D&D 5E D&D Up 35% In 2020 While Virtual Play Rises 86%

In this article from the Los Angeles Times, WotC's Liz Schuh shared a couple of interesting statistics: D&D revenues increased 35% in 2020 over 2019; and online play is up 86% (for obvious reasons).

Turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real-life monster — COVID-19

With little else to do, the COVID-19 pandemic has given D&D players a reason to gather virtually to go on heroic quests in the increasingly popular role-playing game.

www.latimes.com

The LA Times published a similar article a couple of months ago. See my big list of articles about D&D in the meanstream!

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

I'm sure that D&D books and sets now being staples of the book and toy sections of Target has a fair bit to do with it; never underestimate the psychological impact of putting the product front and center rather than hiding it back with the sci-fi novels in a typical bookstore. Between that and things like Critical Role and the D&D Cookbook, I'm guessing the curious are finding the game and it's related products more accessible than ever before!

Despite being the grognard/nerdsnob that I am, I actually think this is a wonderful thing, welcome the newcomers to the hobby, and don't mind if Wizards has had to "dumb down" or make "cultural" changes to appeal to a broader audience - the bigger audience is creating a great "long tail" of independent writers, small producers and Kickstarter-funded ventures that are producing content to satisfy every niche. So as I've said before, I don't care too much if Wizards isn't catering to my every whim - I care that they're keeping the hobby healthy so that there are plenty of other people in it who cater to my tastes (and those of everyone else)!

 

[Stalker0]

What I'm most curious about will be the long term impact. For example, until this last year I have heavily resisted online gaming, I was like "I will never game online, only in person".

COVID forced my hand, and though I still prefer in person gaming a good amount, remote gaming was not nearly as bad as I had feared. So I am now in a bi-weekly game remote, and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[Morrus]

Dang. I mean, I know a lot of this is because of COVID and once people can go back to other activities the increase will likely drop, but that kind of growth at this point in the lifecycle is incredible. Especially considering the year after year increases we've seen since the release of 5E.

Maybe we can stop speculating about 6E coming out any day now? On second thought, never mind. I'm sure someone can come up with a reason to show that this will lead to a new edition being released soon.

"But Wizards is failing D&D and Hasbro is going to sell it!?"

It'll be interesting to see what happens with that massive increase in online play. I think it will decrease if we can ever get through the pandemic, but I don't think it will decrease as quickly or drastically as one might think.

What’s more ironic is that in this thread there are two people who have referred to people claiming D&D is failing, but no people who have actually made that claim.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't think we'll see 6E before 2024 minimum. Tasha's had that midlife edition whiff about it so 20267 or so is more likely. Eventually they'll hit saturation point and then they'll think about a new edition.

Imho of course.

The sales rumors if remotely true would be to sell at a high to get a good price since WotC is limited with movies and video games catch 22.

 

[Oofta]

What’s more ironic is that in this thread there are two people who have referred to people claiming D&D is failing, but no people who have actually made that claim.

I certainly don't expect a new edition any time soon. I'm not picking on anyone because I'm sure I've seen others post similar sentiments lately but a recent post stated that we can expect to see a new edition in a couple of years here.

 

[embee]

"But Wizards is failing D&D and Hasbro is going to sell it!?"

It'll be interesting to see what happens with that massive increase in online play. I think it will decrease if we can ever get through the pandemic, but I don't think it will decrease as quickly or drastically as one might think.

Even if it does decrease, so what?

WOTC doesn't own any of the VTT platforms. It doesn't even own D&D Beyond. None of those platforms add any cost. It (and its parent company) is a game publisher and an IP clearing house. It has plenty of brands under its umbrella so it can afford for D&D to be a loss-leader at any given time. WOTC has been doing this for the past 20+ years - through lean times and lush times.

I never understood the theory that circulating that WOTC would be looking to sell D&D (recently the subject of a video by Professor DM).

 

[Dausuul]

Speculating about a new edition and claiming D&D is failing are two different things.

New editions have often been used to juice declining sales, but there's no reason it has to be that way. As far as I know, 1E was still going strong when 2E came out. The goal was to consolidate and polish the existing game, which is why 2E was largely backward compatible. When and if 6E comes out, I expect it to be similar. It probably won't even be called 6E (officially, at least), and it will go out of its way to play nicely with 5E material.

 

[embee]

Speculating about a new edition and claiming D&D is failing are two different things.

New editions have often been used to juice declining sales, but there's no reason it has to be that way. As far as I know, 1E was still going strong when 2E came out. The goal was to consolidate and polish the existing game, which is why 2E was largely backward compatible. When and if 6E comes out, I expect it to be similar. It probably won't even be called 6E (officially, at least), and it will go out of its way to play nicely with 5E material.

They could call it something like "Advanced 5th Edition." I'm sure that would get greenlit by Legal.

 

[Dausuul]

They could call it something like "Advanced 5th Edition." I'm sure that would get greenlit by Legal.

...I must be missing something. Why would Legal object to that? I can see plenty of reasons why Marketing would object to it, or the designers, or pretty much anyone whose job includes "make sure people keep buying our game," but I can't imagine how it would get them into legal trouble.

 

[Emirikol Prime]

Dang. I mean, I know a lot of this is because of COVID and once people can go back to other activities the increase will likely drop, but that kind of growth at this point in the lifecycle is incredible. Especially considering the year after year increases we've seen since the release of 5E.

Maybe we can stop speculating about 6E coming out any day now? On second thought, never mind. I'm sure someone can come up with a reason to show that this will lead to a new edition being released soon.

I mean you’re right of course. No company as cost conscious as Hasbro would even dream about stopping this train to put cash into R&D.