D&D General D&D's Utter Dominance Is Good or Bad Because...

[SteveC]

So it seems that one of the downsides to the behemoth that is WotC is that they can't or won't do certain rules/classes/subclasses and so on because they need a certain level of sales to justify the product. That is a problem.

 

[Wolfpack48]

So it seems that one of the downsides to the behemoth that is WotC is that they can't or won't do certain rules/classes/subclasses and so on because they need a certain level of sales to justify the product. That is a problem.

This normal business practice. Sorry I gotta agree with Oofta here. These are not charitable organizations we’re talking about. Every product needs to justify itself financially. TSR died because they did too much of that (stuff).

 

[Micah Sweet]

How many options are enough? They've provided entire books of options. There are innumerable options with 3PP and options in DmsGuild.

Companies need to make a profit is not controversial. Or at least should not be.

I'm not talking about 3pp. I'm talking about WotC. And the chances of them publishing any book for 5e that doesn't turn a profit are so small as to be ridiculous.

And would you please stop equating "not all the profits" with "no profits" in every conversation about WotC? I would take it as a personal favor.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This normal business practice. Sorry I gotta agree with Oofta here. These are not charitable organizations we’re talking about. TSR died because they did too much of that (stuff).

Again with the hyperbole. WotC does not need all the profit imaginable to order to publish a book. Referring to non maximum profit as the equivalent of a charitable organization is ridiculous.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Again with the hyperbole. WotC does not need all the profit imaginable to order to publish a book. Referring to non maximum profit as the equivalent of a charitable organization is ridiculous.

It has to make a profit, not all the profit imaginable. I didn’t say that. But frankly niche products often break even at best.

 

[SteveC]

This normal business practice. Sorry I gotta agree with Oofta here. These are not charitable organizations we’re talking about. Every product needs to justify itself financially. TSR died because they did too much of that (stuff).

Here's the thing: it's not that different rules/class/spell/etc. concepts wouldn't make money. They certainly would. It's just that they wouldn't make enough money to make it worth WotC's while. There's a huge difference here between class options like a Warlord and a vanity project like Buck Rodgers was for TSR. The Buck Rodgers books and game and book returns were the core reason for TSR's woes.

I think a multiversal book with class/spells/rules/character options/rules would sell quite well, but the assumption is that it wouldn't hit the critical mass to make it worthwhile. That's not exactly charity.

 

[Minigiant]

think your point about compatibility is a valid one... but I don't think things are as... clear-cut... as you are making them out to be though.

If the fandom was really as cheap and unchanging as you suggest... there wouldn't have been so many people wanting and asking for rules changes over the last decade to make the designers thing an update and revision to the rules was necessary (or at the very least something desired and purchasable by a good number of players).

Buddy you are missing the forest.
The Fandom wants Free Updates.

That's WOTC's D&D division's problem. A lot of the consumer base begs for a lot but wants product for nothing or next to nothing.

Look at Paizo and their free wiki.
Or how almost every RPG gives the basic rules for free.

WOTC's size means they can afford to print a little bit of free desired content with the stuff that they can dangle for real money.

 

[MNblockhead]

A broad and diverse 3rd party ecosystem that accounts for what, maybe 10% of the industry? On a good day?

We got the 5e that we demanded. This is what we wanted. As a fandom, we demanded that this is the 5e that WOTC provides. WotC is not permitted to go beyond that mandate by a fandom that will absolutely crucify them if they try.

We cannot now complain that we got what we asked for.

I'd just like to thank the fandom for the game I didn't know I needed.

 

[Oofta]

I'm not talking about 3pp. I'm talking about WotC. And the chances of them publishing any book for 5e that doesn't turn a profit are so small as to be ridiculous.

And would you please stop equating "not all the profits" with "no profits" in every conversation about WotC? I would take it as a personal favor.

How many options are enough? How little profit would be "acceptable"? They flooded the market with books in previous editions, all it lead to was new editions being released to keep the IP afloat. We're lucky we have continued development of 5E. The people working on 5E thought it was the end of the line. TSR went bankrupt in part because they kept cranking out options.

Seriously, they cannot just keep cranking out product because random people on the internet think they should.

 

[GrimCo]

It's not greed. It's just good business practice to invest company resources into products that have best ROI. Publicly traded companies have fiduciary duty to operate in the best interest of shareholders.

3PP are there to fill the niches WotC finds not profitable enough. It's synergistic ecosystem.