D&D 5E The Printers Can't Handle WotC's One D&D Print Runs!

One of the reasons why the three new core rulebooks next year will not be released together is because D&D is such a juggernaut that the printers can't actually handle the size of the print runs!

Jeremy Crawford told Polygon "Our print runs are pretty darn big and printers are telling us you can’t give us these three books at the same time.” And Chris Perkins added that "The print runs we’re talking about are massive. That’s been not only true of the core books, but also Tasha’s Cauldron. It’s what we call a high-end problem."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Louder for the people in the back please!

If you don't like WotC books and think they're overpriced, that's your opinion but them raising prices 100% makes it easier for other smaller companies with much smaller margins to finally increase their prices to adjust for rising costs. I'm unlikely to buy WotC books atm since my current campaign is PF2e, but given I'd like Paizo to bring in more money to improve their crappy website and pay their union employees more money, I'm completely ok with them asking for more money per book so they can make addressing those things a possibility. I'd be surprised if Goodman Games, Chaosium, EN Publishing, and other publishers don't follow WotC's price increase with increases of their own.

Again, solid net negative for the consumer, even if its good for the industry.

 

[Oofta]

It is a terrible system, and publically-traded companies, like Hasbro and many others, make it exponentially worse. That it is systemic doesn't make any individual case not bad.

I'm not going to argue about this any more, it skirts forum policy. I stand by my opinion: capitalism is the worst possible solution but better than anything else we've tried for most things.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I tend to view people getting paid fair wages for labor as a net positive for everyone. Henry Ford (who I normally don't like to attribute for anything good) did, at a minimum, correctly realize that workers are also consumers.

Of course, there are far more consumers that don't work in the RPG industry than that do. You can't ignore the fact that this effect leads to everyone paying more.

 

[Velderan]

Again, solid net negative for the consumer, even if its good for the industry.

You know what else is a net negative for the consumer?

Publishers failing and going out of business because consumers refuse to pay what things need to cost to continue existing. I realize you don't seem to care given your past comments on TSR's business competencies, but I for one would rather have seen TSR make a few less dumb choices and still exist today.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Of course, there are far more consumers that don't work in the RPG industry than that do. You can't ignore the fact that this effect leads to everyone paying more.

I think that "everyone" (society) pays a LOT more when we choose not to value people and labor.

That's a lesson that we learned before, but it seems that we have to keep re-learning it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You know what else is a net negative for the consumer?

Publishers failing and going out of business because consumers refuse to pay what things need to cost to continue existing. I realize you don't seem to care given your past comments on TSR's business competencies, but I for one would rather have seen TSR make a few less dumb choices and still exist today.

Doing so would have led to a lot less content, which we wouldn't have today. I stand by my feelings on the subject.

 

[Parmandur]

There is a beyond huge gap between 1st and 2nd TTRPGs, so big that D&D is many times bigger then the rest of the Industry combined. Double Paizo business and it still doesn't even sratch the surface of WotCs business.

Yes, which is why they have been able to set an artificially low price for so long. Jason Buhlmsn of Paizo has said on Twitter this week thst he feels the books should be going for $100 USD.

 

[Parmandur]

Louder for the people in the back please!

If you don't like WotC books and think they're overpriced, that's your opinion but them raising prices 100% makes it easier for other smaller companies with much smaller margins to finally increase their prices to adjust for rising costs. I'm unlikely to buy WotC books atm since my current campaign is PF2e, but given I'd like Paizo to bring in more money to improve their crappy website and pay their union employees more money, I'm completely ok with them asking for more money per book so they can make addressing those things a possibility. I'd be surprised if Goodman Games, Chaosium, EN Publishing, and other publishers don't follow WotC's price increase with increases of their own.

Paizo employees and other industry professionals have been speaking in favor of the price increase, going so far as to say they wish it was more!

 

[Velderan]

Yes, which is why they have been able to set an artificially low price for so long. Jason Buhlmsn of Paizo has said on Twitter this week thst he feels the books should be going for $100 USD.

Unpopular opinion, but I don't disagree with him. I paid $50 for Abomination Vaults and my group will easily get 18 months of gaming out of it. Descent into Avernus took us 2 years to play through. That's crazy value for the money. I get far less playtime out of most video games I've bought.

 

[bedir than]

Sounds like a good time for WotC to jump back into the novel market given folks are reading fiction again.

When costs are increasing faster than readership while the core audience of your main product calls you liars for accurately describing the printer shortage?