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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 7529500" data-attributes="member: 59082">To follow-up on some of the previous comments and sum up my thoughts, I think the question is if and when the current wave of success eventually (inevitably?) slows and/or crashes, what will WotC do? We just don't know.It isn't daring to speculate that chances are we will see continued growth and success...for awhile. And then at some point there will be a dip, which is what I was referring to as "peak edition." Maybe it is in a year or two, maybe three or four, maybe longer. But at some point the continued growth will slow. The question is where on the spectrum of "plateau to crash" it will land, and that will determine WotC's course of action. If it plateaus, they can follow the "evergreen" model of Catan and Monopoly and just manage the ship, so to speak, with only minor tweaks, re-skins, explansions, more story arcs, etc. Maybe a trial balloon once in awhile (e.g. something like Gamma World or maybe an Advanced D&D for more tactical play), to see if the market will accommodate a second line, but for the most part it will continue as is for as long as Western civilization holds up (well, you know what I mean).If it crashes, we might see another edition or some other more drastic approach. Either way, I wouldn't expect anything drastic for some years to come. In other words, even if WotC starts seeing the ship slow down in 2019, I don't think they'll scramble to come out with a new edition in 2021, and this is mostly because I think they've stumbled upon a formula for success that will allow for sustained success, so that a slowing down doesn't necessarily imply crashing, simply re-calibrating to a lower plateau. Which is probably to be expected.Another thing to note: My guess is that the current success is beyond the wildest expectations of Mearls & Co, and they're having to re-write their plans. I know they hoped for an evergreen approach, or at least something like a ten-year edition cycle, but I don't think they expected this level of success. On one hand, this sounds great; on the other, it has probably increased corporate expectations, so that when things do inevitably slow down, we don't know how Hasbro will handle it.But we can really only look to the next 5-10 years, as technological changes could completely shift everything. AI, in particular, might make just about everything as we know it a moot point. Virtual reality. Not to mention dire possibilities such as drastic climate change, economic collapse, etc. So for now and the foreseeable future, we can enjoy a thriving D&D game.</blockquote>

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