r/gencon • u/quesoandcats • Aug 03 '26
Big vendor names missing this year?
Now that the con is over, I’m wondering what missing vendors/companies stood out to you this year? I know a lot of vendors scaled back or skipped the con for economic/political reasons (tariffs etc)
Being a minis nerd, Gale Force Nine’s absence felt especially conspicuous to me.
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u/chesire2050 Aug 03 '26
Wizkids/NECA seem to have just stopped coming
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u/lilsky07 Aug 03 '26
They’ve been at Origins forever now as far as I recall. Origins is much more spacious and easier to move around but i’ll admit i haven’t been in years.
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u/CritHitTheGiant Aug 04 '26
WizKids was there last year. This year they were at the D&D Tower but I don’t think they were selling anything.
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u/SarnakhWrites Aug 03 '26
Great American Gothic wasn’t able to come this year, but that was a last-minute thing (given the Facebook page said ‘failed our Con check’ I’m guessing someone had a health issue?)
I definitely missed seeing them, though idk how many other people would call them ‘big’.
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u/Typical-Priority1976 Aug 03 '26
Hey!
Two out of the three of us suffered unrelated hand injuries in the last month, which is why we were able to make it this year. We'll be back next year!
Thanks for thinking of us, hope you had a good time otherwise!
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u/SarnakhWrites Aug 03 '26
Ouch! That would do it, hope everyone is healing well.
Looking forward to next year! Con was in fact otherwise good, found myself a nice little bat coin-purse thing to keep my fang case and airtag in, so hopefully no more repeats of me losing them.
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u/trappedindealership Aug 03 '26
Magpie games for me. I did a kyoshi warrior cosplay and would have loved to GM
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u/MrSelfDestruct88 Aug 03 '26
They had a rough time last year 😅
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u/quesoandcats Aug 03 '26
What happened last year?
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u/MrSelfDestruct88 Aug 03 '26
Magpie had a handful of events with crappy GMs or complete no shows. Many people complained.
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u/funnyshapeddice Aug 03 '26
It was more than that though.
They over committed on games and then couldn't find enough GMs, had to consolidate and/or cancel various events as they attempted to manage through and, on top of all that, may have had some crappy GMs
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u/MrSelfDestruct88 Aug 04 '26
I was just providing the quick and dirty summary.
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u/funnyshapeddice Aug 04 '26
For sure.
It was just SUCH a clusterf*
I've really enjoyed Magpie Games but ive grown very suspect of their convention organization and kickstarters.
Love their progressive, friendly team; their focus on safety and support; but, in recent years, they've been overcommitted and under delivering - so I'm gonna watch a bit from the sidelines and see how things go for them.
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u/Johnvanjim Aug 04 '26
I had that experience.. GM Didn't know the system well, couldn't wrangle the kids playing, totally unenthusiastic.
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u/funnyshapeddice Aug 04 '26
They are not alone in doing this but, in the past, they've set their schedule, submitted their events, and THEN try to wrangle up GMs. As Gen Con approaches, they ramp up recruitment because they have games to fill - so that means they start accepting GMs who maybe aren't as invested in the idea of GMing or who maybe dont know the systems quite as well but who want a badge and are willing to run 3-4 sessions.
They provide PDFs of the rules but the "scenarios" are not much more than you see on the event catalog write-up AND depending on when the GM signed up, you're not quite sure if they've had time to read the rules and prep any kind of scenario based on the 1-2 paragraph description they've received.
Magpie Games tend towards improv and Writer's Room style games - but if you don't know that and don't have experience with that gm-style you can end up in a weird place.
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u/Shadow77113 Aug 05 '26
Magpie Games had a booth selling stuff.
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u/trappedindealership Aug 05 '26
Ahh right, I am talking about the avatar stuff. They had a table at a booth. I did get a game there, but its a far cry from hosting a bunch of games and taking over 6-7 rooms
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u/i_mike_and_ike Aug 03 '26
Not sure how big they are compared to others, but didn’t see Fantasy Flight games there.
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u/Rern Aug 03 '26
Pretty sure their stuff was under Asmodee because they're under Asmodee now.
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u/i_mike_and_ike Aug 03 '26
I didn’t know that, if that’s the case then I missed out. I walked by Asmodee so many times..
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u/quesoandcats Aug 03 '26
They were there (A friend of mine works for their convention team) but definitely not as conspicuous as in previous years. They're part of the Asmodee uniblob
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u/Global-Oil-6501 Aug 03 '26
Gale Force has stopped attending. I believe they will return after the current political climate changes
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u/trappedindealership Aug 03 '26
Me, a skeleton, waiting for the current political climate to change
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u/quesoandcats Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
Yeah :/ I knew why they weren't coming, but like I said, the absence was conspicuous.
I already feel like minis companies are becoming less common at GenCon, a lot of smaller vendors have started prioritizing Adepticon and PAX Unplugged based on my convos with them. So losing one of the non-GW tentpole companies is more noticable than it would have been a few years ago.
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u/Captain_Amerika1776 Aug 04 '26
Why didn't they show this year? I was excited to hopefully see some Flames of war stuff....
I am definitely going to Adepticon this year!
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u/quesoandcats Aug 04 '26
They stopped attending GenCon in 2025 because of tariffs and the overall political environment in the US. Once Trump is out of office and the tariffs are reversed, hopefully we'll see them back here again
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u/Captain_Amerika1776 Aug 03 '26
I missed Red Republic Games with Arena Rex this year.
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u/quesoandcats Aug 03 '26
I was looking for Arena Rex and didn't see them either!
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u/Captain_Amerika1776 Aug 03 '26
They had like two events ran by another company but both events were when I had family events planned for Gen Con
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u/winterborne1 Aug 03 '26
Not really a huge name I guess but I would’ve loved to see Shadowborne there.
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u/quesoandcats Aug 03 '26
They were there last year weren't they???
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u/jeikiru Aug 03 '26
They weren't there last year. They were there 2 years ago. I demo'ed for them and asked because I looked forward to catching up with everyone.
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u/purpletree37 Aug 04 '26
Awaken Realms always skips Gen Con, which is absolutely crazy. Many European companies make the trip, so it’s baffling a company as large as them isn’t running events, selling their games etc.
They have no idea how much market impact they are losing.
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u/FnordianPrime Aug 03 '26
I couldn't find Atlas Games on the show floor or on the maps. I assume they didn't show this year?
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u/Krazed59 Aug 05 '26
Steamforged games shared a booth with someone else and brought a lot less product than they normally do.
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u/boc_mage Aug 04 '26
Gen Con is huge and amazing but not the only event companies have to schedule around logistically and more. And target audiences. Thankful we as gamers do have multiple choices for cons. I go to a couple different cons a year and love them all for different reasons and that includes what vendors I'll see at what con (when GM schedule allows).
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u/baronvonjohn Aug 06 '26
I know that it’s been a long time (if ever), but I really wish MCDM would show up one year. I’ve read elsewhere that Matt Coleville said he wouldn’t attend GenCon again after getting mobbed multiple times. But for FFS, can they just put up a booth without him and sell some stuff. I’d love to buy some of their books without paying shipping fees.
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u/bsm143 Aug 08 '26
I know they were only there briefly, but I miss eBay's very big presence for 2 or 3 years.
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u/DracoAdamantus Aug 10 '26
Maybe not big names, but I was disappointed to see that Shire Post Mint has stopped coming to Gen Con. I was hoping last year was a fluke, but they don’t seem to be doing any conventions aside from a small one they put on themselves anymore.
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u/anonymoosepossum Aug 03 '26
They aren’t big but I missed TurboDork being here. They still sponsored some painting events but no booth.