WIZARDS OF THE COAST ACQUIRES FIVE RINGS PUBLISHING GROUP INC.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST ACQUIRES FIVE RINGS PUBLISHING GROUP INC. June 26, 1997 (Renton, Wash.)--Wizards of the Coast Inc. today announced that it has completed an greement to acquire the Bellevue, WA-based Five Rings Publishing Group Inc. Both companies are privately held and financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Five Rings Publishing Group, founded in 1996, is the creator and publisher of the Legend of the Five RingsTM trading card game and the producer of the Star Trek®: The Next GenerationTM collectable dice game. It is also the publisher of the soon-to-be-released Dune®: Eye of the StormTM trading card game. [clipped the rest of it.] L5R gained a superb reputation because of its careful and thoughtful design. They've even been able to brag about L5R's lack of broken or banned cards. Frankly, this really hurts L5R and CCGs in general. Even if they somehow manage to keep the L5R untainted by some of the traps WotC has fallen into with VTES and Magic (rarity=power, trump cards, and "only got time for Magic") it still takes away another one of WotC's rivals. The lack of competition will really hurt. Even though TSR only made Spellfire and Blood Wars, they still had the resources to put together a great game. Eventually they may have. FRPG actually makes a higher quality product than WotC. Maybe L5R would have continued to grow and cause WotC to increase the quality of their products. Now we'll never know. I wonder if Decipher is targeted next? I wonder if someone from Microsoft is heading up the acquisitions department (we have seen this before)? WotC certainly has the resources to buy every CCG company out there and can even take games like L5R to heights that it would likely never reach under the FRPG umbrella. They have the ability. Let's just hope for the best and hope that our favorite little game doesn't get wasted in the process. -Robert ...................................................................... :The opinions expressed here are strictly my own delusional ramblings: :and do not reflect the opinions of The Walt Disney Company. : : : :Robert Goudie robert...@studio.disney.com: :LA Tourny Info -> http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~ezix/other/rg/vtourn_1.html: :....................................................................: :Da pony run, he jump he pitch. He t'row my master in da ditch. : :He died and da jury wondered why. Da verdict was the blue tail fly.: :....................................................................:

Robert Goudie <robert...@studio.disney.com> wrote: [ quoted text not captured ] Ever the eternal optimist, my first thought (and greatest hope) is that WotC will use this new aquisition to address their other product lines, (V:tES especially), as they have always maintained that it was a business decision to put more effort into M:t$$ (higher profitability, etc. etc.). An alternative development ground for smaller product lines would be the perfect home for everything but Magic: the Cash Cow. These aquisitions are pretty wise on WotC's part, as they are setting themselves up for a fall by the wholesale backing of a single product line, as (for the most part) they've been doing to date. I'd expect a switch in responsibilities for L5R and V:tES to different cos., as L5R seems to be in a fairly rapid state of growth that WotC could greatly augment. V:tES could go into a "niche" type development/production mode under a smaller company. I must echo Robert's concerns though that this will be a detriment to CCG's as a whole, due to the reduced competition. I'd also warn against the possibility that all the products will start to look the same(eg. Magic knockoffs in different genres). If WotC leaves their new aquisitions mostly alone, they will hopefully spawn new business, and revive old. I've seen heavy management hands ruin new aq's in a very short time....Best of luck to WotC, and us. Regards, R. David Zopf guenh...@mindspring.com Guenhwyvar->Guenivere->Genevive->Jennifer...got it??

Richard D. Zopf wrote: > > Ever the eternal optimist, my first thought (and greatest hope) is > that WotC will use this new aquisition to address their other product > lines, (V:tES especially), as they have always maintained that it was > a business decision to put more effort into M:t$$ (higher > profitability, etc. etc.). I must say that I think the chances for a positive outcome like this are buttocks-all. > I must echo Robert's concerns though that this will be a detriment to > CCG's as a whole, due to the reduced competition. I'd also warn > against the possibility that all the products will start to look the > same(eg. Magic knockoffs in different genres). If WotC leaves their > new aquisitions mostly alone, they will hopefully spawn new business, > and revive old. I've seen heavy management hands ruin new aq's in a > very short time....Best of luck to WotC, and us. This is more like it. I imagine that only subjects of Henry V could say that a monopoly ever produced good results, and that didnt last long. I have an entire set of L5R (yes Im a psycho) although I no longer play because I became tired of the slight personality-contest edge to the play. (a kick-arse deck would be killed by the other players) I think that Jyhad still has the edge in terms of its multi-player structure. However, the L5R cards _are_ beautiful. And the story is good too. I just cant see a WotC takeover as a good thing. No point, :) James B.

James B. Floate wrote: > Richard D. Zopf wrote: > > I must echo Robert's concerns ... If WotC leaves their > > new aquisitions mostly alone, they will hopefully spawn new business, > > and revive old. I've seen heavy management hands ruin new aq's in a > > very short time....Best of luck to WotC, and us. > [...] > However, the L5R cards _are_ beautiful. And the story is good too. I > just cant see a WotC takeover as a good thing. Just a few points of interest (passed along to me, and now to you): * FRPG is being left largely alone for the remainder of the year. WotC will be helping them with some functions where WotC can reduce FRPG's costs without interferring in FRPG's operations too heavily. FRPG is not being integrated (and will continue with its own production schedule) until at least the end of the year. * WotC is retaining the former owner of FRPG as a consultant. The message: WotC understands that the FRPG people are a talented, successful bunch and is going to let them continue to do their work as they've planned for quite some time. -- L. Scott Johnson (vte...@regency.wizards.com) Official VtES Net.Rep for Wizards of the Coast. (*) - Subject to review by Rules Team

I attended the Chicago ComiCon over the 4th of July weekend and talked with one of the V:TES artists at the WOTC booth. She told me about the aquiring of 5 Rings publishing and said that plans are in the works to bring that company into the promotion of the V:TES CCG. This is based on the wonderful track record of that company's promotion team which is currently in place. Sounded like good news to me.. I also suggested that they release another V:TES promo card (A Giovanni would be nice I thought), but they pretty much said it's not an option currently. Guess there was a lot of griping over the previous distribution of their promo card stock. _ Bernieb

> aquiring of 5 Rings publishing and said that plans are in the works to > bring that company into the promotion of the V:TES CCG. This is based > on the wonderful track record of that company's promotion team which is > currently in place. Sounds like great news! I'd buy Jyhad for the rest of my life. > I also suggested that they release another V:TES promo card (A Giovanni > would be nice I thought), but they pretty much said it's not an option > currently. Guess there was a lot of griping over the previous > distribution of their promo card stock. You're kidding?? I thought they did a great job! All you had to do was write in, no questions asked, and get them. Or buy one of the their (enjoyable) books and send the back in. (anyone need extra books?) I can imagine, however, that without internet connection, I may never have found out about the ...(uh..) the Toreador one... rader