Playing D&D is probably what a lot of people do the least and it has been like that for some time.
What you do with a D&D books is:
0) Sometimes research it.
1) Buy/sell it. For some it stops there with collection.
2) Read it.
3) Analyse it
4) Talk about it.
5) Prepare a game with some of its info.
6) Use some of that info in a game.
#6 is probably what happens the least. There is nothing wrong with that. But the rest, say reading and talking about it, still needs to be cattered to. Some want to read the new Forgotten Realms Campaign setting. Others want to theory craft the new fighter feats in Complete Sword User. Others just talk about how the Beholder art is awesome and the new history of beholders just rocks. Plus there is that satisfaction of buying the fresh new book. None of those can be done right now. This is what people are complaining about. At least in part.
Alright, look I know there's been a few snarky comments going back and forth over Wizards's release cycle in a couple of threads the last few weeks, and while I don't think I was particularly antagonistic in any of my posts I'll retroactively apologize now if I was because I seriously think I've figured out exactly why Wizards is not catering to your tastes.
You've perfectly summed up the uses for a D&D book in a nutshell. A LOT of players buy books they'll never use in a campaign; they're a martial character but they've picked up the Complete Book of Spells and plan out the ultimate wizard for the next campaign they play in - at which point they end up playing a paladin using options from Divine Heroes because it's going to be an undead-centric campaign and there's already a cleric of life, or whatever.
It's even worse for DMs - very few get to run more than one ongoing campaign at a time, and even if you're lucky to have a lot of rotating groups to DM for, you'll never use most of the stuff you touch. And the stuff you
do prepare for a game, most of it won't be used unless you've got them strictly on rails - players like to go left when you were expecting them to go right, they kill important quest NPCs, they get TPKed by owlbears at level two - stuff like that.
You're right, #6 is the thing that happens the least, but that was alright in 3rd and 4th Edition - folks still bought the books with the
aim of playing with that material some day, and there are plenty of theorycrafters, optimizers and world-builders who might not ever sit down at a table and play but they were buying books so Wizards was happy to sell them to them.
The model has changed now.Today, the only thing Wizards cares about is #6. Sure, obviously you need to read the material and prepare to run it as well, but they aren't interested in customers who aren't looking to play D&D. I mean, they'll take your money if you want to buy what they're putting out, but even buying books is only of secondary concern to actually having people play the game - the basic rules are all anyone really needs, and those are completely free.
Wizards doesn't care about books sales anymore,, which means the theorycrafters, optimizers and world-builders who bought books but never played games with them are no longer the demographic they're targeting. They want people
playing, because players are engaged with the brand, and are likely to pick up a D&D video game or buy a ticket to see the D&D movie.
Which isn't to say that theorycrafters / optimizers and the like are
unengaged, but there's no theorycrafting or optimizing to be found in a D&D movie so they're no longer being targeted as customers. I don't know what arrangement Hasbro has with Universal - maybe it's merchandizing based, maybe it's a cut of the gross - but even if it's just a straight check they're cut for the right to use the property to make a film, it'll be worth more than they'll see in a whole year of splatbook years. Seriously, pen and paper games are
not that big an industry - even the biggest sharks in the TTRPG pond are tiny guppies next to even a mediocre box office gross, and video games are even bigger.
Casual D&D players who don't buy books other than the Player's Handbook (and there are plenty who never even buy that much) vastly outnumber the hardcore fans who buy all the books. Wizards is focusing on growing the number of
casual players, with the lightest ruleset since the old Basic line, doubling down on Adventurers League initiatives and actively avoiding a "Wall of Books" that might intimidate newcomers. The more people they get to think, "Hey this D&D thing is actually pretty fun", or even "This is nerdy as hell, but my friends like it and I've had worse evenings" is a potential customer for the parts of the brand that actually will make money.
So
that is why we're not seeing more stuff, and why they've scaled down the RPG staff to 8 folks. They'll put out a couple books a year to give people something to play, and maybe we'll see the return of Dungeon or Dragon, but apart from the occasional campaign setting book what you've seen so far is pretty much going to be it in terms of support for the pen and paper line, and that's far more than most tabletop games ever get, honestly.
