter Adkison.25 Wizards also outsourced its magazines by licensing Dungeon, Dragon, Polyhedron, and Amazing Stories to Paizo Publishing.4 Wizards released the Dungeons & Dragons miniatures collectible pre-painted plastic miniatures games in 2003, and added a licensed Star Wars line in 2004, and an Axis & Allies World War II miniatures game in 2005. Wizards of the Coast's book publishing division has produced hundreds of titles that have sold millions of copies in over 16 languages.1
Wizards of the Coast also ran a chain of 85 gaming retail stores which were started after Wizards' great success in 1999 with the Pokémon card game,5 run under the names "The Game Keeper" and "Wizards of the Coast",4 including the company's flagship gaming center on the Ave in Seattle for several years, and its retail stores, which were mostly in shopping malls in the US. The gaming center was closed by March of 20013 and eventually Wizards announced in December 2003 that it would close all stores in order to concentrate on game design. The stores were closed in the spring of 2004.4
Changes and controversy
In early 2006, Wizards of the Coast filed a lawsuit against Daron Rutter, then administrator of the MTGSalvation website.26 The lawsuit accused Rutter of engaging in copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, trade secret violation, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract. The charges stemmed from Rutter publicly posting confidential prototypes for upcoming Magic: The Gathering card sets to the MTGSalvation forums. Wizards of the Coast attempted to obtain summary judgment.27 The case was settled out of court, and the terms of the settlement have been sealed.28
Wizards of the Coast announced a patent on "Constructible Strategy Games" on May 22, 2007,29 to which the company WizKids filed a June 2007 lawsuit in response. In June 2008, WizKids Inc. and Wizards of the Coast jointly announced that they reached a settlement of the claims and counterclaims in the WizKids vs. Wizards of the Coast lawsuit. As part of the settlement, Wizards granted WizKids a license for the Pirates PocketModel Game.30
Paizo Publishing's license to produce Dragon and Dungeon magazines, which Paizo had been publishing since it spun off from Wizards of the Coast's periodicals department in 2002, expired in September 2007. Wizards then moved the magazines to an online model.31 On June 6th, 2008, Wizards announced the release of the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with the retail availability of a new set of core rulebooks. Wizards began introducing 4th Edition online content in Dragon and Dungeon magazines. 4th Edition is designed to offer more streamlined game play, while the new rules framework intended to reduce the preparation time needed to run a game and make the game more accessible to new players.32
In 2008 Wizards of the Coast, as successor to TSR, was named as a co-creator of Neverwinter Nights when the game was honored (along with Everquest and World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.33
Games and products
- Further information: List of Wizards of the Coast products
References
- ^ a b c "About Wizards" (HTML). Wizards of the Coast, Inc (2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ a b c Fannon, Sean Patrick. The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible 2nd Edition (Obsidian Studios, 1999).
- ^ a b c Tynes, John (2001-03-23). "Death to the Minotaur: Part 1" (HTML). Salon Media Group, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Appelcline, Shannon (2006-08-03). "Wizards of the Coast: 1990–Present" (HTML). A Brief History of Game. RPGnet. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
- ^ a b c d e f Tinsman, Brian. The Game Inventor's Guidebook (Krause Publications, 2002).
- ^ "American Mensa mind games past winners".
- ^ "Origins Award Winners (1993)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
- ^ a b c Tynes, John (2001-03-23). "Death to the Minotaur: Part 2" (HTML). Salon Media Group, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
- ^ Vasel, Tom (2005-06-19). "Interviews by an Optimist # 49 - Richard Garfield".
- ^ a b c d "Wizards Awards". Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ Jake de Oude (26/05/01). "The Great Dalmuti".
- ^ "Magic & Memories: The Complete History of Dungeons & Dragons - Part IV" (Aug. 18, 2004). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ "Pokemon Trading Card Game a Monster Success; Stores Selling Out of Product within Hours of Restocking on Shelves" (Feb 3, 1999).
- ^ "Pokemon Trading Card Game Phenomenon Celebrates One-year Anniversary With Release of Base Set 2; Base Set 2 Makes Learning the Game Easier with Instructional CD-ROM" (March 8, 2000).
- ^ Eric Engleman (October 10, 2003). "A suit of cards: Wizards of the Coast sues Nintendo over Pokemon game".
- ^ "Pokemon USA, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Resolve Dispute" (Dec. 29, 2003).
- ^ "Hasbro last Thursday announced its intention to buy Wizards of the Coast, which sells Pokémon trading cards, for about $325 million. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of this month." "Hasbro Buys Pokémon Cards". Phillips Publishing International, Inc. (1999-09-15). Archived from the original on 2008-06-13. Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ a b White, Damon (2002-03-24). "Interview with Peter Adkison". GamingReport.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-25. Retrieved on 2007-06-21.
- ^ "A (Very) Brief History of Avalon Hill" (HTML). CaptainPrimate.com (2008-9-21). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ ""Wizards Press Release"" (HTML). The Gamer's Temple (2002-06-24). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ "Celebrate At Gen Con Indy As Dungeons & Dragons Turns 30" (May 24, 2004). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ "Vince Caluori promoted to president of WoTC" (HTML). Fantasy and Science Fiction News (1999-11-17). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ "Loren Greenwood Named New WotC President" (HTML). ICv2.com (2004-04-21). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ "Greg Leeds Joins as New Head of Wizards of the Coast" (HTML). Wizards of the Coast, Inc (2008-03-13). Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
- ^ Bub, Andrew S. (2003-07-26). "Interview with Peter Adkison". GameSpy.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-21. Archive page 1 (2008-08-25) Archive page 2 (2008-08-25)
- ^ "Wizards Of The Coast Takes Legal Action" (HTML). Wizards of the Coast, Inc (2006-01-19). Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
- ^ Rutter, Daron (2006-02-18). "Wizards of the Coast vs. Daron Rutter: An Update" (HTML). MTGSalvation.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
- ^ Rutter, Daron (2006-04-06). "Wizards vs. rancored_elf: the Resolution" (HTML). MTGSalvation.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
- ^ "Wizards of the Coast Awarded Patent for Constructible Strategy Game" (May 22, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ "WotC, WizKids Settle Lawsuit" (06/26/2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ "Paizo Publishing to Cease Publication of Dragon and Dungeon" (April 19, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ "Dungeons & Dragons® 4th Edition Rulebooks Now Available" (June 6, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-08.
- ^ 2008 Tech Emmy Winners from Kotaku.com
External links
- Wizards of the Coast's official site
- Publication list on Pen & Paper
- Wizards of the Coast at BoardGameGeek
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- This page was last modified on 3 December 2008, at 08:29.
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