So for those who don't know Wizards Keep Games was a really popular LGS for Wizards of the Coast employees especially on Tuesday nights for EDH / Commander. This was the shop Sheldon Menery played at, when he was in Seattle for his project with Wizards of the Coast. The sudden news of this closure will certainly impact Wizards of the Coast employees since they live right next door though probably not the employees that made decisions like Secret Lair.
The owner of Wizards Keep Games firmly believes that the Secret Lair distribution model is final proof that Wizards of the Coast is in the process of cutting the Local Game Store (LGS) out of the loop entirely, and has decided to sell up before his business goes bust as a result. The problem is that players want the best prices and don't care about what goes into the LGS. Running a Local Game Store is a labor of love.
If the LGS disappears then it will negatively affect the players. Kitchen Table will still be a thing but meeting new players will become increasingly difficult without getting in trouble with someone's parents. People will use the excuse of "There's no real point of going to an LGS for most adults looking to play Magic" when that isn't true at all. Magic isn't just for adults it's for people of all ages (well almost since they'd be better off starting with the Pokémon TCG).
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
An LGS is basically a franchise to sell MTG and Yugioh product since both Konami and WOTC require you to have one to sell their products. Thats all that it is. From a business perspective, its a complete ripoff since the rent and overhead to keep the doors open cant compensate for the profit these games bring in. There are also a bunch of rules that wotc and konami have in order to get the wpn and yugioh tournament products. Its about as bad as opening most fast food corporate chains.
If LGS disappears nothing will change. People will still have magic groups at libraries, colleges or go to big organized play events or just play with their friends. The LGS is already a failed business idea thanks to the death of retail and amazon. Wotc needs to forget about brick and mortar if they want to expand since thats so 1990s. Pokemon and every other tcg doesnt require brick and mortar and they do just fine. Its an extremely outdated business model and wotx is still stuck in the past.
Wizards Keep Games did eventually find a new owner to keep the business going as reported on their official Facebook page. I see the LGS as being more than just a franchise to sell MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh! products when it's about providing a place for people to play with these products. I just don't see a viable alternative that can continue to help sustain this gaming model without the LGS when it's increasingly difficult to advertise and market it the same way as your traditional board games with Monopoly, Scrabble, and anything made by Milton Bradley. Moving toward a digital space isn't the answer either.
I get why Konami and WotC aren't obligated to support the LGS when it's themselves who are losing money on card singles and sealed product that helps sustain the LGS. If the LGS doesn't want to diversify their customer base and product offerings in order to stay in business that's on them. The problem is what can these companies do to help support the LGS that hasn't already been done before? Perhaps they need to go back to what has helped foster their relationship more by learning from their past mistakes. Instead they only see dollar signs instead of the importance of community.
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"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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So for those who don't know Wizards Keep Games was a really popular LGS for Wizards of the Coast employees especially on Tuesday nights for EDH / Commander. This was the shop Sheldon Menery played at, when he was in Seattle for his project with Wizards of the Coast. The sudden news of this closure will certainly impact Wizards of the Coast employees since they live right next door though probably not the employees that made decisions like Secret Lair.
The owner of Wizards Keep Games firmly believes that the Secret Lair distribution model is final proof that Wizards of the Coast is in the process of cutting the Local Game Store (LGS) out of the loop entirely, and has decided to sell up before his business goes bust as a result. The problem is that players want the best prices and don't care about what goes into the LGS. Running a Local Game Store is a labor of love.
If the LGS disappears then it will negatively affect the players. Kitchen Table will still be a thing but meeting new players will become increasingly difficult without getting in trouble with someone's parents. People will use the excuse of "There's no real point of going to an LGS for most adults looking to play Magic" when that isn't true at all. Magic isn't just for adults it's for people of all ages (well almost since they'd be better off starting with the Pokémon TCG).
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
If LGS disappears nothing will change. People will still have magic groups at libraries, colleges or go to big organized play events or just play with their friends. The LGS is already a failed business idea thanks to the death of retail and amazon. Wotc needs to forget about brick and mortar if they want to expand since thats so 1990s. Pokemon and every other tcg doesnt require brick and mortar and they do just fine. Its an extremely outdated business model and wotx is still stuck in the past.
I get why Konami and WotC aren't obligated to support the LGS when it's themselves who are losing money on card singles and sealed product that helps sustain the LGS. If the LGS doesn't want to diversify their customer base and product offerings in order to stay in business that's on them. The problem is what can these companies do to help support the LGS that hasn't already been done before? Perhaps they need to go back to what has helped foster their relationship more by learning from their past mistakes. Instead they only see dollar signs instead of the importance of community.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta