Ampersand: 2011 releases officially gutted

[captainspud]

From today's Ampersand (emphasis mine) :

D&D RPG Product Release Updates

Despite the best laid plans, sometimes we make changes to the D&D product release schedule. Usually this happens well before we’ve communicated our plans, but sometimes we must make changes to schedules that have already been announced. That happens to be the case we have here.

We have made the decision to depart from prepainted plastic miniatures sets. Lords of Madness stands as the final release under that model. We will continue to release special collector’s sets (such as the Beholder Collector’s Set we released last fall), as well as make use of plastic figures in other product offerings. Check out the Wrath of Ashardalon board game next month for the latest example of this. Moving forward, we will continue to explore more options for players to represent characters and monsters on the tabletop, including Monster Vault and other D&D products that feature monster and character tokens.

The Heroes of Shadow product, originally scheduled for March and presented in digest-sized, paperback format, is moving to April to accommodate a change to hardcover format. Additionally, three D&D RPG products have been removed from the 2011 release schedule—Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, and Hero Builder’s Handbook. While this means fewer books, we plan to deliver just as much great content for players this year through other formats, including board games, accessories, and digital offerings. I’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest releases each month as we go along.

So barring further announcements, the ONLY book releases this year are Heroes of Shadow (APR), Shadowfell (JUN), and the Monster Vault: TttNV (JUN).

Adjectives fail me.

 

[Pour]

This is going to be a very dark year...

 

[Dungeoneer]

Operating under the unlikely premise that WotC likes to sell books and make money, I predict that they will announce other products in the near future to fill the holes in the schedule.

 

[Maccwar]

Yes folks, the sky is officially falling.

I had just expected the products to be pushed back, which may yet turn out to be the case but it does look like WoTC are slowing 4e support to a trickle.

 

[jbear]

But what we really want to know is why. Why have they been removed?

The only thing I can think of is they have decided to do something about the criticism received about the content being produced in the DDi magazines and plan to release the missing books through there instead.

I guess there is naught to do but wait and see.

 

[JoeGKushner]

While this means fewer books, we plan to deliver just as much great content for players this year through other formats, including board games, accessories, and digital offerings

I bet that stuff will wind up in Dragon/Dungeon and it'll be one way they cut back costs since all of that material should already be written. Add in that they're not doing a compiled PDF every month and hey, they can just throw what they want against the wall to see what sticks.

 

[Aegeri]

Disappointing. I really hope we see something being released and soon to bring excitement back up

 

[Obryn]

Wow, yeah. I have to concur - this actually is a "sky is falling" sort of moment.

I have to say, this ...

"we plan to deliver just as much great content for players this year through other formats, including board games, accessories, and digital offerings."

...does not inspire confidence. I am not going to buy board games or most "accessories" to enhance my D&D game. That's what books are for.

The digital offerings thing is probably a gross exaggeration, judging by their actual recent track record. If we were going to see a surge in digital offerings, I would have thought we'd start to see something by now, given that these other books have simply vanished. I remain super, super skeptical.

-O

 

[Truename]

What a disappointing column. I was hoping that the hole in the schedule was due to some surprise in the works--and if not, then I was hoping there would at least be some explanation. Sadly, Ampersand just gave me what I've come to expect from it... spin, spin, spin, with very little real communication.

I did think it was interesting that the reason HoS was delayed was because of a switch from softcover to hardcover. I presume this means that the softcover books weren't as successful (or profitable?) as they wanted.

 

[Doc Eldritch]

Wow..this almost sounds like they are pulling back from an RPG market slowly, and wanting to focus more effort on related areas, such as boardgames tied to an RPG "name".

Perhaps a bit early to tell, but NOT a good sign and the article does not inspire hope. Feels like WotC is seriously dropping the ball here, though only time will tell for sure. I know that I personally, have little interest in individual articles and would rather see a compilation for Dragon/Dungeon. I mean, a magazine, by definition, is a compilation of articles! Not an individual article here and there under a brand name.

The missing books are truly a shame, as they seemed more interesting that what was left on the lineup. And with no word as to WHY things were changed so suddenly, it leaves a lot of doubt as to what WotC intends for possible future books.