D&D General Did 5e 2024 Not meet the economic goals set, and if not, why not?

[mamba]

Overall while I suspect 5.5/2024 did well when you look at it from the perspective of any other TTRPG launch

but looking at it from the perspective of any other launch is misleading, no other TTRPG had anywhere near 5e numbers. That is like saying the latest MCU movie would have done great if you looked at it from the perspective of low budget indie movies

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Has some sales number dropped that I’m not aware of pointing to a lack of success for the new edition that I’m unaware of?

None. The latest thing we have going is the investor report that said it’s doing good.

 

[bedir than]

Not only is “improvement” subjective, I also personally and subjectively feel they ruined it by turning Inspiration into Heroic Inspiration and awarding it automatically for being a Human and various feats and such. Inspiration was a tool I used every game to reward good roleplaying and clever thinking. The new approach ruined it so I’d have to strip that out entirely if I ever picked up 2024 rules. Which then can have a complicated knock on effect.

I'd remove the "only 1 inspiration at a time" limit

 

[Zardnaar]

I'd remove the "only 1 inspiration at a time" limit

BG3 let's you bank 4. There's a mod removing that limit.

My record is 148.

 

[Zardnaar]

No one knows. I'm not expecting 5.5 to do as well because it's a revision.

Generally revisions are better than the original but they don't sell as well (1E vs 2E. 3.0 vs 3.5).

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'm mostly concerned going forwards - we already have Realms and Eberron books - and the new Eberron book is only 112 pages. The Eberron UA was, of course, an art-free 15 pages. Gonna be a hard sell in ways the updated PHB wasn't.

 

[CommodoreKong]

but looking at it from the perspective of any other launch is misleading, no other TTRPG had anywhere near 5e numbers. That is like saying the latest MCU movie would have done great if you looked at it from the perspective of low budget indie movies

Yeah it’s hard to know exactly what WotC/Hasbro’s expectations were. As mentioned I suspect they were pretty high given how much they were spending on the VTT.

 

[GreyLord]

Honestly the biggest surprise to me here is that someone is basing their investments off of DnD's performance, with regards to Hasbro's value. WotC is its lions' share of value, yeah, but MtG is what makes WotC's money. I'm sure hoping to get more value out of the DnD brand is a factor, but funny enough I don't think new rulebooks are what determines that... it's probably things like WotC's new "franchise-model" that'll determine the value of DnD to the company.

For me, it's far more than D&D. I had thought that there would be a greater profit for the last quarter (which is where it wasn't as high as I thought there would be).

I see some arising problems that could kick in later this year or early next year possibly, and you are correct, there's far more to it than just D&D on the horizon.

I'd give it a 50/50 chance of problems arising later this year to early next year being of a significant impact on all of Hasbro. I could be right, or I could be wrong. If wrong...those heavily invested in HAS can be happy. If right, well...it may also be part of something else that also hits other parts of the market hard.

 

[Clint_L]

Adding to anecdotes and vibes … from 4 groups I’m involved with - DM of the first 3.

1) 5 players in 3.5e on email, 1 is a game producer (including console RPG credits). 3 have played 5e or BG3, 2 have even mentioned 5e24 exists, 0 interested in it.

2) 5 players in 3.5e on email, 1 has done a corporate job in gaming. 4 have played 5e or BG3, 0 have even mentioned 5e24 exists, 0 interested in it.

3) 7 players in 3.5e in person for one-shot on July 5th. Game was my adaption of the “Fast-Play Game”, a variant of 2e in 1998. 1 is also a player in #2 (who has played BG3), 1 (his 21 yo son) has DM’d 5e2014 but had never been a player, 1 played AD&D in the 1980’s, and the other 4 had never played. The two youngest (17 and 19) had never played but were aware of the game from YouTube actual play. The 19 year old has seen many videos from different groups, but this was the first time anyone asked her to play. Only the 21 yo - who just graduated from college and is working on an indie computer game - talked about 5e2024 with me (we talked a lot of gaming), and unsurprisingly no one suggested playing it.

4) I’m one of 5 players in an online 5e2014 game that converted to 5e2024. We switched because the DM wanted to. So far as I know, none of us has bought the physical books. The DM required us to buy the 5e2024 PHB on D&D Beyond and convert our characters there. I think most of the players including me don’t really know/care what the difference is, except for the tax form like “fun” of having to redo their own 9th level PC with the command to make it as close as possible.

So what’s my point …in my gaming world, only 1 person - the DM in #4 - cares about 5e2024.

But here on ENworld, yeah, the online enthusiasts care.

For the latter, is your DM not aware that they can just share their own books with players in the campaign and not require them to purchase additional copies? That’s one of the best perks of DDB!

 

[Clint_L]

We did not get a new edition, because calling it a new edition would kill sales in the back catalogue. The differences between the two version are not enough to make the older books useless. Most are still useful, particularly the adventures, setting and lore books.
Tasha's and Xanathar's are probably not worth for someone starting out in 2025.
So when WoTC market a new edition? When sales in the back catalogue. Do not look at sales of the PHB to measure the health of 5e. Look at sales of Tyranny of Dragons, Curse of Strahd and the like.

Edit: for clarity

The main reason it’s not a new edition is that the game now runs through DDB first and foremost.