Like any industry, the gaming industry has seen several cycles of

Question

Like any industry, the gaming industry has seen several cycles of expansion and consolidation. In many cases, trends and developments have enabled cagey and successful newcomers to absorb staid stalwarts who lost their edge. But over-expansion and an inability to maintain flexibility have turned the tables on more than one aggressive upstart.

Such was the case with Wizards of the Coast, following a breakout emergence in 1993. Known traditionally as a struggling outfit of gamers with more passion than business experience, Wizards of the Coast in 1993 published the now legendary title Magic: The Gathering and, in the process, rewrote the book on gaming. Combining the popularity of trading cards with a combative pseudo-role-playing game system, Magic spawned the collectible trading card game genre and became a whirlwind success. Sweeping through the related communities of gaming, collectibles, and fandom, the game sold in unprecedented numbers. The drive to win required players to amass decks containing the most powerful and rarest of cards. The card-hoarding mentality drove frenzied sales whenever the rumor of a new card's release spread across the budding Internet communities.

The trading card business flourished as many in the target market found themselves moving into professional careers with dramatically increased disposable income. Flush with cash, Wizards of the Coast sought acquisitions and, in 1997, acquired TSR, the famed owner of Dungeons and Dragons. This classic game was not only responsible for the rise of the modern social gaming market but was still the genre's most popular title. Spread thin and across many product lines, TSR had become a victim of its own success, unwilling to return to core product lines after diversifying into novels, video games, and even Saturday morning cartoons. TSR came at a discount and the management of Wizards immediately began making tough decisions and culling dead product areas.

Concurrently, Wizards' own expansion continued as a series of retail stores and clubs opened, providing places for players of Magic and other games to gather and play. Elaborate plans were made to re-launch much of the Dungeons and Dragons line in a new series of books and player aids. Finally, in 1999, old-school corporate America arrived in the form of Hasbro, which acquired Wizards at a phenomenal premium. For ownership of a company that was piling success upon success, however, no price seemed too high.

Unfortunately, a number of facts conspired to reverse the meteoric rise and bring about a gradual, painful descent. The seemingly inexhaustible interest in increasingly elaborate trading card games waned, and even the core offerings of Magic and Pokemon lost their excitement. The "dot-com" crash played its role in the decline since much of the fast-climbing IT profession, long a center of gaming and collectibles, found itself on hard times. Traditional role-playing gamers were disturbed by the push to release revised versions of Dungeons and Dragons and balked at several high-profile and high-budget launches. Soon Wizards' retail stores were closing and, in 2003, even its massive Seattle flagship store was forced to close. Today, Wizards of the Coast continues as a subsidiary of Hasbro, marketing to the more serious hobbyist gamer rather than to the casual game buyer. Ironically, its major income sources are now the various Dungeons and Dragons titles acquired years ago from then-struggling TSR.   1 
 1. According to the passage, the struggles of Wizards of the Coast could best be seen as

A. not uncommon among game companies.
B. significantly more extreme than those faced by other game companies.
C. effectively identical to those faced by TSR.
D. a sign of the times during the "dot-com" crash.
E. the direct result of inexperienced management.

2 
 2. The tone of this passage could best be summarized as:

A. ambivalent
B. optimistic
C. revisionary
D. disparaging
E. cautionary

3 
 3. According to the information in the passage, at the time of its acquisition by Wizards of the Coast, TSR had been involved with all of the following products EXCEPT:

A.Saturday morning cartoons
B. Role-playing games
C. Collectible trading card games
D. Works of fiction
E. Video games

BullRunner · Accepted Answer

I solved this question in Veritas test today,the OA to Q2 is E.Here's the OE:

Correct Answer: E

The overall tone of this passage is concerned, and perhaps slightly saddened, by the failure of Wizards of the Coast. Answer choice (A), "ambivalent," means uncaring or lacking an opinion, which does not fit the tone of the passage. Neither does "optimistic" in answer choice (B). "Revisionary" implies a change or challenge to the generally accepted viewpoint, and since we have no information about how this passage may or may not agree with other opinions, (C) is incorrect. (D), "disparaging," means harshly critical, which does not match the tone of the passage. Answer choice (E), "cautionary," fits the tone of mild concern and is the correct answer.

Businessconquerer · Answer

Official Explanation

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This solution follows the laws of fair use to criticise or analyse the content purchased by one of the consumers

I'm seriously not happy with the solution of Q3 But these are the official solution
01. According to the passage, the struggles of Wizards of the Coast could best be seen as

A. not uncommon among game companies.
B. significantly more extreme than those faced by other game companies.
C. effectively identical to those faced by TSR.
D. a sign of the times during the "dot-com" crash.
E. the direct result of inexperienced management.
Correct Answer: A

The description in the first paragraph implies that cyclical up-and-down periods are common in the gaming industry, and the transition at the start of the second paragraph indicates that the situation faced by Wizards was typical. Answer choice (A), then, is the best answer choice. The remaining answer choices are not supported by the information contained within the passage

2. The tone of this passage could best be summarized as:

A. ambivalent
B. optimistic
C. revisionary
D. disparaging
E. cautionary
Correct Answer: E

The overall tone of this passage is concerned, and perhaps slightly saddened, by the failure of Wizards of the Coast. Answer choice (A), "ambivalent," means uncaring or lacking an opinion, which does not fit the tone of the passage. Neither does "optimistic" in answer choice (B). "Revisionary" implies a change or challenge to the generally accepted viewpoint, and since we have no information about how this passage may or may not agree with other opinions, (C) is incorrect. (D), "disparaging," means harshly critical, which does not match the tone of the passage. Answer choice (E), "cautionary," fits the tone of mild concern and is the correct answer.

3. According to the information in the passage, at the time of its acquisition by Wizards of the Coast, TSR had been involved with all of the following products EXCEPT:

A.Saturday morning cartoons
B. Role-playing games
C. Collectible trading card games
D. Works of fiction
E. Video games
Correct Answer: C

While the passage does discuss trading card games at great length, it never does so in connection with TSR. Answer choice (C) is, therefore, the exception, and the correct answer.

warrior1991 · Answer

This is a good question. Actually If you read the passage you will notice that author is telling us about the trend in gaming industry. He takes an example of "Wizards of the Coast" to explain what happened to this company.

Option A,B,D are clearly out of scope.

In Between C and E, C sounds good as author's tone is certainly not cautious.Neither he ,at any point in the passage, intents to show us that he is indeed trying to convey a word of caution.

So IMO C.

Annet1524 · Answer

1)  A . not uncommon among game companies = common  
 In first paragraph the auther says that more than one company was needed to become agressive upstart because it couldn't deal with changes and 
become flexible 
 2nd paragraph 1st line - Such was the case with Wizards of the Coast

2)  E.  cautionary 
 Unfortunately - last paragraph says about more pissimistic author's view, other optitions I delited by ellumination  
 
3)  C.  Collectible trading card games 
 Combining  the popularity of trading cards  (Wizards) with a combative pseudo-role-playing game system (Dragons)

AjiteshArun · Answer

I think you're right. That seems to be the only thing that links "role-playing" with TSR. I couldn't see anything that links TSR to "collectible trading card games", so that helps.

KarishmaB · Answer

The core business of TSR was related to whatever Dungeons and Dragons was - a role playing game or a trading card game. 
Even if you don't know D&D at all, there are enough clues in the passage to tell you that it was a role playing game.

"The seemingly inexhaustible interest in increasingly elaborate trading card games waned,"
... Traditional role-playing gamers were disturbed by the push to release revised versions of Dungeons and Dragons
... its major income sources are now the various Dungeons and Dragons titles acquired years ago

Interest in trading card games waned and now D&D is a major source of income. So apparently, D&D was not a trading card game.

Answer (C)

mimishyu · Answer

para1
to introduce the main theme the whole passage intend to discuss-the gaming industry, to which the author brief in a sentence about how, with its promising trend, counterintuitively, will suffer from its overthriving of the operating cycle as a prelude to later paragraphs
para2
use Wizards of the Coast as an example to narrate how it becomes a successful story among the gaming industry
para3
following para2, though Wizard’s thriving enable it to acquire TSR, which later suffer from its own success, those suffering reversely influence the performance of parent company
para4
the Wizard’s story keep going in that, though not affect so much by those influence, continue its expansion for other sectors, it still end up being acquired by another corp Hasbro
para5
the story end in that the Wizard, as an example, cannot escape the fate to decline and close door but still, ironically, make income from its then-acquired struggling TSR

01. According to the passage, the struggles of Wizards of the Coast could best be seen as

A. not uncommon among game companies. ....correct
B. significantly more extreme than those faced by other game companies.
C. effectively identical to those faced by TSR.
D. a sign of the times during the "dot-com" crash.
E. the direct result of inexperienced management.

para1
......In many cases, trends and developments have enabled cagey and successful newcomers to absorb staid stalwarts who lost their edge. But over-expansion and an inability to maintain flexibility have turned the tables on more than one aggressive upstart.
para2
Such was the case with Wizards of the Coast, following a breakout emergence in 1993. Known traditionally as a struggling outfit of gamers with more passion than business experience......

from sentences above, we could see that the struggle Wizard of the coast face is just a typical case among gaming industries

2. The tone of this passage could best be summarized as:

A. ambivalent
B. optimistic
C. revisionary
D. disparaging
E. cautionary ....correct

In many cases, trends and developments have enabled cagey and successful newcomers to absorb staid stalwarts who lost their edge. But over-expansion and an inability to maintain flexibility have turned the tables on more than one aggressive upstart.

notice the word “but” in the para1, while the passage narrates in a sentence how the expansion the gaming industry works, he mind us it is always too much of a good thing that we should also be careful to its over-expansion as well as inflexibility problems, this can be a clear evidence that the author is “cautionary” in its tone

3. According to the information in the passage, at the time of its acquisition by Wizards of the Coast, TSR had been involved with all of the following products EXCEPT:

A. Saturday morning cartoons
B. Role-playing games
C. Collectible trading card games ....correct
only in para2, before the show up of TSR, does “collectible trading card game” mention in the passage, or consider the context
para2:
wizard -->magic --> collectible trading card game
para3:
wizard -->TSR --> D&D
this can be a clear evidence that TSR won’t ever relate to “trading card game” since they are of two different categories

D. Works of fiction 
E. Video games

see the passage
para3 
Flush with cash, Wizards of the Coast sought acquisitions and, in 1997, acquired TSR, the famed owner of Dungeons and Dragons.
.....
TSR had become a victim of its own success, unwilling to return to core product lines after diversifying into novels, video games, and even Saturday morning cartoons. TSR came at a discount and the management of Wizards immediately began making tough decisions and culling dead product areas.
......
para5
Traditional role-playing gamers were disturbed by the push to release revised versions of Dungeons and Dragons(this has to do with TSR, so TSR must be involved in role-playing games) and balked at several high-profile and high-budget launches.

warrior1991 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATGuruNY

How to arrive at answer in Q2?? Nowhere, to me it seems, a word of caution is being served.

KarishmaB · Answer

Note the start of the passage:

... trends and developments have enabled cagey and successful newcomers to absorb staid stalwarts who lost their edge.
But over-expansion and an inability to maintain flexibility have turned the tables on more than one aggressive upstart.

Then the passage explains how it happened for Wizards of the Coast.

So the passage cautions the reader against "over-expansion and an inability to maintain flexibility". It is telling you how these things led to the downfall after the meteoric rise.

Also note that other 4 options make no sense.

A. ambivalent
The author is not ambivalent. No mixed feelings.

B. optimistic
He discusses the downfall of the giant. Not optimistic that it will return one day etc.

C. revisionary
This means that it gives a different version of events etc. It doesn't.

D. disparaging
He doesn't belittle the company.

Answer (E)

sheldongeorge · Answer

In Q.1, isn't (E) also supported?

GMATNinja  ,  MagooshExpert  ,  VeritasPrepBrian  ,  MartyTargetTestPrep  ,  DmitryFarber  ,  VeritasKarishma  other experts - please enlighten

KarishmaB · Answer

Option (E) is not supported.

Prior to 1993, Wizards of the Coast was a struggling outfit with inexperienced management. But in 1993, it published the title Magic and things changed. After that, it took over TSR and continued to expand. Then their struggles started (as mentioned in Q1) and the passage describes their downfall. It doesn't say anything about inexperienced management being a problem.

dhruva09 · Answer

KarishmaB  I am finding it hard to go with E with the explanation provided.
Even if I take the overall tone of the passage, there is a slight withdrawal/sadness, which I agree.
But how can we equate sadness with caution ? Probably I am missing something here.
Also on the grounds of elimination, it still seems pretty hard to not eliminate 'cautionary'.

guddo · Answer

2. The tone of this passage could best be summarized as:

A. ambivalent
B. optimistic
C. revisionary
D. disparaging
E. cautionary

The passage traces a classic arc of explosive success, aggressive expansion, acquisition, and subsequent decline due to overreach and changing market conditions. While it notes achievements, its overarching structure and concluding focus on the reversal of fortune serve as an illustrative business case. The tone is balanced and analytical, not purely optimistic, disparaging, or ambivalent, and it isn't trying to revise history. Instead, it presents the story as a lesson in the risks of over-expansion and market shifts, making  cautionary  the best summary.

guddo · Answer

You're right, sadness isn't caution. But the tone isn't sadness. It's the tone of someone showing you  why  the failure happened.

The first paragraph states the general lesson: cycles happen, upstarts can fall from overexpansion. The entire rest of the passage is just the detailed example proving that lesson. It's structured as a case study to illustrate the warning. That's what makes it cautionary.

Elimination: Not ambivalent (clear point), not optimistic (ends in decline), not revisionary (not correcting history), not disparaging (respects the successes). The only fit left is the tone that delivers a lesson from a rise and fall: cautionary.

KarishmaB · Answer

The point is that there is no better option. The other 4 options are wrong as I discussed in my post above. 
But the passage does have enough elements of giving caution. It tells us the story along the lines of - Something that seems to be doing very well may fall on hard times suddenly. 
Hence (E) is the correct answer. We usually don't get tone questions these days so don't worry too much, but understanding the tone could be important for extrapolation kind of questions.

kartickdey · Answer

KarishmaB  regarding Q1
it is true that option A is very much direct but to me option C also appears right because in the passage it is stated that overexpansion is the main cause of decline and in case of TSR also, diversification was the main reason, very much similar to that of Wizards of the Coast. Please clarify.

guddo · Answer

1. According to the passage, the struggles of Wizards of the Coast could best be seen as

The passage describes how Wizards of the Coast rose rapidly due to innovative success, then declined after over-expansion, changing market conditions, and reduced flexibility. This pattern is framed as part of broader, recurring cycles in the gaming industry.

A. not uncommon among game companies.

This fits best.  The passage opens by saying the gaming industry regularly goes through cycles of expansion and consolidation, and Wizards is presented as one more example of that familiar pattern.

B. significantly more extreme than those faced by other game companies.

I do not think this is supported. The passage never claims Wizards’ struggles were worse than those of others; it treats them as typical of aggressive companies that overextend.

C. effectively identical to those faced by TSR.

This does not work. Although TSR and Wizards both suffered from over-expansion, their situations are not described as effectively identical. TSR’s problems predate Wizards’ acquisition and have different specifics.

D. a sign of the times during the "dot-com" crash.

This is too narrow. The dot-com crash is mentioned as one contributing factor, but the decline is clearly attributed to several causes, not just that period.

E. the direct result of inexperienced management.

I do not think this is right. The passage does not blame inexperience. In fact, Wizards initially made decisive and effective management choices, especially when restructuring TSR.

Answer: (A)

guddo · Answer

I get why C seems plausible. Both companies did suffer from overexpansion.

The problem is that the passage does not present Wizards’ decline as the same case as TSR’s. TSR is described as an earlier example, while Wizards is later shown to fall as part of a broader industry cycle. Similar causes appear, but the author never claims their struggles were effectively identical.

That’s why, I think, A fits better and C goes a step too far.

KarishmaB · Answer

For Wizards, over-expansion is not mentioned as the reason for decline. People losing interest, dot-com crash etc were responsible.

Here are troubles faced by Wizard:
 The seemingly inexhaustible interest in increasingly elaborate trading card games waned, and even the core offerings of Magic and Pokemon lost their excitement. The "dot-com" crash played its role in the decline since much of the fast-climbing IT profession, long a center of gaming and collectibles, found itself on hard times. Traditional role-playing gamers were disturbed by the push to release revised versions of Dungeons and Dragons and balked at several high-profile and high-budget launches.

The trouble faced by TSR:
 Spread thin and across many product lines, TSR had become a victim of its own success, unwilling to return to core product lines after diversifying into novels, video games, and even Saturday morning cartoons.

Like any industry, the gaming industry has seen several cycles of

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Like any industry, the gaming industry has seen several cycles of

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