My previous understanding was that none of these companies will be attending or have product to purchase at the Indy Con this year, but all of them have now been added to the Exhibitor List. Can someone please clarify what the situation is? I have already purchased my badge and will be attending regardless, but I think it's important to be clear for people who may still be on the fence. If they are on the Exhibitor List, that implies to me, rightly or wrongly, they will have a booth.

Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K

After you get in touch with those companies, let us know what they said.

It could be that they have a 3rd party representing them like Paizo does, but if that's the case, I feel like the list should specify that (not that I think it's a bad thing at all, just something that should be disclosed, because enough people will care).

If it is merely some other vendor that is going to be selling Asmodee, FF or Petersen games stuff, then rather misleading.   I don't consider Troll and Toad selling Paizo stuff to be Paizo being an exhibitor any more than grabbing a Hot Dog and soda at the concession stand that Oscar Mayer and Coca Cola are present as exhibitors.

I'm a bit of a student of the Exhibitor list - especially when it comes to RPGs.  There have always been edge cases where someone is representing another publisher and both are listed.  Or the reverse, where only one is listed.  I assume it has to do with the forms that were filled out.

Indie Press Revolution is a good example.  They carry RPGs from 30+ publishers, but only IPR is on the list.  That doesn't mean the individual publishers aren't there; they often are.

In the case of Paizo and maybe the publishers on the subject line here, I'm sure Gen Con wants to let everyone know the products will be available in the Exhibit Hall.  

YMMV!

I agree this updated list may be misleading for a large swath of people who look at the list and assume these are separate vendors with separate booths.  I did a comparison to the June 11th original listing and there are 229 new additions to the June 25th updated list,  14 are indicated as first year at GenCon and 215 are returning vendors.

If you compare the updated list to the 2019 vendor list (535 vendors) the newly updated list is only missing 83 of those vendors.

Knowing that the Paizo listing is likely due to the fact Toad and Troll will be their 3rd party representation I am going to assume that is the route that was taken with many of the vendors added to the updated list.  Paizo has at least officially stated they chose 3rd party representation and that they will be carrying new release material as is typical at GenCon.  I think listing Paizo in this case makes sense, they are being represented with new offering or at least selections as it would be anticipated at GenCon.  My concern with the others is that they are on the list because a retailer like Cool Stuff Inc might have some of their games randomly on the shelf.  I wouldn't really consider something like that true 3rd party representation.  Once enough buzz starts around the list I assume some of these vendors will take to social media and provide some comments, or GenCon may clear up some of the confusion on their next list update.

I will be at GenCon regardless of this or what is happening to the event calendar.  None of this is judgment, it is more curiosity to the point of obsession. 

I don't see Asmodee, CMON, and Petersen on the Exhibitor list.  Maybe they popped on and then off? 

(list updated 6/27...)

Paizo has also disappeared from the list.

Most likely, like Paizo, they are going to arrange for an already coming vendor to serve as their distribution group for this year.

You know, this really is an interesting point, particularly given what Brumcg pointed out about Indie Press Revolution.  What I am actually interested in when I look at the list of exhibitors for any given year is whether I will be able to support that company by buying their products on-site; this certainly suggests listing anyone who is either attending directly or working with a vendor to dispense their goods should be listed.  But at the same time, I remember being frustrated at some point years ago because I was looking for some specific company's products, because I knew other people had picked them up there, only to find they were being sold by some other company I never would have associated with them.  So it might be most useful to list it as like "Paizo via Troll & Toad" or something.  But I suppose if there are a lot of companies doing that it might also look awkward in a list.