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.

 

[Maxperson]

My experience was a bit different; I lost all my 3.5E books when I moved states back in 2009 (box was lost during shipment), so since then relying strictly on physical is a big no for me.

That happened to me, only it was all of my 1e and most of my 2e stuff.

 

[Dire Bare]

Hmm - every game store I know has regular, scheduled game nights.

But really I'm thinking more about gamers who go to a local store for their games, dice, minis, paints, to chat, meet other gamers etc.

I play at my local game store. I use D&D Beyond when playing.

Using D&D Beyond doesn't mean everyone is playing online and not face-to-face.

Cocks isn't claiming most players play online, he is claiming most use DDB. And he is correct.

 

[Scribe]

Hmm - every game store I know has regular, scheduled game nights.

But really I'm thinking more about gamers who go to a local store for their games, dice, minis, paints, to chat, meet other gamers etc.

The 2 main FLGS I frequent are the same. The idea that Beyond is the primary driver of play?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

We all use dndbeyond at our live games. Character sheets. I look up monsters. But then I also have my books scattered around me.

 

[Clint_L]

This is how I felt with my 4e subscription.

Until mid-campaign they no longer supported it, and I no longer had access to any of the material to level up my character, or access to heaps of errata'd rules.

There's a difference between owning a PDF and licensing something off in a proprietary app. Yes, both are digital, but only one can be taken away from you at whim.

Go look up the many stories of people who had their Amazon accounts blocked and no longer have access to all of the ebooks they purchasedlicensed.

Remind me if WotC spent hundreds of millions acquiring 4e’s rudimentary digital platform, and hundreds of millions more upgrading and maintaining it? Did it have millions of users; in fact, was it the main interface for most players? Was it the main engine for D&D sales? Was it the heart of WotCs business model?

Not exactly comparable.

As for Amazon, in the ten years I have used it I have saved thousands of dollars, a small mountain of paper, and several walls worth of storage space while having access to my reading anytime, anywhere and a new book always at my fingertips. If it magically vanished tomorrow I’d still be way ahead.

These scare stories don’t worry me. The banks could crash tomorrow, too, but I’m not stuffing my mattress with dollar bills. I have assessed the cost/benefit and the answer is clear.

 

[Jadeite]

Make Adventuring Great Again?
(AP stands for Adventure Path, correct?)

What exactly are you trying to imply here? I was referring to a pro-consumer initiative against certain industry practices like making games that people bought unplayable (Stop Destroying Video Games aka Stop Killing Games).

 

[Morrus]

Did it have millions of users; in fact, was it the main interface for most players?

Most of your questions, the answer is no. But this one has an interesting nuance--it was the main interface for character creation, to the point where 3PPs couldn't sell player options because nobody would buy stuff which didn't work with the character builder at the time. Everyone I knew used that character builder.

 

[Retros_x]

Guy that promoted NFTs moved onto guy that promoted Gen AI moved onto guy that's promoting D&D as a service.

What's his next move?

D&D Beyond on quantum computers

 

[MonsterEnvy]

We all use dndbeyond at our live games. Character sheets. I look up monsters. But then I also have my books scattered around me.

Currently mostly the same. Me and a few others use Beyond. Makes running encounters very smooth even if a few players are sticking to pen and paper.

 

[VashVet]

Well who should I watch? Ben Riggs admitted his videos are click-bait when interviewing Michael Merles. The OGL guy is hated for lying. Ted is hated for some reason, Character Sheet is hated here. Lazy Talk Show guy has to fight people here to respect his opinions. Ginny Dee does not do news. Dreadmore is a lunatic, but reviews the Ravenloft game explaining the rules somewhat. That Attem guy does not do news.

Who gives the news honestly without their own biases?

As far as I know Ben Riggs doesn’t do “videos” so I’m not sure what you’re quoting there, but the answer is probably none of them.

There isn’t enough news to go around for someone to simply cover the hobby’s news without editorializing. Even what I would consider the best source of information (Teos Abadia and Shawn Merwin from Mastering Dungeons) weigh in with their opinions from time to time depending on what they’re discussing.