Is Paizo going to GenCon 2020?

[Beverly Trafton]

GenCon is being very tight lipped about whether they will either a) go ahead with b) delay or c) cancel the convention scheduled for July 30 - Aug 2. They just announced that event signups are now delayed. Many people are speculating that the events are not being posted due to a large number of event hosts are pulling out.

Just wondering what Paizo's plans were?

[Gorbacz]

If I were a company like Paizo, I would hold off any decisions (and spending money) until the con makes up their mind, and even if they did, I'd seriously reconsider attending an event of 50k personal hygiene-challenged nerds with a murderous pandemic swirling around.

Then again, apparently you lot in the United States are feeling suicidial this season.

[Beverly Trafton]

To be fair only around 42% of us are feeling suicidal these days. The rest of us would like to do the smart thing and stay healthy and safe.

[Rysky]

I would too.

Unfortunately I live in a state that opened early -_-

[Skeld]

If there's one thing the pandemic has excelled at, it's getting one half of the population to call the half of the population idiots for one reason or another (just depends on which half you "belong" to).

It's disheartening to see that continue here.

-Skeld

[Rysky]

I have to regularly deal with people as part of my job. Most of which are treating this pandemic as a hoax and who are not following even basic hygiene and safety procedures.

*shrugs*

[Beverly Trafton]

I guess I'd like to draw the contrast between PaizoCon and GenCon. Paizo made a swift and decisive move to cancel their convention and then spends 100s of hours organizing an online version for which they will receive little monetary benefit (major props and love, though). GenCon seems to be ready to pass out the Clorox inhalers in order to keep their convention on track. I'm wondering if there has been any financial and/or legal pressure put upon GenCon's major partners such as Paizo to toe the line?

[thejeff]

Kevin Trafton wrote:

I guess I'd like to draw the contrast between PaizoCon and GenCon. Paizo made a swift and decisive move to cancel their convention and then spends 100s of hours organizing an online version for which they will receive little monetary benefit (major props and love, though). GenCon seems to be ready to pass out the Clorox inhalers in order to keep their convention on track. I'm wondering if there has been any financial and/or legal pressure put upon GenCon's major partners such as Paizo to toe the line?

PaizoCon is much earlier and it was clear early on that late May wasn't going to be safe. It's less clear what the end of July is going to look like - though my Magic 8-Ball isn't hopeful.

Also, we're actually farther out now from GenCon than we were from PaizoCon when it was cancelled, so there's time for them to act.

[captain yesterday]

I'm confident Paizo will make the best decision for themselves and their fans when the time comes for them to decide.

In the meantime, I'm not going to pressure them one way or the other, they have enough to deal with right now.

[Justin Franklin]

It is really simple GenCon can’t cancel until the state of Indiana or the city of Indianapolis basically say they can’t have the convention. Otherwise they can’t make an insurance claim. So GenCon is waiting for and will continue to wait for that to happen. The fact that they delayed event registration shows they aren’t expecting it to happen, but that have to wait for the cancellation to be forced.

[Gorbacz]

Justin Franklin wrote:

It is really simple GenCon can’t cancel until the state of Indiana or the city of Indianapolis basically say they can’t have the convention. Otherwise they can’t make an insurance claim. So GenCon is waiting for and will continue to wait for that to happen. The fact that they delayed event registration shows they aren’t expecting it to happen, but that have to wait for the cancellation to be forced.

Hell is indeed other people.

[Kelseus]

Also another thing to keep in mind is that Paizo makes their money selling books. PaizoCon is just a marketing event.

GenCon makes their money running a Con, so to cancel would be to give up a full year's worth of revenue. Might make them more likely to wait to pull the plug on their whole business.

[Beverly Trafton]

Kelseus wrote:

Also another thing to keep in mind is that Paizo makes their money selling books. PaizoCon is just a marketing event.

GenCon makes their money running a Con, so to cancel would be to give up a full year's worth of revenue. Might make them more likely to wait to pull the plug on their whole business.

I was under the impression that GenCon was owned by Wizards of the Coast. Maybe I'm wrong?

[Gorbacz]

Kevin Trafton wrote:

Kelseus wrote:

Also another thing to keep in mind is that Paizo makes their money selling books. PaizoCon is just a marketing event.

GenCon makes their money running a Con, so to cancel would be to give up a full year's worth of revenue. Might make them more likely to wait to pull the plug on their whole business.

I was under the impression that GenCon was owned by Wizards of the Coast. Maybe I'm wrong?

You are. GenCon is a separate company.

[rknop]

The real question about July is: will the uptick in corona virus cases and deaths that is going to result from too many states and cities opening up right now going to have made it into the statistics in time for people to realize that we're still in a lot of trouble?

(Unless there really is something about this virus that makes it go inactive in warm summer months, in which case the fall is really going to suck. However, given that at least some countries in the Southern Hemisphere have seen COVID cases, I doubt the summer will really suppress it all by itself.)

[thejeff]

rknop wrote:

The real question about July is: will the uptick in corona virus cases and deaths that is going to result from too many states and cities opening up right now going to have made it into the statistics in time for people to realize that we're still in a lot of trouble?

(Unless there really is something about this virus that makes it go inactive in warm summer months, in which case the fall is really going to suck. However, given that at least some countries in the Southern Hemisphere have seen COVID cases, I doubt the summer will really suppress it all by itself.)

Hard for me to see how it won't. A lot of the places talking about opening up are already not looking so good, if you actually dig into the data. Total numbers are low relative to NY, but that's misleading.

If we open up now, that's nearly 3 months before Gencon - which is plenty of time for the numbers to spike. For perspective, 3 months ago, we hadn't spotted any community spread in the US.

[Beverly Trafton]

Gorbacz wrote:

Kevin Trafton wrote:

Kelseus wrote:

Also another thing to keep in mind is that Paizo makes their money selling books. PaizoCon is just a marketing event.

GenCon makes their money running a Con, so to cancel would be to give up a full year's worth of revenue. Might make them more likely to wait to pull the plug on their whole business.

I was under the impression that GenCon was owned by Wizards of the Coast. Maybe I'm wrong?

You are. GenCon is a separate company.

Ah, I just looked it up. Peter Adkison, founder and former CEO of Wizards of the Coast, is the owner of Gen Con, LLC.

So yeah, a separate company with very very close ties to Wizards of the Coast.

[Jeff Alvarez]

I wanted to pop in here and let you all know that Paizo's participation and attendance is an ongoing topic for our executive team and we will post when we make a decision with regard to the show.

I know from our experience deciding what to do with our little PaizoCon that there are massive contractual obligations and timing issues that are at play here, not to mention this show is Gen Con's main revenue stream. So please do not for a second think that deciding what to do with a show this big is an easy thing.

Gen Con brings in over $70M in business for the city of Indy and for comparison, that's more business than all the Colts home games generate, so having or canceling this show will have huge ramifications for both Gen Con, as well as the restaurants and hotels in DT Indy. Please allow them the time they need to weigh the pros and cons with regard to the show. I can guarantee that they'll post publicly as soon as they've made a decision on the 2020 show.

[Beverly Trafton]

Thanks for the update, Jeff!

I have full confidence in the Paizo team to do what is best for themselves AND their customers. I personally have a lot less confidence that Gen Con will do what is right for their customers but I can appreciate that theirs is a complex situation and I can take a deep breath while things develop and decisions are made.

[pickleboot]

Thanks Jeff!

[Aricks]

FYI for anyone reading this, Gencon 2020 is officially not happening. There's an online version but the convention in Indy is cancelled.

[Kelseus]

It's for the best. As hard as it will be for GenCon, Indy and particularly all the small vendors, you just can't take that risk. Even if they did go forward I would expect a less than 50% turn out anyways, plus all the vendors who pull out or the big floor booths staying away.