Thing is, Hasbro pulled D&D out of the book channel, and now sell it as a game...dofferent stream. Amazon does not catsgorize new D&D books as "books".
But really what WotC is focused on now is direct sales, apparently D&D Beyond physical & digital copies are like 66% of sales now.
Absolutely, which is why I agree with the broader point of the original article. Still, this is the first time in 3 or 4 years where we have known so little, so it is a seachange.
I get that, for sure. Here is the summary for the D&D Direct in 2024:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1807-d-d-direct-recap-a-look-at-two-forgotten-realms?srsltid=AfmBOopLHmuCAYPyN1N2hbU3Wdb-DeJuu7tGKJr8Pwts08vHuNgHAJBy
I agree with your overall point 100%, you are quite correct particularly across the full sweep of 5E.
However, in August 2024, WotC did drop a D&D Direct, where they mentioned that 2025 would see a two book Forgotten Realms Setting and a Dragon-themed Adventure anthology...so we did know most...
Similarly, "doom" here is an archaicism, meaning more generally "decree" or "administrative decision", but Tolkien knew to a modern English ear it sounds badass and ominous.
Terrible marketing, and positioned right between John Wickand Super Mario Bros., perhaps the two worst things for a D&D movie to try and be counterprogrammong for.
Also, the pandemic wasn't quite over yet: I did not go and see something in the theater for a full year and a half after HAT dropped.
Well, no, in this case it is not just empty platitudes, the studio and franchise models are serious and different approaches to hierarchical organization that actually mean something. He is well out of the game, but this is what Mike Mearls had to say on these boards about WotC going back to the...