WotC Chris Perkins announces Retirement from Dungeons and Dragons

Over on Twitter and Bluesky, Chris Perkins has announced his retirement from Dungeons and Dragons.

Chris Perkins started officially working for Wizards of the Coast in 1997 as an Editor for Dungeon Magazine. Since then, he has functioned as the Editor in Chief of D&D Periodicals, A Senior Producer, and eventually landing as the Senior Story Editor over D&D 5e and Game Architect on D&D 5e 2024.

He also is known for acting as one of the Dungeons Masters for Acquisitions, Incorporated.

Personally, I'll miss the guy's work.

https://bsky.app/profile/chrisperkinsdnd.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3llyvdjkphk2p

 

[Gradine]

Yeah, wasn't the whole BookScan thing thoroughly debunked like the moment it started prompting clickbait titles from that part of YouTube?

Not sure why this needs to be relitigated again?

 

[darjr]

Yeah, wasn't the whole BookScan thing thoroughly debunked like the moment it started prompting clickbait titles from that part of YouTube?

Not sure why this needs to be relitigated again?

It was. Because clickbait is a powerful drug.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Okay, so the initial claims of the PHB selling poorly were based on incomplete Bookscan data. Does that not mean that someone who knows how to correctly interpret the information can provide an accurate portrayal of sales?

Not really, no. We could get better information than what we've been given, probably. I'd try it, but I'm not sure that it's worth doing. The information is so limited, and it's absolutely true that the information is actually harder to parse this time than it was last time, as they've been categorized differently. All I know for sure is that information is missing, not what that missing information looks like, or where it might be.

Unfortunately, only WotC knows for sure, and it will come down to success "by what metric" and "compared to what". Is it selling as well as expected? Where in the world? Is it more or less profitable? Are sales growing or shrinking? At an acceptable rate? Through what channels? Etc, etc. And WotC considers that information "need to know". IME, no publisher ever shares their actual concrete numbers.

It's also worth noting that initial sales isn't the be-all end-all of whether 2024 5e is successful. It doesn't just need to do well, it needs to do well enough that future content also does well. Especially since they're going all-in on future content being for the 2024 version of the game. In a very real sense, the 2024 books have to do well enough to justify having turned their back on the best-selling D&D ever.

Yeah, you're right.

 

[bedir than]

Okay, so the initial claims of the PHB selling poorly were based on incomplete Bookscan data. Does that not mean that someone who knows how to correctly interpret the information can provide an accurate portrayal of sales?

It's notable that the "D&D is dying" clickbaiter that used bad Bookscan data never released any other Bookscan data despite supposedly having regular access to it.

When someone profits off of negative information and refuses to update when the data would be accurate an assumption about the state of D&D can be made.

 

[Dire Bare]

When an editor decides to create a new edition, it's because the sales have been declining for some time. If 5e was still going strong, they would not have lifted a finger.

That was true for D&D before 5th Edition. It was not necessarily true for other RPGs, and it is not the sales model WotC has pursued for 5E, both 2014 and 2024.

It's too soon to tell how 5.5 will perform. 5e wasn't a break out success the first years.

The 2024 books are selling well RIGHT NOW. Will that be sustained over time? That, of course, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's notable that the "D&D is dying" clickbaiter that used bad Bookscan data never released any other Bookscan data despite supposedly having regular access to it.

When someone profits off of negative information and refuses to update when the data would be accurate an assumption about the state of D&D can be made.

If they'd shown a few tens of thousands of units, I might have thought, "Yeah, those BookScan numbers are unreliable, but it makes sense based on the limitations of BookScan. I'm not sure I would agree with their conclusion, but I can see how someone with limited understanding could get there."

But THOUSANDS of copies? Like @darjr said above, those numbers are comically incorrect. They're so bad that anyone who believes they mean anything at all should be embarrassed for being so gullible.

 

[Clint_L]

It's too soon to tell how 5.5 will perform. 5e wasn't a break out success the first years.

I'm not sure how you define "break-out success", but it was definitely unexpectedly successful right out of the gate. Perkins deserves a lot of the credit for that.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, companies try all the time to make stuff like that happen. It doesn't seem to take. 5.5, other than here, seems to be what most people are calling it.

Even here 5.5 seems the most common but 2024 tags.

It's just quicker to type out than revised or 2024.

Reddit it's 5.5 tags iirc.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Chris Perkins is an amazing adventure designer. Wishing him all the best.

 

[Clint_L]

I have a favourite Chris Perkins memory - not that he's dead or anything - that I'd like to share. His second appearance on Critical Role is an absolute delight. He plays Spurt the kobold, an 11 day old kobold "inventor" (skunk-on-a-stick; pot of green slime) who briefly assists our heroes. Ordered to put rot grubs in their mouths as they sleep, he immediately flips sides after being offered food, and bravely leads them into fire giant territory before being horribly one-shot by a guard. Perkins plays the character with magnificent joie de vive, and is laugh out loud funny.

He clearly loves the game, and left his mark in a big way. Big props to a fellow Canadian.