Gen Con LLC files Chapter 11. Okay. That and the Lucas thing, kind of not wonderful together. Kiiiind of crazy. Bankruptcy is by no means a death sentence or a threat to the Indy show, most likely, but the list of crazy isn’t over. Here’s the new Gen Con LLC home page, with entries for the company, the Indy show, and “Gen Con Now.” Click on “Gen Con Now” and… “Dragon Hoard“?? Might be a fine game, but at the moment I’m a little scared to find out.
The comments from Peter Adkison, CEO of Gen Con LLC, in the press release make it clear that this is a restructuring attempt, not a closing-up-shop bankrupcy. Peter has been assuring folks in the game industry that Gen Con isn’t going anywhere, and that its main money-maker, Gen Con Indy, is doing fine. I’d say, if you want to show your support, get yourself to the show this year. Every little bit helps.
My favorite line in the release?
“This action became necessary as a result of significant unforeseen expenses associated with attempts to expand its core business to encompass externally licensed events.”
Hmm…”significant unforeseen expenses”…like perhaps having to defend against a guy with more money than God?
I’ll be interested in seeing how much bankruptcy shields GenCon from Lucas. Lucas has alleged fraudulent conversion (i.e., “you intentionally represented something that was mine as being yours and took the money for it unlawfully”). In many states bankruptcy provides no shielding against a successful charge of fraudulent conversion.
We’ll see whether the court feels GenCon was incompetent / hit some bad luck, or whether they intentionally and fraudulently converted Lucas’ property to make money and then filed bankruptcy in a lame attempt to escape.
Lee
Wow, what a wretched way to go down. They won’t die by any measure, but jeez. What are they thinking with their management company?
I’m thinking this isn’t so much a way to go down as a wretched way to stay up. I don’t think they’re going away by any stretch.
As far as bankruptcy, it will likely help with paying their legal costs at least. If there are actual penalties awarded and those sink them, then, well, yeah.
Also, update: Dragon Hoard is an okay little casual clicky game. It doesn’t remind me of anything I’ve played before, which is good. But games like this only take off if they’re in the channel for games like this – that is, Yahoo Games or BigFish or PlayFirst or whatever.