Gen Con Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

 

As everyone and their half-orc sister is reporting, Gen Con has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, apparently as a direct result of a lawsuit filed by LucasFilm alleging an unjust failure to uphold financial obligations relating to Celebration IV.

Press release from GenCon.com:

Gen Con Files for Chapter 11

SEATTLE (February 15, 2008) Gen Con LLC announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the State of Washington. This action became necessary as a result of significant unforeseen expenses associated with attempts to expand its core business to encompass externally licensed events. Gen Con's flagship show, Gen Con Indy, remains a vibrant, profitable event. Gen Con Indy will take place as scheduled August 14–17, 2008, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The protections afforded by Chapter 11 will allow Gen Con to further its efforts to address its liquidity needs, preserve value for its creditors and explore strategic alternatives for the business. "Because the fundamentals of our business are strong; and because our debt problems are challenges mostly linked to one-time events, we feel confident that the profile of our company will benefit under Chapter 11 and come out strong in the end," said Peter D. Adkison, CEO of Gen Con.

Chapter 11 refers to the section of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that provides for court-supervised restructuring of companies as they continue to operate normally. This proceeding is intended to help companies to become stronger financially.

Gen Con LLC will continue to operate without interruption during this process and looks forward to an expeditious resolution to the short-term challenges and the ability to focus entirely on producing Gen Con Indy, The Best Four Days in Gaming. International Gen Con events are unaffected by this situation and will continue to operate as scheduled.

About Gen Con

Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer fantasy, sci-fi and adventure game convention in North America. Itts operations include Gen Con Indy and licensees for European and Asia Pacific Gen Con shows. It was acquired in 2002 by former CEO and founder of Wizards of the Coast Peter Adkison, who solely owns the company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Gen Con is a consumer and trade experience dedicated to gaming culture and community. For more information visit the website at www.gencon.com.


Slashdot post here - http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/18/180246

TheForce.net post here -http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Lucasfilm_Sues_Gen_Con_112361.asp

I'm still going this year. Anyone else?

I really wish I could, it would be awesome.

Yes!
For the first time ever, I'm going to GenCon(and with a press badge, to boot).

It should be awesome.
It will be the ending note of my honey moon, BTW.

Congrats, Zip! I have yet to be married. Maybe you can give me a few tips in a couple years (eh, eh?).

I won't be going. However, friends and I are planning to go after a few years, when things will be back to normal. Everyone enjoy their gaming!

I've been thinking about going to GenCon for a while now, but my life's not going to allow that for the next coupla years.

How awesome would it be to get the Gamegrene crowd together for a gaming session at GenCon? I'd like to put something like that together when I actually end up going.

Also, this article has an insane number of hits, probably from the number of people that Googled "GenCon, bankrupt, Lucasfilm"

"So, back to this whole 'evolution of role-playing games'. See, role-playing games used to be a fish. A stinky fish. And then it crawled out of the primordial ooze that was Gary Gygax's beard. And then it became modern gaming."
-Chad, from the Fear The Boot podcast

This article has so many hits because it got linked from Fark.com

I do like the idea of meeting GameGreners at GC.
Anyone else?

For anyone coming to Gencon I might have floor space in my room. We can negotiate a price if I know you. Email me.

Just as an FYI, I finally got the bankruptcy plan for Gen Con. There is some fun stuff in there about potential sale of the company and how they plan on running the company going forward. I know you did a followup post on my original post and thought you might be interested.

http://www.livingdice.com/index.php/366-Gen-Con-Bankruptcy-Chapter-11-Fi...

Trask