D&D General Ben Riggs interviews Fred Hicks and Cam Banks, then shares WotC sales data.

[mamba]

I don't trust it or distrust HASBRO's financial reports.

you should be able to trust that the numbers are correct or at least what Hasbro believes they are

I just don't see the point of assuming and proclaiming over and over and over again that it's all spin and they're hiding something especially when the only thing I see spin on has nothing to do with the actual books being produced.

spin does not mean that they have to hide failing sales numbers and D&D is close to being shut down due to lack of sales, it simply means they portray it in the best light possible

D&D is such a minor aspect of their business I see no reason for them to be deceptive about what's going on.

WotC is a significant part of Hasbro, esp. when you focus on the profit side of things rather than revenue, and while D&D is nowhere near as big as MtG, it is pretty up there in terms of products Hasbro has, probably their second or thirdmost profitable product after MtG…

 

[AlViking]

you should be able to trust that the numbers are correct or at least what Hasbro believes they are


spin does not mean that they have to hide failing sales numbers and D&D is close to being shut down due to lack of sales, it simply means they portray it in the best light possible


WotC is a significant part of Hasbro, esp. when you focus on the profit side of things rather than revenue, and while D&D is nowhere near as big as MtG, it is pretty up there in terms of products Hasbro has, probably their second or thirdmost profitable product after MtG…

I think MtG is pretty important to HASBRO, but the D&D books? Not so much. Video games an other non-game entertainment do have the potential to have significant impact on the company's bottom line.

 

[Parmandur]

I think MtG is pretty important to HASBRO, but the D&D books? Not so much. Video games an other non-game entertainment do have the potential to have significant impact on the company's bottom line.

I so think Beyond is important to the investors..which is why they keep talking about it.

 

[SlyFlourish]

If we are talking preferences, the worse 2024 does, the better, becasue then maybe we will get an actual new edition.

Hang on, let me find my old drum in the closet. Here it is! bangbangbang.

There are tons of awesome RPGs being designed by tons of awesome designers, many of whom worked at WOTC on previous versions of D&D, we can enjoy instead of worrying about what a new edition of D&D would be like (hint, it won't be what you want).

My recommendations which I think span a huge range of RPG playstyles and are still D&Dish:

• Shadowdark
• Daggerheart
• Dolmenwood
• 13th Age
• Old School Essentials
• Draw Steel
• Shadow of the Weird Wizard
• Dragonbane

There's eight and I could keep going but I think those have a huge range of playstyles: tactical versus story focus, super-heroic versus folk-heroic, mechanics focus versus player-challenging, and so on. I think they're all awesome.

The other reason it might be a bad idea for WOTC to release a new edition is further splitting their customers. This was a huge problem between 3rd and 4th - so bad that it didn't really matter when they came up with a new system for 5th but now we still have 4e folks lamenting the loss. Even the shift to 2024 is splitting up the base I think. At the 5e panel I hosted at Gencon, roughly half the audience was using D&D 2024 and half stuck to D&D 2014.

 

[Reynard]

Hang on, let me find my old drum in the closet. Here it is! bangbangbang.

There are tons of awesome RPGs being designed by tons of awesome designers, many of whom worked at WOTC on previous versions of D&D, we can enjoy instead of worrying about what a new edition of D&D would be like (hint, it won't be what you want).

My recommendations which I think span a huge range of RPG playstyles and are still D&Dish:

• Shadowdark
• Daggerheart
• Dolmenwood
• 13th Age
• Old School Essentials
• Draw Steel
• Shadow of the Weird Wizard
• Dragonbane

There's eight and I could keep going but I think those have a huge range of playstyles: tactical versus story focus, super-heroic versus folk-heroic, mechanics focus versus player-challenging, and so on. I think they're all awesome.

The other reason it might be a bad idea for WOTC to release a new edition is further splitting their customers. This was a huge problem between 3rd and 4th - so bad that it didn't really matter when they came up with a new system for 5th but now we still have 4e folks lamenting the loss. Even the shift to 2024 is splitting up the base I think. At the 5e panel I hosted at Gencon, roughly half the audience was using D&D 2024 and half stuck to D&D 2014.

I know there are lots of other games. I love both Daggerheart and Shadowdark. But that does not have anything to do with wanting to see an actual new edition of D&D after 10 years of 5E. The "D&Dness" of it matters, after all.

And people that like 5E will lose nothing if there is a 6E, since 5E is in the public domain. So if you have that, why would it be bad if 6E changed the game again?

Unless the "D&Dness" of it does, in fact, matter?

Wanting a new edition of D&D, especially now in a post Creative Commons world, does not take anything away from you any more than suggesting I play something else takes something away from me.

 

[bedir than]

At the 5e panel I hosted at Gencon, roughly half the audience was using D&D 2024 and half stuck to D&D 2014.

To be fair the panel was about and for the people who use multiple version of 5e
It was always going to attract an audience that wasn't switching to a single version.

 

[mamba]

To be fair the panel was about and for the people who use multiple version of 5e
It was always going to attract an audience that wasn't switching to a single version.

when why did half stick with 2014 and 1/3 move entirely to 2024?

 

[bedir than]

when why did half stick with 2014 and 1/3 move entirely to 2024?

That specific audience answer was for a panel called "Beautiful Mess of 5e" and includes several advocates for mixing and matching 5e.
Why would anyone think the majority of attendees for said panel would be playing 2024?

 

[mamba]

That specific audience answer was for a panel called "Beautiful Mess of 5e" and includes several advocates for mixing and matching 5e.
Why would anyone think the majority of attendees for said panel would be playing 2024?

I only heard the podcast, but 1/3 moved entirely to 2024 and some portion stuck with 2014, which I assume is what the half here refers to (the podcast did not quantify it). Only a part was mixing, and going by those numbers a small minority (the smallest out of the three groups)

 

[Parmandur]

I only heard the podcast, but 1/3 moved entirely to 2024 and some portion stuck with 2014, which I assume is what the half here refers to (the podcast did not quantify it). Only a part was mixing, and going by those numbers a small minority (the smallest out of the three groups)

Right, that means that a full third of the groggiest grogs moved within a year.