D&D General D&D Book Prices Are Going Up

WotC announced today that D&D books will be increasing in price this year.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be $59.99 as a preorder and $69.99 thereafter. These will apparently come as physical and digital bundles, so you won’t need to buy the D&D Beyond version separately.

This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn’t particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we’ve kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we’ve finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.

This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don’t need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn’t impact backlist titles. While we can’t promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.

Players who purchase the Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants digital-physical bundle through Dungeons & Dragons store can get the bundle for $59.95 for the entire preorder window, which is consistent with our current digital-physical bundle pricing. After the preorder window closes, digital-physical bundle prices will go to $69.95.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I've seen some worth $100. Good binding, great art, original content, stuff to be proudly displayed on a shelf. The only thing I've seen close to that from WotC was "Art & Arcana."
I don't flip through most official products and feel that there's quality. Honestly, they feel rushed and amateurish. Splitting binding, smeared text, half completed art, generic maps, encounters that haven't been playtested, stories written by teams of authors who don't know what the others are doing.

I feel you have made most of this up. I have yet to see this in any physical book I have bought.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Fair point, but it's usually more controlled.

Not really, American gold and silver did a number on the Spanish economy (and if memory serves, it did a lot of damage to the Ottoman economy also ).
Mansa Munsa caused prolonged inflation in North Africa and Egypt on his way to and from Mecca.

 

[cbwjm]

At least on drive thru one reason I think prices are sometimes higher is the top 100 algorithm is based on amount of revenue (not just numbers sold). So this means you can end up lower on the list even if you outsell other games, if your price is too low (and being on the list helps drive sales)

That seems like a weird way of doing it to me. I'd have thought it would be driven primarily by units sold with total revenue being a secondary factor.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That seems like a weird way of doing it to me. I'd have thought it would be driven primarily by units sold with total revenue being a secondary factor.

Depends on if the list is for the benefit of the buyers or the sellers.

 

[Bedrockgames]

That seems like a weird way of doing it to me. I'd have thought it would be driven primarily by units sold with total revenue being a secondary factor.

It used to be based on units sold but it was changed (I can't recall the exact details but think the change was related to publishers being concerned that some were gaming the system with lower price points and getting to the top of the list, so I think there were a bunch of 1 dollar items there).

 

[Parmandur]

Not really, American gold and silver did a number on the Spanish economy (and if memory serves, it did a lot of damage to the Ottoman economy also ).
Mansa Munsa caused prolonged inflation in North Africa and Egypt on his way to and from Mecca.

Rather historically abnormal events...but in neither case could a Spanish or Egyptian toy maker resist inflation.

 

[Stormonu]

I feel you have made most of this up. I have yet to see this in any physical book I have bought.

Well, my 1st PHB 5E book fell apart 6 mo. - 1 year after buying it. I've had the smearing ink and upside-down pages issues, but that was back in 4E (and in 2E, the first printing of the Monstrous Manual had a section repeated and another missing in it). The rest, sounds like personal opinion*.

* Untested encounters sound likes the Irontooth encounter from Keep on the Shadowfell, but that was a 4E issue.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, my 1st PHB 5E book fell apart 6 mo. - 1 year after buying it. I've had the smearing ink and upside-down pages issues, but that was back in 4E (and in 2E, the first printing of the Monstrous Manual had a section repeated and another missing in it). The rest, sounds like personal opinion*.

* Untested encounters sound likes the Irontooth encounter from Keep on the Shadowfell, but that was a 4E issue.

They did replace any that did that, though.

 

[Retreater]

I feel you have made most of this up. I have yet to see this in any physical book I have bought.

Here's a quick shot from one on my shelf. The DMG I've looked at twice is also doing it. Same as the PHB I gave away to my teenaged nephew.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My

Here's a quick shot from one on my shelf. The DMG I've looked at twice is also doing it. Same as the PHB I gave away to my teenaged nephew.

5e MM has pages falling out as well.