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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
WotC, DDI, 4E, and Hasbro: Some History
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<blockquote data-quote="OpsKT" data-source="post: 7648008" data-attributes="member: 70780"><p>As pointed out in between here and your original post, <em><strong>because it is the gateway brand/drug.</strong></em> Most everyone that plays RPGs starts out with (and has first heard of D&D), and it will still be that way for a long time. It might be in the next 20 years that Pathfinder takes that place* but for now that gateway king is D&D. Therefore, for the good of the hobby even if you've moved on to other games, you need it to be healthy. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>... I am not the only one that knows this, so we can assume I'm not crazy. D&D was indeed another license whose value was being considered during the acquisition, and I guaran-dang-tee that the sales records for every novel with Drizzit was looked at as more valuable than one setting book of the one RPG game line he was born in. </p><p></p><p>For quick example, according to Amazon, right NOW the D&D v3.5 Player's Handbook is rank #40,909. <em>Just</em> <u>The Crystal Shard</u>, the first book that had Drizzit in it, is #77,644. That book however is one of about, what, 50+ novels, all that have been best sellers? And that book is the oldest and first (and that specific one I used, a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Shard-Icewind-Trilogy-Forgotten/dp/0786942460/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325896339&sr=1-2" target="_blank">reprint</a>). The newer they get, the higher the rank goes, like <u>Homeland</u> at #64,568, with the exception of post Spellpague stuff even though that sells well still (it just give correlation that the gamers hate the change, but not the novel-only readers). </p><p></p><p>Now, v3.5 didn't exist when Hasbro bought WotC. Amazon did not exist when AD&D 2nd Edition was the game either, but they still have an estimated sales rank. #146,985. </p><p></p><p>But the fact remains, that for every 1 D&D book sold, there are about 5 more D&D related novels sold, many to non gamers. That was the sales volume that Hasbro was looking at when they were considering the D&D part of buying WotC. Therefore, my theory stands. Hasbro did not buy the D&D brand for the RPG, they bought it for Drizzit. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>* I wonder how much Pathfinder would be helped with another movie with a young, up and coming Tom Hanks like star being lost in the sewers of a University playing Pathfinder? Or, a concerned parent group, though BAP doesn't have the same ring as BADD...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="OpsKT, post: 7648008, member: 70780"] As pointed out in between here and your original post, [i][b]because it is the gateway brand/drug.[/b][/i] Most everyone that plays RPGs starts out with (and has first heard of D&D), and it will still be that way for a long time. It might be in the next 20 years that Pathfinder takes that place* but for now that gateway king is D&D. Therefore, for the good of the hobby even if you've moved on to other games, you need it to be healthy. Except... ... I am not the only one that knows this, so we can assume I'm not crazy. D&D was indeed another license whose value was being considered during the acquisition, and I guaran-dang-tee that the sales records for every novel with Drizzit was looked at as more valuable than one setting book of the one RPG game line he was born in. For quick example, according to Amazon, right NOW the D&D v3.5 Player's Handbook is rank #40,909. [i]Just[/i] [u]The Crystal Shard[/u], the first book that had Drizzit in it, is #77,644. That book however is one of about, what, 50+ novels, all that have been best sellers? And that book is the oldest and first (and that specific one I used, a [url=http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Shard-Icewind-Trilogy-Forgotten/dp/0786942460/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325896339&sr=1-2]reprint[/url]). The newer they get, the higher the rank goes, like [u]Homeland[/u] at #64,568, with the exception of post Spellpague stuff even though that sells well still (it just give correlation that the gamers hate the change, but not the novel-only readers). Now, v3.5 didn't exist when Hasbro bought WotC. Amazon did not exist when AD&D 2nd Edition was the game either, but they still have an estimated sales rank. #146,985. But the fact remains, that for every 1 D&D book sold, there are about 5 more D&D related novels sold, many to non gamers. That was the sales volume that Hasbro was looking at when they were considering the D&D part of buying WotC. Therefore, my theory stands. Hasbro did not buy the D&D brand for the RPG, they bought it for Drizzit. * I wonder how much Pathfinder would be helped with another movie with a young, up and coming Tom Hanks like star being lost in the sewers of a University playing Pathfinder? Or, a concerned parent group, though BAP doesn't have the same ring as BADD... [/QUOTE]
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