I wasn't around for that. I've seen a few token appearances but not many.
I think it could still work, provided ENWorld is committed to warning or banning people who abuse the WotCers, and people don't try to corner the staff. The more they post the more used to them people will become and the less confrontation people will be, since it feels less like they're only opportunity to vent or express months of feelings.
The regular presence of Paizo staff on their boards is typically positive, and there's no fewer jerks and trolls there.
My apologies then; I know you've been around these boards a long time, I just assumed you'd been here for 4E and Scott Rouse. He was WotC's brand manager during 4E's launch, and he (along with Mike Mearls and James Wyatt and Rich Baker, IIRC) made a valiant effort to keep in direct touch with fans over the direction of 4E. Unfortunately, 4E ended up being pretty controversial, and the resulting Edition Wars atmosphere turned even ENWorld (which had and has very high quality moderating) pretty toxic. Any comment from somebody connected to WotC would--often months later, and completely out of context--be used to rip into the company for either 4E or failures to live up to expectations created by the fans. I've seen Paizo's board, and they aren't exactly peaceful, but in 2008 everywhere was a flamewar.
I mostly agree. It does seem like they're giving D&D one more chance to not fail before they shutter the RPG.
But I think they're trying to divorce the profits of D&D from the RPG rather than holding back on investing in books. They're breaking D&D from the accessory cycle, so that continued sales of the Core Rulebooks and other products provide all the necessary RPG money for the brand with most of the money coming from elsewhere. So that any money made from accessories/expansions is pure bonus cash.
You for sure aren't wrong. Unfortunately D&D is in the unenviable position of being a valuable brand in a dying medium. D&D isn't strong enough yet to stand without the TTRPG fans, but TTRPGs and publishing are dying a slow death in a digital world. WotC has famously not been smooth in transitioning into the digital economy either. The challenge now is to get people who don't play TTRPGs to care about something with D&D printed on it; ultimately, on the balance sheet, WotC and Hasbro won't (and can't and shouldn't) care what products people are buying from them--whether TTRPG books or comics or video games or TV shows--as long as enough people are buying something with D&D printed on it.
I live in Alberta. The majority of our economy is tied to the oil industry. Taxes and exports and such. So when the price of oil goes down, our economy goes into shock and suddenly we don't have enough money for schools or hospitals or infrastructure. The health of the entire province is tied to the one industry whose fluctuations are beyond our control.
If your listed location is accurate, then you and I are in the same town, friend.
I see the last couple editions of D&D as similar to that. Everything was riding on the tabletop RPG. 4e especially where they doubled down on regular books selling extra-well (because everything was core) and the regular subscription money of DDI. When books sales dipped for whatever reason (a less popular book being released or things cutting into disposable cash, such as a geeky video game, blockbuster movie season beginning, or a hit rival RPG book being released) the entire brand suffered.
Spreading things out means that even if the tabletops suffer one month the video games and minis keep profits afloat.
No doubt! Unfortunately, it really sucks for those of us (like you and I) who
aretabletop D&D fans, because clearly, in Q1 and Q2 2015, WotC is not planning to provide anywhere near the level of TTRPG content it had following previous new editions. I understand why not, but it still sucks for us.
Outsourcing (aka freelancing) isn't uncommon. Most of Paizo's AP volumes are written by freelancers. Having editing, layout, and art handled by other people is odd, but the WotC team did have other books to work on. I can imagine the production stuff returning in-house for future books, even if writing is still mostly done by other studios.
Sure, but 5E marks the first edition where D&D was having significant portions of its new TTRPG content produced by entirely different studios (rather than just by freelancers writing for WotC). By licensing Sasquatch and Kobold Press to produce the books, WotC diffuses their own risk; if a product flops, it's Kobold Press' investment lost, and WotC is only out the royalties it would have collected.
They're not abandoning the RPG, guys. They need to clear $50 million in order to get the kind of budget they had in the 3e days. They know they can't get that from the RPG by itself. They gave it a valiant try with 4e. The only way they can do it is by expanding the brand. Get some popular video games, maybe some kind of media project, be that TV or movie, things like that. If they can clear that number, or at least bring enough revenue to make Hasbro's quarterly reports, then they'll get more of that sweet, sweet Hasbro cash to spend on a bigger R&D group and a bit more product.
You're right, but do you have a source for this $50 million number?
