Asmodee North America announced on Twitter today that they will not be going to Gen Con this year, opting instead for supporting their virtual convention. They are the second major publisher this week to drop out of the convention, with Paizo announcing earlier this week they were also out. These large companies join a growing list of publishers opting out of the convention this year that includes Lucky Duck Games, IELLO, Petersen Games, Goodman Games, Kingdom Death, and many others.
Asmodee has one of the (if not the) biggest presence in the dealer hall, with a massive set of booths for both sales and demos. They also own Fantasy Flight Games, which is usually one of the biggest draws of the convention with their “In-Flight Report”, new releases, and large demo area.
With Gen Con badge registration only 2 days away, I’m curious at what point Gen Con will just wave the white flag and cancel this year’s event. They are already up against Pandemic-related travel and supply issues, a new date the overlaps both the Yom Kippur and the start of the school season, and also an Indianapolis Colts game happening the same weekend. Things are definitely not looking good for the biggest board game convention in North America this year.
Hoping they stay on, as they should. GAMA 2020 had the same drop-rate, and it turned into one of the best shows of the last 5 years. No white flags. No white flags.
Are you hoping Asmodee stays on or Gen Con? I wouldn’t mind if some of the bigger fish weren’t here for this one year so smaller fish can get some better spotlights for once.
You got your wish. They had 48 (I think) first time vendors, MANY of whom had interesting and/or innovative offerings – I think I spent more time in that area than anywhere else!
Note that GenCon was a bit obnoxious in their unwillingness to commit to allowing these vendors back. They basically said “I dunno, we’ll see. Maybe you guys can come back next year”. So they’re going to cater to the groups that DIDN’T show up instead of the ones that actually made it a success this year (and in my opinion, it was DEFINITELY a success!). I know they have to give favor to the most sought after companies, but I feel like they should do something to allow new companies to be there, and perhaps allow their return based on their success the first year (this would obviously need to be codified in some way to keep things fair and remove the concerns of personal favoritism, but SOMETHING could be worked out better than “I dunno, we’ll see”).
They postponed it till Sept.