D&D's Lack of 2026 Announcements Actually Follows Precedent

Dungeons & Dragons fans seem to have short memories based on the number of speculative articles wondering why Wizards of the Coast hasn't announced any new books for next year. Over the past few weeks, various D&D blogs have speculated about the lack of 2026 announcements. Yes, Wizards of the Coast has underwent some internal turmoil this year, with a number of higher-ups tied to D&D leaving the company and replacements only named relatively recently. And yes, Wizards of the Coast was also hit by a series of delays for various books, with Eberron: Forge of the Artificer bouncing from a summer 2025 release to December due to a printing defect. However, neither of these are likely the reason why Wizards hasn't announced their 2026 slate. In fact, all one has to do is look at the timing of the 2025 announcements to take a deep breath.

Entering 2025, Dungeons & Dragons players only knew of one confirmed release - the 2025 Monster Manual tied to the core rulebooks. A D&D Direct in August 2024 revealed some rough timelines for two other D&D products, but specifics weren't revealed at that time. The rest of the 2025 D&D slate was announced at an embargoed press conference held at Wizards of the Coast's Renton headquarters in January 2025. Most major nerd press outlets, including EN World, were invited to the event. At the event, Dragon Delves, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, and the Forgotten Realms books were all announced, as was the Starter Set box. The Stranger Things book was also teased as a "mystery" product.

Based on Unearthed Arcana playtests, it appears that the 2026 books will include a Dark Sun book featuring a new Psion class (the first new D&D class in over five years) and a book featuring several arcane subclasses. Wizards has also yet to release a campaign adventure based on the 2024 ruleset. However, the lack of any announcements shouldn't be concerning at all, as this is precisely what Wizards did in 2025 as well.

We'll also point out that D&D has a relatively new marketing manager (Blain Howard, who replaced Greg Tito) and a new PR firm (Tara Bruno PR, replacing 360 PR) for the D&D tabletop group, so any lack of announcements such as the lack of a D&D Direct may be tied to a retooled marketing strategy rather than any other prognosticator of other factors.

 

[Christian Hoffer]

Because there was such a glut of late 2025 releases (September through December had a monthly release), it's not really surprising that D&D passed on a Direct this year. They had books to sell this year - it would have diluted the marketing to hype up 2026 at 2025's expense. You can keep people interested in one or two releases, but not five releases.

 

[TiQuinn]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like announcements as much as (if not more than) the next guy, but it's a practice that is bad for business.

We need the product to physically drop while people are still excited about it and still talking about it. That properly works out to two or three months.

IF they have anything coming in 2026 Q1, then I'd like to know about it soon, but Q2 can wait a few months and (as a retailer) I hope they don't tell us about Q3 or Q4 until May in the earliest.

As a fan, I want to hear about it all RIGHT NOW, so I get why everyone is asking, though! That side of me is wrong.

I think it’s also unhealthy because it just turns into discourse about the discourse. We’re no longer talking about the products themselves, and we’re not even talking about the marketing of the products - we’re talking about the lack of marketing. Combine that with a niche industry that already runs on rumor for the most part, and it’s just not a great thing, IMO.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes.
Heroes of the Borderlands, Stranger Things, the Monster Manual and Forgotten Realms all reviewed quite well, and received a lot of attention from normies/media.
Beyond integrated more 3rd party stuff, and WotC is supporting more VTTs than ever before. They announced a new video game that also has normies interested.

It's probably one of their best years marketing and the brand total sales numbers will be something like 7 times 2019.

I think you're right, but that's not what he meant by "successful marketing". The overall marketing worked out, like you say, but it was full of unintended SNAFUs.

Not really any terrible ones compared to their track record, though! The worst was probably the late Eberron book, and they did their best with it.

 

[bedir than]

The overall marketing worked out, like you say, but it was full of unintended SNAFUs.

I can't remember a marketing snafu. I don't think the department had a major failure this year.

WotC had a production problem with Eberron, but that's NEVER a marketing problem.

 

[AlViking]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like announcements as much as (if not more than) the next guy, but it's a practice that is bad for business.

We need the product to physically drop while people are still excited about it and still talking about it. That properly works out to two or three months.

IF they have anything coming in 2026 Q1, then I'd like to know about it soon, but Q2 can wait a few months and (as a retailer) I hope they don't tell us about Q3 or Q4 until May in the earliest.

As a fan, I want to hear about it all RIGHT NOW, so I get why everyone is asking, though! That side of me is wrong.

Yeah, my brother-in-law mentioned that they were advertising the next Avengers movie already. I get trying to stir up hype but it feels a bit desperate since it's not out until next December.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I can't remember a marketing snafu. I don't think the department had a major failure this year.

WotC had a production problem with Eberron, but that's NEVER a marketing problem.

Yeah, I guess you're right!

 

[Starmaster]

I guess I'm a little spoiled in that I look forward to having the full D&D release schedule by the start of the year.

On the plus side, we do know about the four Greenwood-authored Forgotten Realms books coming out, for those who are interested in that sort of thing. Although they aren't WotC releases, many Realms fans like any sourcebooks Greenwood writes and consider them to be official anyway.

 

[R_J_K75]

I've said this many times before. I really miss and enjoyed the old TSR/WotC yearly product catalogs. It was a lot more fun to me seeing what was coming out for the year rather than the teases and staggered release announcements. I remember waiting for months for some 2E and 3E products, anticipating the campaigns I might run with them.

 

[Retreater]

A good Dark Sun book with an exciting implementation of psionics might be what gets me to run 5.24.

 

[R_J_K75]

I guess I'm a little spoiled in that I look forward to having the full D&D release schedule by the start of the year.

Beat me to it.

On the plus side, we do know about the four Greenwood-authored Forgotten Realms books coming out, for those who are interested in that sort of thing. Although they aren't WotC releases, many Realms fans like any sourcebooks Greenwood writes and consider them to be official anyway.

I forgot about these. Were the titles mentioned? Are they going to be available on DMs Guild or elsewhere? I bought the Border Kingdoms, the Zhentil Keep and the Red Wizards pdfs that came out not long ago and those were good. More lore than 5E crunch.