by One might say "Hasbro is a toy company, so who cares." Well toys are important. Play is important. It's what shapes kids... what promotes bonding between parents and children and with them and other children... toys and board games that inspired people who are in the industry today because of that fostering of imagination. Video games are awesome, I love video games, but that's not all that it's about. Hasbro, as one of the top companies in the industry, has an important responsibility to society. What they do can't just be written off as "just business" even though I'm sure that's exactly what is on all of their minds and on all of their lips while they let people go. How many of those higher ups could take pay cuts and forego bonuses to save a few more employees who didn't do anything wrong? I don't know what they did, or if they even tried.
Granted, there will be those who will try to defensively write off our opinions as "toxic fans" and say that we don't know the industry, we don't understand the numbers, and we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, etc. I don't care. All we see as consumers is a company doing the right thing by bringing back a fantastic beloved franchise in a very respectful way and reaching out to the community and treating us like friends and even family, rather than cows to be milked... and those people unceremoniously being given the pink slip. We see Hasbro as a mega corporation with tons of money and highly paid leadership making these decisions to cover their own butts when it seems like their own mistakes are what lead to them misjudging the situation (they blame it on growth during the pandemic slowing down, but consider the many failed Haslab campaigns... consider the massive unsold merch in stores... it can't just be that inflation has made other things more a priority for customers than toys and games right? Maybe it has something to do with Hasbro latching onto brands that have diminished in recent years... see Star Wars for a prime example, with lackluster and mixed reaction movies and tv shows). Witness WOTC antagonizing fans and messing with success... and those sins are coming back to punish guys who were doing all right within the same company. What has Avalon Hill done to deserve this? (Some have recently suggested the failure of HeroScape's haslab is to blame, but consider this is just one in a series of failures that had no involvement from AH that we know of so why single them out?)
They didn't trash a classic franchise and try to re-create it in some out of touch way. They resisted the temptation to politicize it to win short-lived (and insincere) virtue points with some activist stakeholders who wouldn't actually buy it... they made some questionable decisions but Avalon Hill, the subsidiary, and the people within that small team, seem to have done everything they could within their very odd marketing parameters on social media to draw us in and learn from that dedicated fanbase that has kept the game alive for 30 years.
THANK YOU to Chris Nadeau aka Encarmine, Avalon Bill (aka William Mort, who I sparred with on discord and whose jokes I mocked but was actually a pretty legit cool guy to talk to) and any others who were part of the cuts. You helped us bring our hobby to a lot more people, gave us many more opportunities to relive old memories and make new ones. And may I say I had a great time with the banter at GenCon. About the time of the Guardian Knight debacle, I had my doubts whether that apology you guys posted was heartfelt, but I now have seen the proof that it absolutely was. Every complaint that the fans voiced you attempted to remedy, no matter how much time it took. You guys didn't act like spoiler rockstars or dodgy politicians, and we could use a little bit more of that kind of humility in these industries when a franchise takes on success. The RESPECT you earned can never be taken away. But the REPUTATION of the company that let you go will be harmed by their action. They didn't just threaten to take "our toys" away, in a sense they took our friends away. You didn't deserve to be treated like that, after the admitted success of of the new HeroQuest. I have some sense of how those contracts work. You guys can't speak up for yourselves for awhile because of fear of loss of benefits and burning future bridges. I can understand that. We'll speak up for you. Anyone who depends on a big corporation for a paycheck knows the balancing act you have to follow a lot of the time. I hope you can find your passion in some other worthy pursuit or place that appreciates the gifts you have and you don't let this get you discouraged.
And as a fan, I for one am fearful now (as I once was) that whoever is in charge next might take the HeroQuest franchise down the wrong path.
I may speak only for myself on this, but if they are going to ruin HeroQuest, take it away from its roots as a simple fantasy game for the masses (and a thing in itself, not just a stepping stone meant to be outgrown for more grindy products)... I'd rather they stop making new content, and just sell what they have. Let the fans make the rest.
Speculation is at this point that the 2024 products already slated for release (and rumored to be) are finished and so nothing will stop them coming out. I fully expect to see Against the Ogre Horde, Jungles of Delthrak and the Dread Veil dice released widely alongside Monk (mine arrived in the mail yesterday from Amazon) and the previously released SQT and PoT remakes. But what about the future? Can they still carry on under new management?
Why would they shut out the main people who reached out most to the community? All I ask is that people keep it as civil as they can. This isn't my castle, but I hope for the sake of THIS beloved community, we direct the anger in a constructive way, where it needs to be directed.
The future of HeroQuest will be bright if whoever the new team leaders and talent are, they carry on the mission of the past group with at least the same love and respect as the previous one. But for now I have my doubts. We weathered 30 years of HeroQuest fandom without an official company backing it up, and we can do it again, but what a waste to throw away all that good will to save a few bucks. Will their replacements "Get" HeroQuest and its fans like they did? I hope so.
I wonder if GamesWorkShop is hiring? I seem to remember some guys who did a great work bringing HeroQuest back with the direct cooperation of this other supposed "rival." Maybe having some guys on the inside could make other Dream projects happen... like I don't know... Space Crusade? Battlemasters? There is this thing called "Warhammer Quest" I've heard a lot about, and the #1 & #2 things stopping me from getting it seems to be the price and lack of availability... Seems like some potentially rich possibilities there for former Avalon Hill employees. The vibes I got at GenCon were that there are friends and connections across companies here that could really make something great happen in the future if they were allowed to. Just sayin'
And I don't mean to make light of anything going on, I wish all the laid off employees the best. Be safe, do necessary self care. You'll have the stress of applications and interviews moving forward, and some uncertainty at the dinner table. Try to stay positive. We're on your side. What can we do to help? Let us know. For now we're going to voice our displeasure with the company that put you out of work. At least I am... and anyone who wants to join me on tonight's "RantCastPodcast" on Twitch.tv/therantcastpodcast is welcome to join! (not clickbait, that account isn't an affiliate so we don't run ads or get paid for it!)
Merry Christmas.. and a Happy New Year, despite it all.
My strongly worded email to Hasbro... if you agree, feel free to write your own and send it to Hasbro Consumer Care here
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a complaint and feedback email I would like forwarded on to higher ups at Hasbro, especially those responsible for the future of HeroQuest. I am very upset but I've kept the tone civil and I ask you to consider it in that spirit:
Like many fans of HeroQuest (who contributed to the Mythic Tier in the Haslab campaign and bought every expansion since then, as well as copies for friends and family), I am VERY disappointed to learn, not just of the 20% layoffs being reported across media for your company, but especially the impact of certain members of Avalon Hill, which to our eyes was a very close knit and respected team that has been very good to our community.
They have been dedicated and earned your company not only profit but also RESPECT that was lacking lately in the face of various scandals.
I'm sure the person reading this knows what I'm talking about but just in case, we are talking about the D&D OGL Debacle. Wizards of the Coast dares to mess with the good will of RPG fans and threatens to break a long standing agreement, that would have taken away money and threatened makers of mods with legal action. The uproar over that was too big to ignore and changes were made to roll back the more shortsighted aspects of that decision. The fans knew best, after all. Then there was the "Pinkertons" incident, what came across as a heavy handed attempt to cover for a company mistake regarding Magic the Gathering.
How could someone be happy to be a fan of something like this when this sort of thing can happen? A PR disaster. And now this.
It looks bad enough when you lay off a bunch of employees before Christmas (whether they had advanced warning or not, think of the stress at home when they are expecting to exchange gifts and have dinner with their families and are now going to have to be worried with filling out applications and scheduling interviews in an uncertain future... not everyone gets a "golden parachute").
But Avalon Hill has been nothing but good to us. The HeroQuest Fans online felt respected, well treated, not like cash cows to be milked or "whales" who will buy anything. We weren't treated with disrespect like some members of franchises have been treated (witness how D&D fans and MTG fans were called racist and phobic for expressing their disagreement with creative changes in those franchises, or how Disney attacked their own fans, even pre-emptively for disagreeing with certain creative directions in that franchise... witness the failure of "Reva's Lightsaber" on Haslab, when Disney tried to push a poorly rendered character in a mediocre show, despite promises of fan service with old beloved characters... Disney's fault not Hasbro, but you guys work with them, so there's blame to go around).
Avalon Hill seems to have been given jack squat to work with from our POV. They relied upon SOCIAL MEDIA to promote their game. "Zargon" had to resort to making silly jokes to try to get click bait so people would engage while he was fielding questions about rules.
Members of Avalon Hill, especially Chris Nadeau, actively sought out fans on places like Discord to engage with us. He got us excited about the game. He patiently listened to feedback. He and other members of the team were approachable. It felt like they cared. Why get rid of them? Who are you going to replace them with? Someone with less experience who is paid to care less? Someone who "gets" the product and its fandom less? What is the benefit there? They never came across as arrogant or entitled. Even when someone like Avalon Bill was confronted with "passionate" fans, he was always respectful. That kind of humility goes a long way in winning hearts and minds you expect to open their wallets to you again and again. I remember my experiences at GenCon this year were extremely positive. Everyone from Adam Glick to Patrick O'Rourke, Craig Van Ness, and guest writers like Tess Hogan... everyone was humble, affable, honored to be engaging with fans. They weren't just in hurry to take our money and shuffle us along. As an independent reporter I was happy to ask them the tough questions and see them squirm in their chairs, but they gave me the time of day and I highly respected that. I know I wasn't the only one. I hadn't much heard about the Avalon Hill brand before 2020, but it was rapidly becoming one of my favorite things to see online whenever it came up, because I knew they would give it their all. And yet it seemed like they were held back... it was always a struggle for them to be allowed to get to us. I don't know what their social media budget or staff was but they were apparently given very little, but boy they did what they could with it and sought out every way possible to get us talking about and engaging with the product (as if we super fans needed much encouragement, but we were fired up!).
They had a good thing going, I sincerely hope whoever replaces them will be given the same freedom to engage with us, and understand. Otherwise, why are we here? So many franchises have bled supporters because of lack of understanding, lack of respect... trying to hide behind a few "toxic fans" (bots or trolls, often) who say stupid things online, when the blame for the lessened sales and bad reviews isn't "systemic racism" or "the recession" or "covid" but lackluster products and foolish decisions by corporate... as well as out of touch attacks on fans on social media. We are not "toxic fans." We're actual fans, paying customers, who rallied around a product that for once, seemed to be respecting its past and looking forward to a bright future. We thought of AH employees not as corporate shills or mere salespeople but more like friends... close to family. They were that good! And it's painful now to see them cut loose so unceremoniously after all they've done. What other companies would be happy to get such dedicated, gifted individuals?
Is it too much to ask for you to re-hire those you have let go at some time in the near future? Perhaps it's too late. Even if they were back as independent contractors that would be a sign of good will. I think the company owes them more than this though. They were doing their part to make up for the mistakes of other parts of the company and it feels very unfair that they should bear the penalty for those mistakes. I don't blame the Guardian Knight situation or the failed Haslab campaign for HeroSCAPE on Avalon Hill. I blame that on the higher ups at Hasbro who didn't seem to know or understand what was going on, or didn't bother to provide the resources to AH to get the job done that they needed to get done. And we were grateful when Rise of the Dread Moon came out. That was amazing, and it fulfilled a promise to bring the Guardian Knight back that everyone wanted. Spirit Queen's Torment & Prophecy of Telor were also great as they fulfilled yet another promise to bring some of that "FOMO" material from the Haslab campaign to the fans, so many of them had no possible chance to pledge in that very short lived campaign. The improvement in the box thanks in no small part to Adam Glick was also greatly appreciated. Every product seemed to improve upon what came before. The care that went into it was great. Of course I'm the sort of person who would be happy to pay a bit more for locally sourced plastic figures and cardboard rather than have it made in some sweat shop in China.
Back to Avalon Hill and what they did that mattered...
People who GET social media are important. Witness the damage done when an employee doesn't. I have nothing bad to say about the job that Avalon Hill was doing so far, and I pray that the direction they had staked out for HeroQuest will be followed.
We don't need your corporate money. We kept HeroQuest alive and vibrant for 30 years without you. We can do it again. It would be sad if the whole company goes down because of one more stupid decision like this, not saying we would do it, but eventually the camel's back breaks. I hope you will strongly consider the future of this franchise as something that is not easily thrown away (and if you are planning to take it in a "bold new direction" that betrays its legacy in any way, I'd rather it disappear and I think a lot of other fans are with me on this... by all means keep selling the previously created products and fans will make the rest on our own like we always have).
I also hope that all employees you let go are properly compensated. Any further mistreatment or retaliation against them for trying to get their just wages or benefits will reflect even more badly on your already tarnished public reputation as a company.
I pray you don't squander the good will these employees generated over the past 3+ years. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...
Please forward this email on to your highest level of complaint at Hasbro. I insist. Thank you.
Kurgan of HeroQuestFans
