WizKids no more?!!

[TheWake]

Announcement

The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines.

Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”

Upon notifying our partners, Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption. To that end, WizKids will continue supporting Buy it By the Brick redemptions for Arkham Asylum, and the December Organized Play events for HeroClix.

For consumer announcements, please refer to www.wizkidsgames.com over the coming days for further information.

Taken from:  http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914

I find it strange that there is no date, but I got the news from Catalyst Game Labs via the Classic BattleTech site as current on 11/10/08.

What will this mean for the games they currently produce?  Catalyst seems ok with the license for Shadowrun and CBT, but the clix line has got to be in question.  Had anyone thought this was coming? Or is it a surprise to all of us?

[Ed Evans]

I'm afraid it is all true.  And at least for the short term it means the end of HeroClix and all of the other WizKids products.  Now ATF will continue to host HeroClix events into the future.  People own the pieces and we'll make sure they can play with them 

Most players have already noticed we've been heavily suporting other miniatures games including Monsterpocalypse and the new World of Warcraft Minis, etc.  Beginning at the end of the month we'll have twice weekly events for both of these new games to make sure everyone has a chance to play no matter how busy their schedule might be!

So while the sudden nature of today's WizKids announcement was a bit of a surprise the intent has been clear for sometime now.

If anyone has any questions or concerns they should feel free to contact me directly either via e-mail or at the store.

Thanks,
-Ed

[LaughingMan]

You really shouldn't be too surprised by this.  It is standard corporate procedure -

First Topps pays $30M for Wizkids because, as the CEO says “The acquisition of WizKids represents an
important step in our strategy ..." 

A few years go by, Topps gets a new CEO and then "it is necessary to align our efforts more closely
with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings..."

Like I said standard procedure.  Don't you guys read Dilbert?

[TheWake]

You really shouldn't be too surprised by this.  It is standard corporate procedure -

First Topps pays $30M for Wizkids because, as the CEO says “The acquisition of WizKids represents an
important step in our strategy ..." 

A few years go by, Topps gets a new CEO and then "it is necessary to align our efforts more closely
with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings..."

Like I said standard procedure.  Don't you guys read Dilbert?

Usually it becomes a spin-off or is sold to another company.  Shutting down like this is not very pleasant, and can even hurt the parent.  I'm surprised that they were not sold off to some other big name game and toy company.

[LaughingMan]

Usually it becomes a spin-off or is sold to another company.  Shutting down like this is not very pleasant, and can even hurt the parent.  I'm surprised that they were not sold off to some other big name game and toy company.

You would think they are worth something, but this probably a bad time
to try and sell a company.

[TheWake]

I kept on thinking about this and perhaps this is just to get rid of the Wizkids name and overhead.  Then they can license/outsource the games while collecting (smaller) payments for less risk.

[GameCommodore]

This is actually an elegantly simple business model.  For almost no overhead, you can sit back and sue any entertainment company that uses the verb "to click" in the description of any toy, game, or amusing product.

[TheWake]

This is actually an elegantly simple business model.  For almost no overhead, you can sit back and sue any entertainment company that uses the verb "to click" in the description of any toy, game, or amusing product.

.... like a computer mouse ....