2024 D&D Core Rulebooks Off to "Strongest-Ever" Start for D&D Books

Dungeons & Dragons got a rare shoutout during Hasbro's 3rd quarter earnings report, with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks stating that the 2024 Core Rulebooks were off to a record start. Today, Hasbro released its third quarter 2025 earnings report, with Wizards of the Coast propping up the overall revenue for the company. Wizards of the Coast is up 33% YTD, with Magic: The Gathering having a 40% jump compared to last year. However, Cocks also called out Dungeons & Dragons in his comments, speaking to both the Core Rulebooks and D&D Beyond's Maps VTT.

Cocks' full comments (which are admittedly very brief) can be found below:

The refreshed 2024 editions of D&D’s Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and DM Guide are off to the strongest-ever start for D&D books. D&DBEYOND’S new, accessible virtual tabletop has driven weekly traffic up nearly 50% since its September launch.

Hasbro is having a good year, with total revenue up 7% compared to last year. Wizards is expected to be up 36-38% for 2025, largely due to the performance of Magic: The Gathering.

 

[TrainedMunkee]

I might be off in what is meant by the very last sentence as it related to D&D and creativity of Wotc/hasbro as a corp but player feedback drove design choices for the 5e and 5.5 version…so I don’t see a corp killing creativity if the high selling game was based on the players wants in game. Maybe in general if that’s the view point being present but not for 5e/5.5e…to me.

Edit and it does say tend and not always

Populous ideas don't tend to drive creativity, they reinforce the ideas that are already present. It takes creative thinking outside the box, to introduce new ideas and create. Design by survey is pretty much the opposite of creativity. Design by survey does well at maintaining a customer base.

D&D is pretty much riding the creativity of two men from the 1970s. D&D is not creative in its current form. There are many reasons for D&D 5e being so popular, it being creative is not one of them.

I like D&D a lot and have continued to play it for many years.

My point being that corporations don't exist to create, they exist to make their investors money.

 

[Zardnaar]

Populous ideas don't tend to drive creativity, they reinforce the ideas that are already present. It takes creative thinking outside the box, to introduce new ideas and create. Design by survey is pretty much the opposite of creativity. Design by survey does well at maintaining a customer base.

D&D is pretty much riding the creativity of two men from the 1970s. D&D is not creative in its current form. There are many reasons for D&D 5e being so popular, it being creative is not one of them.

I like D&D a lot and have continued to play it for many years.

My point being that corporations don't exist to create, they exist to make their investors money.

5E is creatively bankrupt lol. 2E was creatively rich and went bankrupt.

5.5 ecosystem in its current form because thats what people wanted.

 

[FrogReaver]

Populous ideas don't tend to drive creativity, they reinforce the ideas that are already present. It takes creative thinking outside the box, to introduce new ideas and create. Design by survey is pretty much the opposite of creativity. Design by survey does well at maintaining a customer base.

D&D is pretty much riding the creativity of two men from the 1970s. D&D is not creative in its current form. There are many reasons for D&D 5e being so popular, it being creative is not one of them.

I like D&D a lot and have continued to play it for many years.

My point being that corporations don't exist to create, they exist to make their investors money.

1. Releasing playtest material that you created and then surveying how well it was liked is quite the opposite of designing to survey specifications. It’s simply testing whether your creative design will sell.

2. I find some of the greatest creativity I have flows when dealing with very constrained environments. Creating within the bounds of constraints is still creativity IMO.

 

[FrogReaver]

5E is creatively bankrupt lol. 2E was creatively rich and went bankrupt.

5.5 ecosystem in its current form because thats what people wanted.

I’m not convinced. The surveys werent about finding out what people wanted but finding out what creative changes made by d&d designers were acceptable to enough people.

 

[Imaro]

5E is creatively bankrupt lol. 2E was creatively rich and went bankrupt.

Only its really not since the creative commons and OGL exist and 5e is in them.

 

[FrogReaver]

Only its really not since the creative commons and OGL exist and 5e is in them.

Quite the Segway, eh?

 

[Imaro]

You know I'd love to go back in time and see what was said in these calls about '14 5e... did we get exact numbers or anything else that wasn't corporate speak? I just dont get what exactly people are looking for (that is missing in these earning calls but was present in previous calls about D&D)?

 

[Imaro]

Quite the Segway, eh?

Lol... I mean...

 

[TrainedMunkee]

I’m not convinced. The surveys werent about finding out what people wanted but finding out what creative changes made by d&d designers were acceptable to enough people.

Surveys are biased by nature. You are surveying a group that is already players, with preconceived notions. As a majority they will never choose creativity. There is a whole science behind it and I am not articulating it well.

 

[Reynard]

I mean, even if it is a small percentage of 21 million, they are probably doing OK on that, probably way more money than they made in D&D in prior decades.

I mean, sure, but that's not the point. If you are trying to assure stock holders and customers, it really matters.