Chris Cocks says it makes sense to move D&D to a "live service" model, but Hasbro will always make physical books

Chris Cocks isn't shy about plans to move Dungeons & Dragons to a more live service model of gaming. In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Cocks explicitly said that "it makes sense" for players to shift their mindset towards a live service due to the high amount of players using digital services, but assured the interviewer that books will still be produced by Hasbro. When asked if Wizards was moving away from books in favor of a more piecemeal release schedule, following the announcement of D&D Beyond's new Drops service. "Books will always be an important part of D&D," Cocks said. "It will always be kind of like a special totem that you can collect. I have a big bookshelf of D&D books myself."

"But we see what's happening – almost everyone who plays D&D uses D&D Beyond, like a super high percentage uses it," Cocks continued. "A very high percentage use Foundry VTT or Roll20, and so it just makes sense that you should start to migrate your thinking about the way you play to more of a live service where you don't have to wait 18 months for us to build a book. We can start to release components or aspects of that book over time, and you don't have to buy everything all at once. You can buy chapters or segments of it over time. That makes a ton of sense to me. That said we will still have big moments. We will still have like, 'hey, ta da, here's a huge campaign.' You can expect there'll be more around that, both from us and from all the creators in the world that can leverage a platform like D&D Beyond to share their content as well."

Broadly speaking, Dungeons & Dragons has always been a "live service" game, as the game's core business model involves continuously releasing new content in the form of new rulebooks or campaigns. However, it seems that Cocks is principally interested in shifting this model around more frequent releases. We'll note that the business model suggested by Cocks was already rolled out in a manner of speaking. The Dhampir species rules were released as a "digital DLC" for D&D Beyond subscribers who digitally ordered a Forgotten Realms book bundle, but a physical version of the rules are being released via the upcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within book. However, a la carte purchases were removed from D&D Beyond several years ago in order to force users to purchase entire books instead.

 

[Dire Bare]

You have to also buy the license to use the content on top of the sub. You are not saving money. It is actually more expensive.

No, it isn't.

The digital books on DDB are less expensive than their physical counterparts. And you do not need a subscription to access them.

The Hero and Master tier subscriptions offer other benefits, are very inexpensive, and . . . are worth it to some, not to others. Shrug.

Personally, I treat my DDB subscription much like I do my streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. I subscribe when I need to, and cancel/suspend my subscription when I don't need it. For DDB, I only subscribe at the Master tier when I'm running a game and want to share content with my players.

I would save money over physical books . . . but I tend to also purchase the print books! Or at least some of them I do. If I wasn't purchasing both, I would definitely be saving money with DDB.

 

[Argyle King]

Exactly. They haven't said "we're not doing printed books anymore", just that they're doing this on top of that. They're not stupid...they know that the second they drop physical books is the moment they will lose against Pathfinder, Daggerheart, Draw Steel and TotV.

I can understand why some may have concern over what might actually be in (or not in) future books.

As I said upthread, I recently looked through one of the books. Parts of the book where I would have expected to find game content instead redirected me to either a different book or DDB.

Didn't seem to be a lot of value in actually buying the physical book.

I can provide better details the next time I'm at that store. I don't remember specific page numbers from a casual glance.

 

[Reynard]

Well, now the $4.58 a month Master Tier is getting a content library included, which may become pretty significant after a few months of drops. Certainly has the possibility to be more bang for the buck than the old magazine subscriptions pretty quickly...and that's on top of content sharing, character builder, encounter builder, Maps, etc...

I don't use it, nor do I want it, but just a direct comparison of price and what you get versus what the magazines used to offer, it seems like a legitimate deal.

Sure but I was talking about getting the actual core books as part of the subscription.

Paizo is a weird one to try and draw comparisons to anyway, simply because they have (to their great credit) been committed to open gaming and making ALL of their rules available for free. Nothing irritates me more than when I remember that WotC hold back stuff in the SRD and also essentially never adds new material to it.

 

[AlViking]

No, it isn't.

The digital books on DDB are less expensive than their physical counterparts. And you do not need a subscription to access them.

The Hero and Master tier subscriptions offer other benefits, are very inexpensive, and . . . are worth it to some, not to others. Shrug.

Personally, I treat my DDB subscription much like I do my streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. I subscribe when I need to, and cancel/suspend my subscription when I don't need it. For DDB, I only subscribe at the Master tier when I'm running a game and want to share content with my players.

I would save money over physical books . . . but I tend to also purchase the print books! Or at least some of them I do. If I wasn't purchasing both, I would definitely be saving money with DDB.

I agree but there was one thing that I find shocking. That you're willing to DM but that there are times you do not? You might have to explain that to my wife when I'm voluntold that I'm going to start another group.

 

[MGibster]

At one point id agree with ya, but not any longer. Looking over the piles of stuff in my home I realized it was landfill mass leasing space in my abode. The Paizo AP example, sure I still have them and I could run them again, but chances are pretty slim I ever will. If I lost them it wouldnt be detrimental. I sure wouldnt mind if I paid a pittance for access in comparison.

I'm well past the point where money for RPGs is no longer an issue and space has become a problem. The truth is I've purged my RPG collection several times during my life. The first was circa 1997 when I got rid of my ample collection that included a number of AD&D second edition books. I've had at least one major purge since then and on occasion I'll just throw books away because I can't be bothered to find another home for them. (My Conan books from Modiphius are terrified right now.) If I'm not reasonably sure I'll actually play a game then I prefer PDF.

 

[AlViking]

I can relate to that. I didn't have much money either. I mowed lawns and such to try to buy a few things (before being told by a clerk that I still couldn't due to the Satanic Panic.)

I grew up on a farm, there's no "being paid" to do much of anything when you're considered free child labor.

It wasn't all bad, I just didn't grow up with much disposable income.

On the flipside, I posit that a corporation who has repeatedly expressed wanting to better monetize a brand might be more successful with a strategy that includes people with money in their target audience.

Obviously, there is a balancing act. Not long ago, I was similarly critical of WotC seeming to cater to collectors and people wealthy enough to regularly afford high-pricepoint items. I think there's a better middle ground between what WotC was doing then and what has been hypothesized in this thread.

If you can figure out how to make something like this work for everyone you could be a rich man.

 

[Dire Bare]

These things aren't really comparable. As far as I understand it, you don't automatically get access to any D&D books when you sub to Beyond, correct? Or is their a tier that does?

Other than the new "Drops" content, your hero or master tier DDB subscription does not give you access to any books or content. However, you do not need a subscription at all to access the content you purchased, you only need to register a free account on DDB, and the basic rules are free.

When you subscribe to a Paizo monthly subscription, you only get the books (print & digital) that are released during your sub. You don't gain access to anything released before or after. A lot (most? all?) of the game content is released under Paizo's SRD for free, but that isn't exactly the same thing as the complete content of all of the books.

These are two different models to be sure . . . but it's perfectly reasonable for someone who has experience with both to compare which one offers them the most value. YMMV. Some will prefer Paizo's model, others will prefer DDB.

It's patronizing to insist that those of us who prefer DDB are somehow ignorant of how all of this works. But, par for the course in fandom.

 

[Belen]

Yep. I put it in a previous post, but Drops and Dragon Magazine are essentially the same. I think accessibility for Drops is still something that they can improve, but the content between both is similar

How? I get to keep my content when U stopped subbing to the mags.

 

[Dire Bare]

Ah, but the streaming quality is much worse. I got back into physical media because the sound and picture are better.

Also, once you move completely to a model where you own nothing, then you are beholden to them.

They will monetize your data and use it to get more of your resources.

Also, online apps and services continue to enshittify. The interfaces are getting worse, it is hard to find and curate content. I cannot even get decent recommendations on Amazon any more or use it for discovery.

It is a classic bait and switch and it will end up costing more in the long run.

Some forms of physical storage media paired with the appropriate tech (DVD player, TV) can offer superior quality to movies/TV streaming over the internet. Sure.

You act like we don't know that. Rather patronizing of you.

However (with risk of being patronizing myself) . . . not all of us care or even really notice the difference. I haven't played a DVD or Blu-Ray for years, everything I watch is streaming. My TV isn't even HD. And . . . I don't care, the quality difference isn't important to me.

My preferences don't trump yours . . . but your preferences don't trump mine.

 

[mamba]

Still applies. Some online (here, but mostly reddit) are complaining about a digital feature bringing in extra content, when Dragon mag did the same on paperback back in the day. My point is...this is not new.

except that the difference is that you kept your magazines whereas now you lose all the digital content, so I do not see being ok with the former but not the latter as hypocritical