Eberron: Forge of the Artificer Delayed Until December

A cover defect is to blame.
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Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will now launch in December 2025 due to a cover defect. Wizards of the Coast announced that the upcoming Eberron: Forge of the Artificer rulebook is being delayed for several months after warping was discovered on the covers of published books. The entire original print run of the book is being recalled and reprinted ahead of its release, which means that the production process will be extended by several months.

As a result of the production delay, the book will now be released on December 9, 2025, with early access happening two weeks prior. To make up for the delay, both digital and physical customers who pre-ordered their books as a WPN store will receive an Eberron mini-adventure when they receive their book.

A similar delay took place in October 2023 when the Deck of Many Things product was recalled due to faulty product just two weeks before its initial release. That was re-released in January 2024.

 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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And honestly it's the least they can do after cannibalizing their LGS network through MTG Arena, MTG Secret Lair and Physical+Digital Bundles on DDB
It's not a cut and dried subject. Two offer a couple metaphors... car manufacturers don't owe anything to the horse whip makers they put out of business, but at the same time it's a really bad idea to eat your own seed corn. It's one thing to out perform a competitor with a superior product, it's another to undercut a business partner who performs a role essential to your own long term success.

Both dynamics apply to this case, but WotC has obviously decided that in the balance the LGS are more of an essential business partner than they are a competitor, and acted accordingly.
 

It's not a cut and dried subject. Two offer a couple metaphors... car manufacturers don't owe anything to the horse whip makers they put out of business, but at the same time it's a really bad idea to eat your own seed corn. It's one thing to out perform a competitor with a superior product, it's another to undercut a business partner who performs a role essential to your own long term success.

Both dynamics apply to this case, but WotC has obviously decided that in the balance the LGS are more of an essential business partner than they are a competitor, and acted accordingly.
This is in part because of vastly different monetization schemata for the two most profitable Hasbro IPs.

They've tried to monetize D&D on a booster-pack model in the past - Fortune Cards and D&D Miniatures come to mind. But In 5e, randomized booster Miniatures are gone, because it's just too niche of a market, and those who actually want to buy the minis nowadays know what they want to get and just get what they want to get. For that reason, WotC outsources the Minis to their partners at WizKids, as they also have with the non-randomized 5e power cards (the descendants of 4e's Fortune Cards and 4e & Gamma 7's Power Cards). These are still nice to have, but people don't want a random deck of heroic inspiration events. I still think it was a cool idea for a deck building module for D&D, but it was a REALLY big flop because D&D players want to build their character, they don't want to be surprised or have to dig through a sea of other creatures/powers in countless booster packs to get their core features.

Magic the Gathering works differently because it has room and economy for FLGS to buy and sell desirable singles, for WotC to put out powerful and useful Commander Decks and Starter Kits with predetermined cards, and for multiple levels of rarity balanced randomized booster packs. But more importantly, the randomization feeds into the core ideas of the game. You've got a semi-random Deck of spells that you may or may not draw in time. And two of the 3 most popular forms of the game are sealed booster and limited booster draft (the third is Commander which isn't usually played with sealed boosters, save for Commander Legends). Sealed Booster events further up the semi-randomness of the game by having you build your spell book from resources you don't know what you're going to have. That's a VERY different sort of gameplay than D&D lends itself for.

Mind you, I think there's room in D&D for randomized characters (like a Gambit or Domino style Gambler/Luckbender/Fateweaver type character). But Wild Magic Sorcerer & Barbarian do that in a more D&D way, using dice and tables, and trying to turn D&D into Magic's monetization strategy has always thus far led WotC to conclude that the "Juice isn't Worth the Squeeze" (see Maro's most recent Drive to Work podcast for the definition of that idea).

Magic frankly doesn't NEED FLGS, because WotC can sell direct to consumers and people don't need to meet others to play it because they can emulate the game nearly perfectly with Arena. D&D NEEEDS FLGSes. Even with D&D Beyond, even with the VTT, there's only so much that can be done via apps. The game thrives on sitting around a table together in person (or at least a private zoom call room with the group together).
 

Ravenloft is a good guess given the October timing, but I've got a hunch it may instead be another "Stranger Things" tie-in due to the final season being released the following month and the fact that they released a starter set tie-in a few years ago. Perhaps a studio licensing contract requires it to be kept secret for now.
Kudos
 

Magic frankly doesn't NEED FLGS, because WotC can sell direct to consumers and people don't need to meet others to play it because they can emulate the game nearly perfectly with Arena. D&D NEEEDS FLGSes. Even with D&D Beyond, even with the VTT, there's only so much that can be done via apps. The game thrives on sitting around a table together in person (or at least a private zoom call room with the group together).
Magic ABSOLUTELY needs the LGS for pre-release, tournaments, and the most popular formats (Modern and Commander) that aren't supported by Arena. By contrast, most TTRPGs are played in private venues (homes or the like) not in public spaces. There is a reason why MTG support for LGS has been top notch, while its support for public play via Adventurer's League has been an afterthought.
 

Magic frankly doesn't NEED FLGS, because WotC can sell direct to consumers and people don't need to meet others to play it because they can emulate the game nearly perfectly with Arena. D&D NEEEDS FLGSes. Even with D&D Beyond, even with the VTT, there's only so much that can be done via apps. The game thrives on sitting around a table together in person (or at least a private zoom call room with the group together).
I don't think I have ever played D&D or any other RPG in a store. The closest is at a gaming club that's open to the public, and we pretty quickly moved that campaign to the home of one of the players because it was pretty annoying to play in public. I've also played at cons, but here in Sweden cons usually rent school buildings over a holiday and use class rooms which provides a little privacy at least.
 

Ravenloft is a good guess given the October timing, but I've got a hunch it may instead be another "Stranger Things" tie-in due to the final season being released the following month and the fact that they released a starter set tie-in a few years ago. Perhaps a studio licensing contract requires it to be kept secret for now.

Upgraded my vote from like to love as you turned out to right. To the Victor go the spoils.

I will point to the Horror UA in my defence.
 

Upgraded my vote from like to love as you turned out to right. To the Victor go the spoils.

I will point to the Horror UA in my defence.
Thank you! I have suspected it was a Stranger Things release ever since they first revealed the 2025 offerings late last year. It seemed strange at the time that they revealed every other product that was coming out in 2025 except this one item they were keeping secret for some reason -- an item that coincidentally just happened to be scheduled around the time of the final season's release. I'm seeing a few other Stranger Things licensed items that are being revealed now (such as some delicious-looking Chips Ahoy strawberry and chocolate "Upside Down" cookies). Although it hasn't explicitly been said, I still suspect that these licensed items couldn't be revealed before now due to the licensing contract in order to build up anticipation for the show.
 

Thank you! I have suspected it was a Stranger Things release ever since they first revealed the 2025 offerings late last year. It seemed strange at the time that they revealed every other product that was coming out in 2025 except this one item they were keeping secret for some reason -- an item that coincidentally just happened to be scheduled around the time of the final season's release. I'm seeing a few other Stranger Things licensed items that are being revealed now (such as some delicious-looking Chips Ahoy strawberry and chocolate "Upside Down" cookies). Although it hasn't explicitly been said, I still suspect that these licensed items couldn't be revealed before now due to the licensing contract in order to build up anticipation for the show.
Good call.
 

Magic ABSOLUTELY needs the LGS for pre-release, tournaments, and the most popular formats (Modern and Commander) that aren't supported by Arena. By contrast, most TTRPGs are played in private venues (homes or the like) not in public spaces. There is a reason why MTG support for LGS has been top notch, while its support for public play via Adventurer's League has been an afterthought.
Great point and I was completely forgetting this. I've played in quite a few pre-releases at my FLGS and I should have thought about that. I was reacting to the topic of cannabilization of Magic audience via MTGArena, but it's very true that physical is still required for MOST EDH/Commander play and that's far and away the most popular form of the game these days. And Prerelease sealed booster limited and booster draft limited formats are always popular there too (like they fill up every seat nearly every session from Friday through Sunday at Prerelease weekend). I do think that MTG Arena is a very intuitive "in" for new players, though, and that's what I was getting at with the important of on-ramps into the hobby.
I don't think I have ever played D&D or any other RPG in a store. The closest is at a gaming club that's open to the public, and we pretty quickly moved that campaign to the home of one of the players because it was pretty annoying to play in public. I've also played at cons, but here in Sweden cons usually rent school buildings over a holiday and use class rooms which provides a little privacy at least.
I don't usually play at my FLGS(s) but I know a ton of people who had never played before they joined an AL game at a FLGS. If you don't have any family or friends that already play, it's hard to get started even with the Basic / Free Rules available on D&D Beyond - unlike with MTG, where Arena is a very easy on-ramp for a curious new player.

I also think they serve as ambassadors into the hobby for both games by introducing casual players / boardgame players / window shoppers to these games, or are the natural second step after seeing something like Critical Role on YT.
 

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