D&D 5E Mike Mearls interview - states that they may be getting off of the 2 AP/year train.

[Shasarak]

So essentially the evil corporation isn't shoveling out enough product for you? That model didn't work (long term) for previous editions, what makes you think it would work now? When D&D was owned by a dedicated company TSR, the company effectively went bankrupt. For 3.x and 4, they had to do reboots to stay in business.

I still want to know what you mean by work (long term) because 2e lasted long term and 3e/4e book a month lasted long term and yet somehow a book every 6 months, which for the record has not lasted long term, is now the new success story.

With today's much more fragmented marketplace, I don't see how most companies could be profitable enough to stay in business for the long term while cranking out the volume of material some people indicate that they want. Unlike Tesla, most companies need to make a profit to keep the lights on.

Which is why they created the dmsguild.

It would be interesting to know how much the DMs Guild nets for WotC. I have seen a few authors giving figures for their sales and it does not seem to be much but who knows maybe it all adds up to a significant number.

 

[Corpsetaker]

So essentially the evil corporation isn't shoveling out enough product for you? That model didn't work (long term) for previous editions, what makes you think it would work now? When D&D was owned by a dedicated company TSR, the company effectively went bankrupt. For 3.x and 4, they had to do reboots to stay in business.

With today's much more fragmented marketplace, I don't see how most companies could be profitable enough to stay in business for the long term while cranking out the volume of material some people indicate that they want. Unlike Tesla, most companies need to make a profit to keep the lights on.

Which is why they created the dmsguild.

The problem with you argument, and all the other ones like it, is the fact that they are all the same. You basically argue that any release schedule that isn't the 5th edition one is automatically the one they would use for previous editions. If you actually compared the current one to the earlier ones you have a lot of room for a happy medium, unfortunately the current one just doesn't hit it for a lot of people.

Unfortunately, DMsGuild has a lot of crap you have to sift through and loads of DM's plus sanctioned games do not allow DMsGuild stuff so what then?

 

[Corpsetaker]

What you could easily do is when you do a race specific book, have about four or five races listed in the book so you cover more people with in one book, same could be said for classes. You could do a martial handbook, a rogue handbook, and a spellcaster handbook.

 

[Oofta]

The problem with you argument, and all the other ones like it, is the fact that they are all the same. You basically argue that any release schedule that isn't the 5th edition one is automatically the one they would use for previous editions. If you actually compared the current one to the earlier ones you have a lot of room for a happy medium, unfortunately the current one just doesn't hit it for a lot of people.

Unfortunately, DMsGuild has a lot of crap you have to sift through and loads of DM's plus sanctioned games do not allow DMsGuild stuff so what then?

I'm not saying I wouldn't like a few more books. Well, if they produced the books I personally want.

However, that's a long way from saying that HASBRO is evil because it's a corporation which is what is being argued. Or that only companies that are completely 100% dedicated to only making TTRPGs can produce good games or enough product to satisfy everyone's personal desire.

HASBRO deserves credit for supporting the D&D team. Are they perfect? No. No company is. But claiming that they are evil or that they didn't take a risk in producing 5E is just plain silly.

 

[Arnwolf666]

Basically as long as people steal books electronically hardcopy sales will be in decline. Which is sad because I really love hardback RPG books and really hate electronic formats.

 

[robus]

It would be interesting to know how much the DMs Guild nets for WotC. I have seen a few authors giving figures for their sales and it does not seem to be much but who knows maybe it all adds up to a significant number.

If it's anything like the App Store the top 10% take 90% and the top 1% take 90% of that...

 

[robus]

Unlike Tesla, most companies need to make a profit to keep the lights on.

There are a lot of good reasons to question capitalism, but this is not one of them.

 

[PMárk]

I'm not saying I wouldn't like a few more books. Well, if they produced the books I personally want.

However, that's a long way from saying that HASBRO is evil because it's a corporation which is what is being argued. Or that only companies that are completely 100% dedicated to only making TTRPGs can produce good games or enough product to satisfy everyone's personal desire.

HASBRO deserves credit for supporting the D&D team. Are they perfect? No. No company is. But claiming that they are evil or that they didn't take a risk in producing 5E is just plain silly.

Okay, just to make it clear: "evil corporate overlords" is just irony/jest on my part. They are 'probably' not evil, they're just a big company, with different goals and expectations than a smaller, ttrpg specialized one and that comes with certain implications, which results in a not-ideal situation for a fair number of fans. That's it.

 

[Patrick McGill]

If you actually compared the current one to the earlier ones you have a lot of room for a happy medium, unfortunately the current one just doesn't hit it for a lot of people.

It might not hit it for you, but there's no way to know how many people aren't into the current release schedule. There's argument on this forum about it, sure, but WotC has the numbers (we don't). So they're the ones with the information to make that decision.

What we do know is that this edition has been a runaway success beyond anything they expected. Whether this has to do with the release schedule or not there's no way to be certain, but you certainly could theorize. And again, they have the numbers. If they thought that a faster release schedule would net them more money and be better for the game, don't you think they'd do that?

 

[Geeknamese]

Ha, not a liar as such - he is using the numbers to tell whatever story that he wants to tell. Hey look at the wonderful sales figures, hey look at the terrible sales figures - the goal posts shift so fast you dont know if you are coming or going. And the funny thing is no one outside of the insiders know what the "real" figures are anyway.

For example if we look at the metrics of staff employed or products produced per annum then Paizo is not the number two company.

Sales figures with the D&D 5e team running so lean and mean, means efficiency. The metrics of staff employed and products produced could also be seen as, IMO just like the Pathfinder Game, bloat and inefficiency.


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