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.

 

[Bedrockgames]

RPG books from other companies than WotC are not significantly cheaper on average. Not in the same format at least, big fat hardcovers.

True but these companies aren't dealing in the volume. The issue is the more you are printing the lower your cover prices can be because it is cheaper to print. But I think part of what I am also saying is if the format is inherently expensive (which I do agree it is becoming and certainly something I see on my end too), then we probably should consider other formats, smaller books, etc (ways of giving people more bang for their buck). Fifty and under I get, but its as books have started to get to 60, 70, 80, etc that I am, just on the consumer side, not able to justify the expense. Now not everyone feels that way or sees something like a 60 dollar expenditure on a book as reasonable. But I do think a lot of gamers, just based on what I hear from people, feel priced out as these cover prices climb. And that goes triple if you are talking about D&D where you don't just need one book to run the game but three.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No one should tell you what you want or should want, but . . .

I would find it weird for WotC to sell a book about the Deck of Many Things without including a Deck of Many Things. I am really looking forward to this product, especially as the deck itself is being expanded.

Comparing this to the Ravenloft Tarokka deck isn't a good comparison. You don't need a Tarokka deck to play the Ravenloft adventure. It's a part of the adventure, of course, but easily compensated for or skipped past. But how many folks are going to buy a book about a magical deck of cards, and not want that deck of cards? You can use a standard deck of playing cards for both decks, Tarokka and the Deck of Many Things . . . but I have a hard time imagining wanting a book about the DoMT without the actual deck.

You can, of course, purchase 3rd party versions of the Deck of Many Things on Etsy and other places. But why should WotC want to support that? I'm certain that's part of the reason why the deck is being expanded, to differentiate it from the SRD version that all those Etsy folks are using for their products.

We don't know yet, but I'm pretty certain there will be a digital version on D&D Beyond sans the deck, for a reasonable price. Sure, digital is not everybody's preference, but the book content will be available without having to purchase a new deck.

If WotC decided to offer the book and the deck as separate items, even with a "bundle deal", the whole package would be more expensive.

This isn't meant to be an attack on your preferences . . . but I do think you're in the minority on this one.

That said, there are some beautiful decks on Etsy . . . .

Yeah, I get why they would want to include a physical deck. I would want one if I didn't have it. The problem is, I have at least three, including the card insert deck from a 2e era Dragon Magazine. Got several Tarokka decks too.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Why is WotC offering a bundle "forcing" you to buy something you don't want?

You can pre-order just the digital book alone on D&D Beyond. And you can pre-order just the physical book alone through any gaming retailer.

Because I misread and thought the bundles were now the default, which you will note is a reasonable way to interpret the OP's summary of the press release. Indeed even now actually reading the press release I had to give it a couple passes before I could parse how it didn't say that (basically the confusion is that it is about an increase in physical prices but only discusses actual numbers for digital prices).

I was not particularly familiar with the existing bundles as I do not use D&D Beyond. I assumed they were just going to start printing digital redemption codes in all the physical books to help justify the price increase.

 

[Parmandur]

Because I misread and thought the bundles were now the default, which you will note is a reasonable way to interpret the OP's summary of the press release. Indeed even now actually reading the press release I had to give it a couple passes before I could parse how it didn't say that (basically the confusion is that it is about an increase in physical prices but only discusses actual numbers for digital prices).

I was not particularly familiar with the existing bundles as I do not use D&D Beyond. I assumed they were just going to start printing digital redemption codes in all the physical books to help justify the price increase.

I mean, if they did that I think relatively few people would actually complain.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Because I misread and thought the bundles were now the default, which you will note is a reasonable way to interpret the OP's summary of the press release. Indeed even now actually reading the press release I had to give it a couple passes before I could parse how it didn't say that (basically the confusion is that it is about an increase in physical prices but only discusses actual numbers for digital prices).

I was not particularly familiar with the existing bundles as I do not use D&D Beyond. I assumed they were just going to start printing digital redemption codes in all the physical books to help justify the price increase.

They've promised and failed to deliver Digital Codes with print books for 25 years! Why start now?

But snark aside, you are right. It WAS confusing to have an article talk about Print Price increases and then not ever mention what the print price would be. It is $59.95 USD. At least on Bigby's and Phandelver. We don't yet know what next year will hold.

 

[Parmandur]

They've promised and failed to deliver Digital Codes with print books for 25 years! Why start now?

But snark aside, you are right. It WAS confusing to have an article talk about Print Price increases and then not ever mention what the print price would be. It is $59.95 USD. At least on Bigby's and Phandelver. We don't yet know what next year will hold.

Yeah, they really should figure that out. I eat the $20-30 to support a local business and get the cool special cover (depending on which I prefer), but getting a digital and ohyaical bundle in FLGS would be awesome.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

They've promised and failed to deliver Digital Codes with print books for 25 years! Why start now

When did they promise that?

 

[Oofta]

When did they promise that?

I'm trying to remember myself...early 4E, or even 3?

In any case the issue was with how to include a code with the book. Put a code in the back of a book and people would just go to the store, scan the code and claim the PDF then put the book back on the shelf. They can do it if it's sold online, which is what it looks like they are doing now. More difficult if selling a physical copy at a store.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm trying to remember myself...early 4E, or even 3?

In any case the issue was with how to include a code with the book. Put a code in the back of a book and people would just go to the store, scan the code and claim the PDF then put the book back on the shelf. They can do it if it's sold online, which is what it looks like they are doing now. More difficult if selling a physical copy at a store.

When they get asked about it directly, they often state that they would like to do it, but there are the difficulties that you mention.

They could come up with solutions, with a little work...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm trying to remember myself...early 4E, or even 3?

In any case the issue was with how to include a code with the book. Put a code in the back of a book and people would just go to the store, scan the code and claim the PDF then put the book back on the shelf. They can do it if it's sold online, which is what it looks like they are doing now. More difficult if selling a physical copy at a store.

Yes, it was talked about as early as 3 (or maybe 3.5) and explicitly advertised for 4e, but never happened. I think it was discussed for 5e too.

A solution off the top of my head would be to give us FLGSes DDB codes (on cards) to sell, and make a reduced price version to sell with the print books. We could keep them behind the counter. Done.