Greg Leeds, the President of Wizards of the Coast, read Marcus King's most recent column regarding game market relationships (see "View from the Game Store--Industry Relationships") and had this to say:

After reading a great Talk Back column from Marcus King of Titan Games & Music in Battle Creek, Michigan, I want to provide one additional perspective.   Like Marcus, I also sometimes yearn for the simplicity of the old days.  However, at Wizards of the Coast, we believe strongly that part of the solution to keep a thriving and successful Hobby retail industry is to build great in-store organized play experiences.

No change in Publisher roles or Distributor roles or Internet/Video Game habits can usurp the local game shop's ability to provide the human interaction that we all crave.  Gamers want and will pay for great human connection experiences as they do in many other parts of their lives.

Of course the internet can provide pricing efficiency and information but it cannot replace:

the 'third space' experience of a great coffee shop or
the thrill of a 3D full screen movie theater experience or
the camaraderie of a local pub or
the belongingness of attending a live sports event or
..the bliss of gaming with like-minded folks in a great neighborhood store.

At Wizards, we spend every waking moment thinking about great game experiences.  Of course, we continue to design the best games on the face of the earth J, but we also constantly make adjustments for stores to successfully build their player base and community.  For example, last year we changed our policy to broaden the thrilling Magic pre-release events to include many more hobby stores.  We are constantly striving to provide great exclusive promotional incentives so stores can support more fun play.  We also look at new play formats to keep gaming fresh such as Magic multiplayer events and D&D Encounters.  We also do our part to educate the industry about how more in store play means more retail revenue.  We share best practices from the great stores around the world--ranging from basics like snack sales, lighting and cleanliness to more complicated issues such as gamer behavior management.

In the end though, we believe that there are many great stores who know how to provide gaming entertainment worth paying for and this is why our industry will continue to thrive.  Wizards is proud to play its role.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.