New Investors Save Mayfair Games

One of the gaming industry's oldest mid-sized companies, Mayfair Games, ceased all production activities and laid off much of its staff on Jan 31, 1997. The company was apparently preparing to close, but industry sources report the group of investors, including game company Iron Crown Enterprises, have purchased the failing company. Mayfair has traditionally been known for high production values and published many successful games, most notably Empire Builder, Cosmic Encounter, Chill and recently a string of translations of European board games such as Moderm Art and Settlers of Catan. However, the company apparently operated unprofitably for most of its existence and it is not clear how the change in ownership will affect production strategies.

White Wolf Lays Off Staff

Game Publishing giant White Wolf has laid off approximately 20 percent of its editorial and production staff. According to president Stephen Wieck, the layoffs were the necessary result of a difficult year at the company, but there were largely unrelated to the company's production activities. White Wolf has been aggressively pursuing book trade and fiction publishing under sever imprints over the past few years, and as a newcomer to that industry was hard hit by the general downturn of 1996, which was one of the worst years for the conventional (non-game) publishing industry in recent memory. White Wolf's games reportedly continue to sell well, and none of the laid off employees came from the company's game production departments.

GenCon 97 on Track in Milwaukee

The Wizards of the Coast acquisition of TSR has led to a number of rumors, one of the most persistent of which is GenCon will be closed or moved. Despite the uncertainty of the situation, this rumor is false organizers at both companies assure that GenCon will go foward this year. TSR continues to move ahead with preparations for the convention, and the Andon Team (WoTC's convention-management division, which also runs Origins) will be ready to assist or take over at whatever stage the acquisition team dictates. Rumors that WoTC will close down GenCon or move it are, for this year at least, completely false. If you have plans to attend the show, stick to them.

(Editor note: WoTC/TSR should send out the pre-registration packet a little sooner. I would have gone then!

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