A question for WoTC

[der_kluge]

I'd love if someone from WoTC could answer this.


We hear a lot of speculation around WoTC's marketing efforts (or the lack thereof) and the demographic WoTC is marketing to - often with laments surrounding the idea that we (e.g., 30-something gamers) are no longer WoTC's core marketing demographic.

I've seen little evidence to support this one way or the other. Since, in terms of actual marketing efforts, there are very few - Blogs, Gleemax, and that's about it near as I can tell. All of which seems to suggest that WoTC's current marketing efforts are geared towards the fanbase of *existing* gamers.

My question is - Does WoTC have a marketing campaign to attract new gamers?

 

[NewfieDave]

My question is - Does WoTC have a marketing campaign to attract new gamers?

My guess is that the "new gamers" you speak of are actually old gamers who don't happen to play D&D. Consider two scenarios.

1) Two gamers walk into a gaming store. The latest 3.X book is in plain view in the display case, but they walk right past it because they've never played D&D.

2) Two gamers walk into a gaming store. They see a big poster with a cool looking beholder that says, in bold print, "NEW!!! D&D 4th Edition".

Gamer 1: Oh look, there's a new version of that Dungeons and Dragons game.
Gamer 2: WOW, that's a cool poster! What's the thing with all the eyes?
Storeowner: That's a beholder, a classic monster you can fight in D&D.
Gamer 1: Neato. I've always been kind of interested in D&D but none of my friends play and the books seem kind of expensive.
Storeowner: Well we have a regular D&D group here on Thursday evenings. We're starting our campaigns over because of the new edition, so there's some room for new players to join. All you need to play is some dice and the Player's Handbook, but I'm sure somebody will have one you can borrow to get started.

All of a sudden there is the potential for a new player, who might end up buying the Player's Handbook, and maybe the rest of the core books if he enjoys himself and wants to try DMing for his friends.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

That sounds about right, NewfieD. Another group of existing gamers is the people who used to play D&D but stopped. Third edition attracted a lot of former gamers who now saw "the new D&D isn't an incoherent mess of arbitrary rules anymore!" and started to play D&D again. No doubt a lot of former 3e players will be attracted when they see "the new D&D isn't an overcomplicated mess of unbalanced prestige classes with steep preparation times and too many rules to be manageable!"

Based on what they've described of the digital initiative, they're also hoping to attrach players who would be playing D&D if they only had a game group nearby.

 

[Glyfair]

We hear a lot of speculation around WoTC's marketing efforts (or the lack thereof) and the demographic WoTC is marketing to - often with laments surrounding the idea that we (e.g., 30-something gamers) are no longer WoTC's core marketing demographic.

A lot of that comes from people who remember WotC's marketing research. They specifically didn't investigate gamers above a certain age (IIRC, but it might have been those who had played for a certain time).

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Remember, it's way early for a marketing push for 4e. That'll probably be a month or two before the core rulebooks, at earliest... no point in getting people excited about stuff they can't buy for 6 months.

 

[Cyronax]

Remember, it's way early for a marketing push for 4e. That'll probably be a month or two before the core rulebooks, at earliest... no point in getting people excited about stuff they can't buy for 6 months.

I think the marketing has already begun actually. We are their target group right now: message board enthusiasts/activists as well as the people who know what 'Gygaxian fantasy' and/or the 1e/2e product line was. We are getting all worked up over various details regardless of our support or disgust for a new edition, but the anticipation is what they want to build in their hardcore fan base.

These boards strongly contributed to my pre-purchase the 4e already in fact, thanks to analysis I read from various posters. Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk was the only other rpg product I've pre-purchased that far in advance.

I think the marketing push in comic books and stores aimed at younger gamers as well as video game players will begin once they have finalized the artwork for the books (right at or around the time they actually publish the books).

C.I.D.

 

[mxyzplk]

My guess is that the "new gamers" you speak of are actually old gamers who don't happen to play D&D. Consider two scenarios.

Well, the problem is that in my experience, gamers that don't play D&D aren't clueless about it - no one who games can be - but instead, they regard it as the McDonald's equivalent of gaming, and would rather play indie games/GURPS/WoD/etc. I don't think a shiny display will move that particular group. Maybe if they're planning a big push to attract card/dice/mini gamers as they wander through gaming stores; but basing a marketing campaign on the gaming stores seems ill-advised to me - so much of the channel now is online and big bookstores.

I could see the Digital Intiative trying to grab "at-home" gamers, but looking at what's been shown so far I don't think that's a realistic goal till 5e.

 

[TerraDave]

I think the marketing has already begun actually. We are their target group right now: ...I think the marketing push in comic books and stores aimed at younger gamers as well as video game players will begin once they have finalized the artwork for the books (right at or around the time they actually publish the books).

C.I.D.

Right. We are part of the initial "viral" marketing: the hardcore that must buy, and who will get other people to be aware of it and hopefully buy. We are also still contributing to product development (Gleemax "alpha", what gods in FR, names of stuff, and so on).

As they get closer, the mainstream part will come. Though they better have Gleemax and DDI up to speed.

 

[TerraDave]

In terms of who to market to, its actually huge, because so few people actually play, there are all kinds of possible gamers.

For example, over the years I have brought adults (20-30) into my game who only had limited RPG exposure, and didn't really know exactly what D&D was. Actually, now that I think about it, the great majority of my players since college fall into this catagory. Only a few "die-hard gamer" types among them.

I don't really know if this is a likely audience on the mass market scale, but it is different then the "young and knows little" and the "older current or ex gamer".

 

[tomBitonti]

So ... if we are talking marking, what is a good listing of market segments? If I present the statement (not indicating that is true or false) that "WOTC is dropping many existing gamers for a new market of younger players", then I can create a model of market segments, create product ideas, then present an analysis of the expected demand in each segment for each product idea. Then, I could make a hypothesis about the D&D brand strategy for delivering products to the various segments.

For example

Young Gamers (7-12)
Play at home (not online)
Play at school (not online)
Plays online
Young Teenagers (13-17)
College Aged (18-24)
Young Adults (25-30)
Older Adults (30+)

Product Type:
Existing D&D 3.5 Edition
Books
Core Books
Extension Books
Campaign Settings
Modules
Electronic Publications
Online Play
4th Edition as a simple 3.5 Update
4th Edition as a major redesign
Tabletop Miniatures

I can make a second model that basically is more about product saturation, that is:

There are X existing customers, and Y expected new customers. (Y may be negative).
There is a curve (some picture) of sales by time, presumably showing a gradual saturation. Lets say the current sales are S (per customer) and are expected to at best decrease gradually.
There are (X') existing customers that will be turned off by a new edition.
There are (Y') extra new customers that will be attracted to a new edition.
There is an expected change in sales of S' (per customer) for a new edition.

For each new product, I am looking at maximizing:

[ (X - X' + Y + Y') * (S + S') ] - [ (X + Y) * S ]

The choice of sign for X' is a convenience, and could be changed. The values are defined in an attempt to have all positive values in the equation.

Then for each product strategy I could plug in some numbers and choose the strategy based on the results.

(As a side note, there has *got* to be some standard marketing analysis methodology that handles this. My equation is just made up as a hint at what the real equation would like.)

So ... I assume that WOTC / Hasbro *has* done the above analysis, and used it to make important decisions about 4E. I don't think that we will see any input numbers or the results of the analysis, as these are valuable company assets that are valuable because WOTC / Hasbro has them and other companies don't. But, if we are talking about marked analysis, we'll have to start creating an actual analytic argument.