Hasbro CEO: "D&D is Really on a Tear"

Sorry, that laugh was a result of clumsy fingers on my phone.

 

[ZeshinX]

I imagine most its current success is the sales of the Core Rules. Those, typically, always sell quite well at launch/early in its life (everyone "kicking the tires" of the new edition and such). Thankfully, 5e is quite an excellent set of rules. Easy to learn, quick to play, and most of all, fun as hell to play.

It's ability to stick around, its staying power, remains to be seen. It's a great system, but the support for it up to now has been....well, there, but cloudy (to me). Yes, WotC is determined to go with the story line thing, which is great for folks who like to use pre-built adventures...but those who prefer to build their own seem to be very much a secondary concern (again, seems that way to me).

Time will tell. I'd like some options. More backgrounds, more class options, setting books (no, the story line modules alone don't cut it for setting support)....well, time will tell.

 

[Wicht]

"Tear" as in ripping, not "tear" as in eye moisture. It means that it's ripping up the competition (i.e. doing very well). American English
idioms

More specifically, I am pretty sure it refers to a mad, sometimes violent, rush. Originally it did mean attacking without restraint or caution, but over time the concept of speed was added onto the original implication so that a vehicle can also be said to be going at a tear. Which just means it is going really fast, without any implication of violence. In the context of the original quote in this thread, success of sales is what is implied, not necessarily the destruction of the "enemy."

I'm actually surprised at the number of people unfamiliar with the idiom.

 

[jaycrockett]

They said the pop-a-matic was a gimmick. They said it was a rip off of a classic, Parcheesi. They said all the cool kids wanted the card based movement of Sorry.

Well my friends they were wrong. Trouble is back. The one true move-your-guy-around-the-board-to-home-base is getting it's props from the Hasbro investor call, and that can only mean good things for the future.

 

[ad_hoc]

I just can't get my head around people saying that there is no support for the game.

It has been out for less than a year. I would probably like a supplemental book in 2 or 3 years. I would understand if they released one a year after release. But a few months? That is ridiculous to me.

I think they are going above and beyond with the free PDFs they are posting. I wouldn't have expected that.

 

[Mercurius]

This is why all the doom and gloom threads are (in my view) ridiculous. So many posters seem unable to distinguish what they want to play their games from the commercial context that WotC/Hasbro cares about.

I'm not sure what you mean by "doom and gloom threads" as most of the threads I've read on the topic don't seem to as much predict the demise of 5E, but bemoan the lack of product and news about future product. If that is what you are referring to, I don't see why it is ridiculous or why it is doom-and-gloom. People (including myself) want more product (within reason) because it is a great game, because what we've seen so far has been overall excellent, and because, gosh darn it, we like D&D books!

Furthermore, I don't think "what the people want" and the "commercial context that Hasbro/WotC cares about" are as separate as you imply, and in the long-run become more and more important. Clearly Hasbro/WotC isn't or shouldn't only be concerned about long-time players and grognards who want the wheel reinvented again, but they also shouldn't lose sight of the "bird in hand" as they reach out for the hypothetical "two in the bush." If they only plan on using D&D the RPG as a kind of reference point for more lucrative licensing and don't expand the RPG beyond the core +two story arcs a year approach, they aren't going to build and maintain the community loyalty that makes a game thrive. I personally don't see why they can't do both: creative lucrative licensing opportunities, but also expand the game itself.

Given the theory I've been expounding here especially over the past week, regarding 5E's trickle-out release schedule, I take this to be very good news. Successful 5E means more 5E in the future.

My hope is that what we're seeing is WotC taking a (probably wisely) conservative approach that will gradually expand outward as they establish a solid beach-head of popularity and stability. I have a hard time imagining that they won't gradually roll out more products. Probably (and hopefully) nothing like we've seen from 2E to 4E, but certainly more than the two story arcs a year approach.

 

[delericho]

I just can't get my head around people saying that there is no support for the game.

That's probably because nobody is saying there is no support for the game.

As for people saying there is not enough support for the game, that should be easy enough to understand, based on a single fact: at this point in time there are no announced products coming from WotC. You might well not agree that that's a problem, but surely you can "get your head around" it?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I'm also amused at the number of people not familiar with the "on a tear" idiom but I guess it's distinctly American. It definitely means "it's ripping up the competition" but also means "it's ripping through the sales charts" in a business context.

I'm more amused at the fact that the context of the quote clearly shows that to Hasbro D&D is directly equated with other games like Risk, Scrabble and Candy Land in terms of where it stands as a product. Which makes me imagine for a moment that just as there's a crew of 7 managing the D&D brand I now wonder if somewhere in Hasbro's corporate HQ there's a 7-man team working on the best way they can leverage Candy Land into a juggernaut, all the while glaring out the window in Renton's direction, grimacing in anger at the new high bar that has been set for ALL Hasbro titles this quarter.

 

[Bugleyman]

If the CEO of Hasbro said it, you can take that to the bank.

On a more serious note, It's nice that D&D seems to be doing well. It's still at a significant competitive disadvantage until they figure out eBooks. But they've only had what, five years? Gotta temper those expectations I guess...

 

[DEFCON 1]

My hope is that what we're seeing is WotC taking a (probably wisely) conservative approach that will gradually expand outward as they establish a solid beach-head of popularity and stability. I have a hard time imagining that they won't gradually roll out more products. Probably (and hopefully) nothing like we've seen from 2E to 4E, but certainly more than the two story arcs a year approach.

And a conservative release schedule being *wise* is entirely the point. There is a LOT of time to release books, as we haven't even reached the end of Year One yet.

Here was the release schedule for 4E:

In June '08 they released Player's Handbook 1, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, and Monster Manual 1. Nine months later they released Player's Handbook 2. Two months after that, they release Monster Manual 2. So at the end of Year One for 4th edition... they had already blown through the release of 5 core books. DMG 2 was released in September '09. Player's Handbook 3 was released in March '10. And Monster Manual 3 was released in June of '10.

So in two years time in the life cycle of 4E... they had already blown through EIGHT different core rule books. In TWO YEARS. And this doesn't even include the five Powers books published in and around them all. You want to know why 4E's life cycle was so short? THAT'S the reason right there. There was nothing worthwhile left to publish except a soft reboot with Essentials.

Right now, we have no idea if 5E will see this same amount of support. My guess is when we look back on 5E from a decade or so in the future, it might end up getting up there. The only difference being those eight core books (or publications on par with those kinds of books) are going to be spread out over Years One through Five, rather than entirely crammed into Years One and Two. And yeah... that's annoying players who like a fast publication cycle because they now have nothing to read and instead are just stuck playing the game instead... but from everything we've heard from the Powers That Be... that's the new paradigm for this newest edition and we all just gotta accept it.

But I do find it funny hearing the myriad of people who keep spouting here on the boards that if WotC doesn't publish faster that the game is going to die on the vine... cause I think it was proven quite conclusively that doing it the other way during 4E didn't work either. And I would suspect that the men and women in the D&D department of Wizards also know this.

 

[Nebulous]

What does "on a tear" mean? Aren't tears bad?

Tears of joy?