Peter Adkison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter D. Adkison | |
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 Adkison at Gen Con Indy 2007 |
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| Occupation | CEO, Owner of Gen Con |
Peter D. Adkison[1] is a hobby game professional best known as a primary founder of Wizards of the Coast and its first CEO (1993 to 2001).
During Adkison's tenure, Wizards of the Coast rose to the status of a major publisher in the hobby game industry. Wizards achieved runaway success with Magic: the Gathering, which created the collectible card game category, and it distributed Pokémon trading cards. Wizards also acquired the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game and released a successful new edition. He is the current owner of Gen Con, a yearly, massive game convention in the Midwest. In January 2001, Wizards of the Coast was purchased by Hasbro.[1] As of 2005 he is CEO of Hidden City Games, publishers of the Bella Sara collectible card game for girls.
Adkison is a long time fan of role-playing games and has recently become an advocate for indie RPGs. His own game design work includes The Primal Order, a "capstone system" for use with any of a number of different role-playing games.
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[edit] Background
As a child Adkison played strategy games and wargames.[2] In 1978 he was exposed to Dungeons & Dragons which "blew [him] away."[2] He has a Dungeons & Dragons campaign named Chaldea that he has run since 1981.[2] As of 2002, Adkison was running two Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and playing in three.[3] He enjoys a wide variety of games including Magic: the Gathering, Twitch, The Settlers of Catan, Robo Rally, Call of Cthulhu, Vampire: The Masquerade, and the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game.[2]
While working at Hidden City Games, his public biography from 2005 claimed that he was married to Melissa Reis Adkison.[4]
[edit] Career
Adkison received a bachelor of science in computer science from Walla Walla College in 1985.[1] Adkison has an MBA from the University of Washington.[4] From 1985 through 1991 he worked as a systems analyst for Boeing.[1]
While working for Boeing he was involved in the founding of Wizards of the Coast.[1] With the success of Magic: the Gathering, Peter began working full-time for Wizards of the Coast.[1] As CEO of Wizards of the Coast, he presided over Wizards purchase of TSR, Inc.. Game designer Ed Stark says Adkison said, "Look, computer gaming is the future of roleplaying. We’ve got to get involved in this."[5]
In January 2001 Adkison sold Wizards of the Coast to Hasbro.[1] He entered "semi-retirement" engaging in rock-climbing and "lying around".[6] In May 2002 Adkison purchased Gen Con from Hasbro.[6] Adkison had been attending Gen Con since 1992.[6] Adkison claims to have "always loved" Gen Con.[3]
In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Peter Adkison as one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons "at least in the realm of adventure gaming."[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g "Biography, Peter D. Adkison" (in English). Gen Con Indy. http://www.gencon.com/2007/indy/press/peter.aspx. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ a b c d McNutt, Greg. "Interview: Peter Adkison" (in English). The Gaming Outpost. http://gamingoutpost.com/article/interview_peter_adkison/. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ a b White, Damon (2002-03-24). "Interview with Peter Adkison" (in English). GamingReport.com. http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=42. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ Berghammer, Billy; Adam Biessener (2004-08-31). "Dungeons & Dragons: The Ed Stark Interview" (in English). Gameinformer. http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200408/N04.0831.1912.11478.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ a b c Bub, Andrew S. (2003-07-26). "Interview with Peter Adkison" (in English). GameSpy.com. http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/gencon2003/adkison/. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ Haring, Scott D. (1999-12-24). "Second Sight: The Millennium's Best "Other" Game and The Millennium's Most Influential Person". Pyramid (online). http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.html?id=1306. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
