This is just an anecdote. And yes, I know this conversation has happened here a hundred times and I know all the arguments for and against verbatim. So I'm not really asking if it's a new edition; instead I thought I'd talk about a recent experience and why it doesn't matter whether I think it is or not.
Background--D&D 2024 was announced a few years ago, and WotC went to great efforts to portray is as NOT being a new edition. They said it over and over and over again. And I get that--the moment the word 'edition' is invoked, sales evaporate. Nobody is going to buy stuff for the current edition when a new edition is on the horizon, and these days you can't keep tha new edition secret. So D&D 2024, Pathfinder Remaster, etc... none of these invoke the death word 'edition'. I get it.
So let's just agree that the world 'edition' has now been rendered meaningless. Let's just look at customer behaviour, which is all this terminology really matters to.
So, the background aside, here's the anecdote.
We had a stand at UK Games Expo this year. On our stand we had a variety of products. We had our own Level Up stuff, we had 5E stuff, we had 5.5E stuff, we had stuff from our own games like ACE, WOIN, etc.
We did fine. We sold a ton of stuff. It was our best UKGE ever. So this isn't a 'woe is me' story; we did great. But you know what we couldn't sell? Not a single copy?
Our 5E stuff. Without fail, people would ask "is this for 5.5E?" We'd answer "it was originally written for 5E, but 5.5E is fully compatible" and they'd pull a face and walk off. Over and over again.
Of course, we could have lied and just said yes, and because it is compatible, they'd be just fine with their purchase. But we're cursed with that honesty bug. So we sold exactly ZERO products for 5E. We sold lots of other stuff. We sold 5.5E stuff. We sold WOIN and ACE and A5E stuff. But '5E' was dead in the water. In three days, over hundreds of sales, not a single 5E item could we sell.
So... whatever we think. Whatever WotC says. Whatever you think. Whatever I think. In the real world, in this one anecdotal experience, 5E was dead in the water. 5.5E is perceived as a new edition, and that's what people want to buy. Whether we think it's a new edition or not, whether WotC says it's a new edition or not, our customers treat it like a new edition. And really, that's all that matters. The rest is just guff.
I know we have a bunch of retailers who post on this forum. I'd be really interested to hear if their experiences match or differ from ours. Because, frankly, we still have quite a lot of 5E stock, and if it is still selling elsewhere, it would be good to hear! Maybe we're just marketing it wrong!
Background--D&D 2024 was announced a few years ago, and WotC went to great efforts to portray is as NOT being a new edition. They said it over and over and over again. And I get that--the moment the word 'edition' is invoked, sales evaporate. Nobody is going to buy stuff for the current edition when a new edition is on the horizon, and these days you can't keep tha new edition secret. So D&D 2024, Pathfinder Remaster, etc... none of these invoke the death word 'edition'. I get it.
So let's just agree that the world 'edition' has now been rendered meaningless. Let's just look at customer behaviour, which is all this terminology really matters to.
So, the background aside, here's the anecdote.
We had a stand at UK Games Expo this year. On our stand we had a variety of products. We had our own Level Up stuff, we had 5E stuff, we had 5.5E stuff, we had stuff from our own games like ACE, WOIN, etc.
We did fine. We sold a ton of stuff. It was our best UKGE ever. So this isn't a 'woe is me' story; we did great. But you know what we couldn't sell? Not a single copy?
Our 5E stuff. Without fail, people would ask "is this for 5.5E?" We'd answer "it was originally written for 5E, but 5.5E is fully compatible" and they'd pull a face and walk off. Over and over again.
Of course, we could have lied and just said yes, and because it is compatible, they'd be just fine with their purchase. But we're cursed with that honesty bug. So we sold exactly ZERO products for 5E. We sold lots of other stuff. We sold 5.5E stuff. We sold WOIN and ACE and A5E stuff. But '5E' was dead in the water. In three days, over hundreds of sales, not a single 5E item could we sell.
So... whatever we think. Whatever WotC says. Whatever you think. Whatever I think. In the real world, in this one anecdotal experience, 5E was dead in the water. 5.5E is perceived as a new edition, and that's what people want to buy. Whether we think it's a new edition or not, whether WotC says it's a new edition or not, our customers treat it like a new edition. And really, that's all that matters. The rest is just guff.
I know we have a bunch of retailers who post on this forum. I'd be really interested to hear if their experiences match or differ from ours. Because, frankly, we still have quite a lot of 5E stock, and if it is still selling elsewhere, it would be good to hear! Maybe we're just marketing it wrong!
