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

[Scribe]

We should get the Q2 investor report next week.

What was released that would fall under D&D for the quarter? Just Delves?

 

[TheSword]

What was released that would fall under D&D for the quarter? Just Delves?

I think it will show ongoing sales of the core books predominantly. Given how late in the quarter dragon delves was released.

 

[soviet]

notice the word 'basically'

View attachment 411651


it clearly is not, I never claimed it was

Jeez, those figures are tiny! I earn more than that! No wonder they're laying people off!


;-)

 

[The Firebird]

I didn't realize you were an AL GM. I'm sorry, that's a tough gig I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole attached to a giant rat covered in bells.

It is the best way to meet new gamers in my area. At least when I'm GMing I can keep things somewhat close to how I like.

I am glad I don't have to stick to someone else's decision about the rules, other than what me and my players enjoy. I never hear positive things about AL.

It's got enough positives for me to keep doing it, but it is more community and networking. I think it depends a lot on who is in your area.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Jeez, those figures are tiny! I earn more than that! No wonder they're laying people off!


;-)

Man, I wish my paycheck had a little "figures in millions" note attached.

 

[haakon1]

Seems like the question of “is 5e2024 successful” has devolved into arguments about power creep, balance, which editions are better, and “I’m right/your wrong”.

Aww, ENworld, don’t you ever go changing on us.

 

[tetrasodium]

I didn't realize you were an AL GM. I'm sorry, that's a tough gig I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole attached to a giant rat covered in bells.

I'm going to second @The Firebird 's sentiment with My Experience being fairly similar but holy heck does it lay bare and shine a nuclear floodlight of death on the systemic level problems in 5e

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Some times I think D&D brand needs a mon subfranchise style Pokemon, Digimon, Palworld or Battlezoo, but it would need a lot of work. If it was easy then we would see a lot of mon settings by 3PPs, or a monster class being published in DMGuild.

WotC is too busy with Magic and D&D. If Hasbro wanted a new line this would be work for Avalon Hill, for example the new edition of Hero Quest.

Other option could be to use D&D to recycle forgotten Hasbro IPs but these would be introduced like a "backdoor pilot episode".

And we can't forget the possible influence of the isekai subgenre (and JRPGs) at least into some players. We are talking about a new generation of players who are very used to manga+anime. Some players will want to play like characters from their favorite isekai anime.

At least D&D is relatively unknown in Spain but in the capital cities, in smaller populations it is known only thanks internet. The teenages have got some time to play but not enough money, and adults can buy but they are too busy and they don't find time for a meeting with the friends. Here the adventage it is a hobby where two or more generations can be together in the same tabletop.

The new edition of Hero Quest is being sold very well, and for a lot of players this was the first step in the hobby. It is a factor we shouldn't overlook.

I wonder about the unlocking of old settings in DMGuild. The effort by WotC is relatively minimal.

 

[tetrasodium]

Some times I think D&D brand needs a mon subfranchise style Pokemon, Digimon, Palworld or Battlezoo, but it would need a lot of work. If it was easy then we would see a lot of mon settings by 3PPs, or a monster class being published in DMGuild.

WotC is too busy with Magic and D&D. If Hasbro wanted a new line this would be work for Avalon Hill, for example the new edition of Hero Quest.

Other option could be to use D&D to recycle forgotten Hasbro IPs but these would be introduced like a "backdoor pilot episode".

And we can't forget the possible influence of the isekai subgenre (and JRPGs) at least into some players. We are talking about a new generation of players who are very used to manga+anime. Some players will want to play like characters from their favorite isekai anime.

At least D&D is relatively unknown in Spain but in the capital cities, in smaller populations it is known only thanks internet. The teenages have got some time to play but not enough money, and adults can buy but they are too busy and they don't find time for a meeting with the friends. Here the adventage it is a hobby where two or more generations can be together in the same tabletop.

The new edition of Hero Quest is being sold very well, and for a lot of players this was the first step in the hobby. It is a factor we shouldn't overlook.

I wonder about the unlocking of old settings in DMGuild. The effort by WotC is relatively minimal.

I think that The very hungry rust monster shows why a pet monster pokemon/Digimon/etc style thing would cease to be d&d feeling almost immediately. It could probably manage pretty well with the MC is a standard monster genre that is pretty common in light novels and occasionally anime (re:monster, reincarnated as a slime etc) since the theme becomes "it's still d&d but you are at the bottom of the food chain".. something like that would probably be a setting level thing with very reworked character building for it to feel any different since usually the monster MC is still viewed and treated like one would expect monsters to be viewed and treated

 

[bedir than]

The only D&D mention in the Q2 2025 prepared remarks was the newly announced video game.

Nothing that lost less than 1% nor grew more than 10% was mentioned at all. It was a record quarter for Wizards, mostly due to the record quarter for Magic, mostly due to Tarkir and the best selling set of all time - Final Fantasy.

Monopoly GO! didn't get a dollar shout-out for the first time, and licensing (it's space) was down a tiny bit.

D&D and Monopoly Go! (again, it's down) were part of the 200 or so million that Wizards made that wasn't MtG.

I haven't done the algebra to see what the D&D dollars are likely to be, but the knowns are that 2024 didn't fail, because that would have been called out. We also know it wasn't 200 million, because that would have been called out positively.

As an aside, Hasbro took a BILLION dollar impairment due to the tariffs in Q2. Impairment is a financial term that means a failure to meet previous goals due to circumstances outside of the company's control.