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.

 

[Belen]

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.

Put it this way, if I cant afford a fast food lunch a month for access to media subs, or none of it is available anymore, something went majorly wrong. Worrying about the middle seasons of Law and Order will be the least of my worries.

Yet I can sell my Paizo AP copies for more than I purchased them. I cannot resell my DDB. I cannot pass any of my subs to my kids. I cannot pass on my steam library etc.

I can sell my physical items. In fact, I have and often earn good money.

Once the sub ends, all that money spent is vapor.

 

[Dire Bare]

Not to mention reading digital is proven to lead to less retention and learning loss.

We just switched our kids to a school with no chromebooks. They have computer labs and text books.

As a teacher . . . you are comparing oranges to apples. In fact even the "research" into K-12 and collegiate learning is flawed.

Students learning "analog" versus "digital" . . . there is definitely major issues with digital only learning methods. But it has little to do with online services like DDB.

My colleagues and I constantly complain about the tech push and online curriculum that has taken over our schools, for these reasons:

• Screen fatigue. Students are using computers in most of their classes, throughout the entire class period, all day. With exceptions for PE, Art, and other "hands-on" classes.
• Distraction. Most of my students are using their computers and phones to do anything other than the lesson I'm trying to teach. Work for other classes, video games, YouTube videos, other weird stuff I don't even want to know about . . .
• Poorly designed curriculum. Back in the print textbook days, I complained about poor quality curriculum. I now long for those days of yore . . .
• Tech issues. When the wifi goes down (and it does), learning stops. If a kid doesn't have access to the internet at home, they can't do homework. If a kid forgets to charge their device, or loses their charging cable (which is a constant issue), they can't participate. If somebody hacks a tool you rely on (the recent Canvas hack), everything stops. Teachers, who already wear too many hats, now also have to wear the hat of "tech support" in their classrooms.

There are definitely pros to tech and online learning as well, and the cons are more issues of the tech being poorly managed by school districts and universities rather than inherent flaws to the tools and methods.

None of this really applies to a gamer deciding to use online tools for their favorite game, D&D or something else.

There is some minor overlap . . . whoever is on DDB loses access if the wifi goes down at your buddies house or the game store. Many of the tools, even the good ones, could be designed better for sure. The focus is often over company profit over user experience, but that's true of everything in our capitalist society.

IME . . . as a player, I use online tools (including DDB) to manage my characters . . . we play at our FLGS, and the wifi went down (once) . . . I fired up the DDB app on my phone and was just fine. Could I find myself in a situation in the future with no wifi and no cell access? Sure, but . . . I'm not worried. On the phone app, you can download all of the books so that you don't need a live connection too.

I would find it more difficult as a DM, as I use my laptop for everything. If I lose wifi, or my laptop battery runs out . . . but I prepare for those issues and haven't had a problem yet. I'm not worried.

Will I eventually lose access to all of the content I purchased digitally? Maybe, it's certainly a possibility and one of the downsides of digital licensing of content. But again . . . after having lost some digital content (my own fault, didn't back things up properly) and also having lost physical content (moving, water damage) . . . eventually, maybe, someday losing access to digital content just doesn't bother me.

 

[Dire Bare]

People quit playing for all sorts of reasons, I wish you luck in finding a game or activity that better suits you. On the other hand people have been predicting this imminent demise of 5e for over a decade now. There will always be a next generation, either WOTC caters to what they want or the game will slowly be less popular. Even if the number of players was cut in half tomorrow, the game would still be more popular than any other time other than perhaps the 80s boom years.

Heh, cranky gamers have been predicting the imminent demise of D&D since 1974. It's nothing new.

 

[Dire Bare]

This is possible. I do have my PDFs stored locally on three laptops, but I also have an NAS, and two cloud storage accounts. The thing that puzzled me was the "I have to buy" "every time I change my computer". I, uh. I've never had to do that with PDFs.

This works for you, and that's great but . . . you do realize you've got quite the setup most of us don't, right?

 

[Dire Bare]

My realization that digital services as replacement for physical content isn’t a panacea was the Amazon/Comixology acquisition. I lost a number of comics that didn’t get transitioned over properly to their new platform, and using the new platform was just painful. Now, it’s not that I don’t use digital services but I don’t use it as a replacement for physical items, and when do I buy physical books, I’m more thoughtful about what I buy - having a bit more of a curating mindset.

Argh. The Comixology acquisition is textbook corporate en****ification, for sure. What a great service Comixology was, until Amazon took it over.

Could something similar happen to D&D Beyond someday? Sure.

I'll worry about it when it happens.

My god, I'm certainly done with Amazon though, for all sorts of reasons. Everything the company touches turns to . . . . .

 

[jdrakeh]

This works for you, and that's great but . . . you do realize you've got quite the setup most of us don't, right?

I think you're underestimating the number of tech geeks involved in the hobby. My setup isn't that unusual. I know a lot of fellow nerds who at least have a NAS (and most everybody I know, nerd or not, has at least one cloud backup subscription).

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I think you're underestimating the number of tech geeks involved in the hobby. My setup isn't that unusual. I know a lot of fellow nerds who at least have a NAS (and most everybody I know, nerd or not, has at least one cloud backup subscription).

LOL. I don't even know what an NAS is... heh.

 

[Selas]

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

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

Neither of you got my point, so let me reiterate: BOTH services provided extra gameplay content outside of the standard books that were sold, both require a subscription to get, and both didn't guarantee that they would appear on mainline books in the future, and you lose both if you unsubscribe. The benefit of the mag was that since it was paperback, you kept what you received so far, and Drops doesn't.
It is hypocritical because the majority of the complaints is about Drops providing extra content through a paid subscription, which is not new. Had Drops been marketed as the Dragon mag follow-ons and as permanent purchasable options, the backlash would be lower.

 

[Belen]

This works for you, and that's great but . . . you do realize you've got quite the setup most of us don't, right?

Really? It is not that difficult to set up. I have my own NAS setup that I built a few months ago. I do not do cloud except for critical because of the sub costs. I am so tired of subbing for everything. I did this after Amazon took away my ability to download my purchased books.

I purchased everything on DDB. I use the service weekly; however, I also own archival copies of all my content.

I am very wary of “you will own nothing and be happy.” It is the enshittification of your life.

 

[Reynard]

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.

Of course, I did not do that and your insistence on painting yourself as a victim is, in a word, tiresome.

So, good day.