Angelo M. D Argenio

Unless you have been living under a collectible gaming rock for the past few years, you probably have heard of Gen Con. Well regardless of its massive fan support and good deal of backing in the industry, Gen Con has actually fallen on some hard times recently. You may remember back in February when Gen Con filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to “unforeseen expenses in running a licensed non gen con event.” Throughout the process, Peter D. Adkison CEO over at Gen Con has assured us that business will continue as usual, stating in a press release that Gen Con Indy, their biggest event, should be enough, if focused on, to cover “direct costs, our overhead, and have some funds left over to pay off the debts from the licensed show.”

In late November it was revealed that the Gen Con proceedings had been delayed, because a mysterious “Gen Con Acquisition Group” had made an offer to purchase Gen Con. The deal, when reduced to basic terms, would pay off Gen Con's debts in return for essentially turning over ownership of Gen Con to the Gen Con Acquisition Group. The full letter proposal is available for the general public to read (courtesy of livingdice.com).

Adrian Swartout, President and COO of Gen Con criticized the offer as “suspiciously cryptic, with no letter of introduction, good will, or summary of intentions for forward management and opportunities for current staff.” This eventually lead to a formal rejection of the Acquisition Group's proposal, with Swartout stating that, should Gen Con continue on their current course, Gen Con should emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.

However, this does not mean that the plans for Gen Cons Acquisition by the Acquisition group stops there. Anthony Gallela, former Executive Director for the GAMA trade conference came forward as a spokesperson for the Gen Con Acquisitions Group. Though the investors involved have still not been revealed, he had stated that they were all “outside the industry, very well funded, and can support the offer, and support Gen Con's growth and development and continuation.” The Acquisition groups plans would put over a million dollars into Gen Con as a measure to repay their debts and improve the convention as a whole.

The centerpiece of the Acquisition group's offer is creative control. If the Acquisition group's efforts are to be realized, they would be left with more control over Gen Con than Gen Con's current staff. The choice to allow any of the current Gen Con staff to remain on board, would be left solely up to the Gen Con Acquisition Group. It has already been revealed by Gallela in a statement to ICV2 that he has no plans on keeping current Gen Con CEO Peter D. Adikson on as an equity owner.

Final decisions on Gen Con's financial fate have not yet been made and it appears as if the Acquisition Group's offer may be reconsidered, depending on how Gen Con's final bankruptcy hearings turn out. We here at TCGplayer.com will have more information for you as the story develops.