D&D 5E (2024) Where Are All The New Books In 2026 (D&Dfans article)

[Parmandur]

But I think @Parmandur has the right of it. The simplest answer is that they've rethought their strategy and are reverting back to what they used to do.

More than Perkins or Crawford, the changeover on the marketing side of WotC probably play a role, and the overall restructuring from a studio model to a franchise model.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The "evidence" is true but we have no idea what impact it's had. Supposedly the dynamic duo worked on a high level outline before they left, I see no evidence the people that took over their roles are not competent to see it through.

I'm not sure why competence would be an issue.

Changes of corporate leadership are almost always accompanied by some changes of direction. It's incredibly unusual for them to not be, in a corporate environment, frankly.

So I doubt it's "can't follow it", what's much more likely is "have a different plan to some significant degree". It would be much more shocking if they didn't.

overall restructuring from a studio model to a franchise model

Yup, that particular change is guaranteed to have impacts on priorities, which products are being made, and when, and so on.

 

[Parmandur]

Yup, that particular change is guaranteed to have impacts on priorities, which products are being made, and when, and so on.

Honestly, I doubt it has had as much of an impact on what is getting made, as much as messaging and talking about it in advance.

 

[Reynard]

I still don't entirely understand what "franchise model" means.

 

[AlViking]

The bit that seems sensationalist to me (other than it's pretty much all speculation) is towards the end
"For the first time in years, the D&D community is experiencing a vacuum in official game releases. Third-party publishers, however, may be quick to fill the void, with new fantasy games like Daggerheart and Draw Steel gaining significant traction and eating into D&D’s market share. If Wizards of the Coast is slowing its publishing output, intentionally or not, the gravitational pull of the TTRPG market may shift accordingly."

We have a "vacuum in official game releases" because they've decided to not release a schedule yet? Really? Even if they are slowing down their publishing output, which may or may not be true, I don't see how that's going to automatically lead to a market shift. Markets shift all the time and other games may gain significant traction. Or not. I just don't think it has much to do with not announcing new titles yet when the vast majority of the people who play the game likely couldn't care less.

 

[Parmandur]

I still don't entirely understand what "franchise model" means.

In the studio model, the Magic game studios made a card game, the D&D game studios made the TTRPG, the Natrative Studio dealt with book publishing or film studios, and other areas were separated into silos with Studio heads. So the format in charge of msking D&D dif not really talk to the people in charge of communicating with making Honor Among Thieves or Baldur's Gate 3, same with the folks making Magic the card game and those talking to other partners.

With the franchise model, there is somebody over all aspects of D&D, and somebody over all aspects of Magic, instead of separating different activists into different silos. So moving forwards, Dan Ayoub connects the TTRPG team with any movie or game based on D&D.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm not so sure about that.

The "evidence" is true but we have no idea what impact it's had.

Right, and so the author of this article is speculating that the lack of announced products for 2026 may have been a part of the impact it has had.

Supposedly the dynamic duo worked on a high level outline before they left, I see no evidence the people that took over their roles are not competent to see it through.

Nor has anyone suggested anything of the sort.

We have no real evidence of sales one way or another and the purported "evidence" has been widely debunked. We just don't have numbers any more for Amazon sales for example (although the starter sets seem to be selling quite well) because of the change of category. We don't know how many sales have switched from physical books to sale on DndBeyond or VTTs. Online purchases require a subscription model which is generally more profitable in the long run.

The only people that know how well the books are selling is people internal to WOTC.

Alright. I still think it’s reasonable to speculate that if sales are not up to expectations, that may be affecting the lack of announcements.

I honestly don't see any relevance, companies do trial balloons all the time and make decisions based on results.

Yes. That’s literally what the author of the article is suggesting - that the recent spate of digital products may have been a trial balloon, and they may be waiting for results from it before making decisions based on them. If so, maybe the reason there haven’t been any announcements yet is that they haven’t yet made those decisions, since the results of the trial are still coming in.

This is true for a variety of reasons I'm not going in to, there have been issues with the publishers.

Right, and so it makes sense to speculate that WotC may be delaying their announcements until they can be more confident they can meet whatever release dates they end up announcing.

But I think @Parmandur has the right of it. The simplest answer is that they've rethought their strategy and are reverting back to what they used to do.

This is also speculation, based on no evidence.

Speculation is ok. Especially when that speculation is done in the interest of easing folks anxiety around the lack of announcements, rather than to prey on it.

 

[Parmandur]

This is also speculation, based on no evidence.

Well, I mean, it isn't a speculation that some od the heaviest years od 5E prodict release we didn't know anything until January. 2019, in particular, is the high watermark for number of 5E releases...and we knew about nothing until January 20q9.

So that is a simple fact: AptC and has put out a large number of products within a calendar year without saying anything by Christmas the prior year. That we know nothing about 2026 at this point in 2025 beyond UA trial balloons doesn't mean we won't see a steady stream of products in 2026.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, I mean, it isn't a speculation that some od the heaviest years od 5E prodict release we didn't know anything until January. 2019, in particular, is the high watermark for number of 5E releases...and we knew about nothing until January 20q9.

So that is a simple fact: AptC and has put out a large number of products within a calendar year without saying anything by Christmas the prior year. That we know nothing about 2026 at this point in 2025 beyond UA trial balloons doesn't mean we won't see a steady stream of products in 2026.

No one has suggested we won’t see a steady stream of products in 2026! The article is speculating on why it might be that they haven’t announced anything yet. Only one of the five possibilities suggested is that the products actually aren’t ready yet, and it’s also the only one with no evidence pointing to it. It seems to only be there in the interest of thoroughness, as if to say “I guess it could theoretically also be this.”

 

[AlViking]

Right, and so the author of this article is speculating that the lack of announced products for 2026 may have been a part of the impact it has had.

Nor has anyone suggested anything of the sort.

Alright. I still think it’s reasonable to speculate that if sales are not up to expectations, that may be affecting the lack of announcements.

Yes. That’s literally what the author of the article is suggesting - that the recent spate of digital products may have been a trial balloon, and they may be waiting for results from it before making decisions based on them. If so, maybe the reason there haven’t been any announcements yet is that they haven’t yet made those decisions, since the results of the trial are still coming in.

Right, and so it makes sense to speculate that WotC may be delaying their announcements until they can be more confident they can meet whatever release dates they end up announcing.

This is also speculation, based on no evidence.

Speculation is ok. Especially when that speculation is done in the interest of easing folks anxiety around the lack of announcements, rather than to prey on it.

I'm not going to argue about the speculation, but I think the "...there’s evidence that suggests it hasn’t quite been the home run WotC was hoping for" for example is speculation reframed as fact. There were some people claiming evidence such as book scan numbers that have been thoroughly debunked. The conclusion of the article is also pretty much standard doom and gloom of D&D losing market share for reasons. They may lose market share, they may gain, honestly we don't really know. I could just as easily speculate that HASBRO has been taken over by Martians and are currently laying the groundwork for invasion. That would be slightly less plausible but it's just speculation, right?