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WotC selling Magic on Amazon
dsgcw.blogspot.com/2018/09/another-shoe-drops-for-magic.html
Basically, not only will you be able to buy Magic at Amazon, but the price is basically undercutting every FLGS out there. $95 per box on Amazon when wholesale is around $80...that ain't good.
For well diversified stores, this will still hurt I bet. For stores that are basically surviving on Magic and Mtn Dew....uh oh.
Usually brands sell on Amazon at or close to close to MSRP. Not here. And margins were already tight as it is.
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- Cranberries
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- Sagrilarus
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- Erik Twice
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Ah, Wizards. Won't get rid of the reprint list but they do this.
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- GorillaGrody
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I've never been a player of Magic, but whenever I think about it as a business model one might propose at the outset, my brain melts slightly.
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- Sagrilarus
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And I question how elastic the tournament scene is. In the same announcement WOTC announced that they're pushing out new software for events, and it may be that they're looking to local game stores to charge players for tournament play, effectively moving the support of LGSs off of WOTC's books and onto individual players. Players may be ok with that, may be willing to pony up money for tournaments and Friday night sessions. If that's the case the LGS scene continues, serious players pay more money which they likely have and may be willing to part with.
I don't think we know half of what WOTC does and they may be making a very rational decision here. If not, they close the store and go back to business as usual. From there perspective a blip on the spreadsheet.
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- Erik Twice
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And, really, does Magic need to make more money? Is it really the big concern here? I think the long-term health of the game is a much, much more serious concern than a small increase of the margins in retail sales. Because this is not going to increase demand, it's just going to increase margins slighty.
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This could be a test they'll reel back after seeing the effects. But short term it's a nut punch to stores that have helped grow Magic to want it is today.
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- Sagrilarus
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Erik Twice wrote: The issue is that, ultimately, a card game that you can't play in public is a dead game. All those kitchen table players depend on the existence of a large support ecosystem. If the game was like a boardgame you played only with your friends, it would die in less than a year.
I'm not sure that's the case for Magic. There is a lot of casual play, and I don't think Wizards of the Coast is giving up on competition play. They're just giving up on MSRP sales at third party vendors being the primary delivery channel for cards.
Erik Twice wrote: And, really, does Magic need to make more money? Is it really the big concern here? I think the long-term health of the game is a much, much more serious concern than a small increase of the margins in retail sales. Because this is not going to increase demand, it's just going to increase margins slighty.
It's going to increase margins slightly, but it may increase sales dramatically. Selling direct at MSRP hobbles WOTC. Opening the opportunity to sell to hundreds of thousands of players directly may produce significantly more revenue. Don't know. Clearly WOTC thinks this is worth a shot or they wouldn't be doing it. My guess is they have more information than they're letting on.
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- ChristopherMD
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In addition, as suggested by some of the comments above, WoTC reaped the benefits of free capital investment which fostered the creation of Magic the Gathering player forums created by local game stores--these game stores footed the bill for WoTC. Moreover, WoTC benefited from countless unpaid volunteers who offered their free labor to support Magic the Gathering. This enabled WoTC to reap massive profits. Of course, all of this has evaporated somewhat when WoTC won a lawsuit against a Magic the Gathering judge who suddenly realized that he had worked for free for an evil corporation which made millions of dollars off of the game that he loved and his free labor--he claimed that his labor was exploited and that all Magic the Gathering judges were abused by WoTC. Magic the Gathering can no longer be sustained without the free lunches eaten by WoTC/Hasbro on the backs of local game stores and the volunteer labor base.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/real...the-gathering-judge/ www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20170825f02
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- Colorcrayons
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Consumers have had diminished card quality to contend with. Not just slightly notable decrease either, but rather significant. Instead of burning subpar stock, WotC release it anyways.
Gone are the days of fine cardboard rectangle crack.
Then you have the old guard feeling slighted by lots of reprints of cards outside of the reserved list, causing secondary market to be tenuous.
Then you have increased pricing of their products.
Their most recent set is direct only, meaning you have to buy direct from WotC for $250 per box for the ravnica set, that many aren't happy with anyways.
Now we have the undercut of the local middleman that supports the game.
I have been both the kitchen table gamer and also nearing professional level with magic, as well as a level 1 judge for a time.
There is merit in thinking the majority of players are casual kitchen table players. But that environment is reinforced by the hardcore players who participate in tourneys.
Killing the lgs sales is one step in the wrong direction that could put yet another dent in the consumers confidence of WotC. Because that confidence plays a major role in sales as well. If there was no confidence, every collection would be worthless.
They do a lot of experimenting, but if you pass off the lgs's enough, then your hubris comes before the fall.
WotC is not too big too fail.
Bean counters are not always right. The last fifteen years of GW are proof of that in the gaming world.
Their hubris of "The Porsche of miniature gaming" nearly destroyed them.
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