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.

 

[AlViking]

Perhaps they are making an honest attempt at it by - instead of just making single sales like books - trying to get far more monthly subscribers to DnDBeyond instead (and thus continuous sales) ? Also: in other news, it was announced that we can expect more crossovers for D&D. One could argue that this approach is akin to the 'Universes Beyond' approach for MTG.

First, the statement was made 4 years ago. Has much changed? No. Second what they actual said if anyone actually bothers is

"The focus on multi-media is a key part of Hasbro’s so-called “Brand Blueprint 2.0” business model, which involves growing franchises through a mix of entertainment and products. The idea is to create film and television project to drive demand for products, which in turn spurs additional films and television shows, which in turn drive demand for even more products."

 

[abazaba]

First, the statement was made 4 years ago. Has much changed? No. Second what they actual said if anyone actually bothers is

"The focus on multi-media is a key part of Hasbro’s so-called “Brand Blueprint 2.0” business model, which involves growing franchises through a mix of entertainment and products. The idea is to create film and television project to drive demand for products, which in turn spurs additional films and television shows, which in turn drive demand for even more products."

Thanks for sharing that quote. Do you happen to have a link to the entire thing (or even just that quote) ? My Google-Fu seems to fail me at the moment, and I cannot find it.

 

[AlViking]

Thanks for sharing that quote. Do you happen to have a link to the entire thing (or even just that quote) ? My Google-Fu seems to fail me at the moment, and I cannot find it.

The quote is from December 2022 (so 3.5 years I suppose), I got it from D&D "Under-monetized" Says Wizards of the Coast | D&D News - Dungeons & Dragons Fanatics.

We've been hearing that the sky is going to fall any day now for a while so I'm not overly concerned.

 

[abazaba]

The quote is from December 2022 (so 3.5 years I suppose), I got it from D&D "Under-monetized" Says Wizards of the Coast | D&D News - Dungeons & Dragons Fanatics.

We've been hearing that the sky is going to fall any day now for a while so I'm not overly concerned.

Thanks for the link. And although that article does seem to include the bit that you mentioned, it also notes the intention of increasing the profit made through DnDBeyond :

" Williams discussed the need to capitalize on the brand’s strong fan base, mentioning insights from D&D Beyond, where Dungeon Masters accounted for the majority of purchases despite being a smaller segment of the user base.

Following the acquisition of D&D Beyond for $146 million in April 2022, Williams reiterated the company’s commitment to expanding its monetization strategies on the platform, potentially introducing additional downloadable content akin to video games.

While D&D Beyond currently offers microtransactions for items like specialty dice and avatars, Williams hinted at future developments to enhance the platform’s revenue streams. Additionally, the platform will continue to serve as a vital hub for player engagement, offering exclusive content such as the recent online release of the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium exclusively to subscribers. "

 

[AlViking]

Thanks for the link. And although that article does seem to include the bit that you mentioned, it also notes the intention of increasing the profit made through DnDBeyond :

" Williams discussed the need to capitalize on the brand’s strong fan base, mentioning insights from D&D Beyond, where Dungeon Masters accounted for the majority of purchases despite being a smaller segment of the user base.

Following the acquisition of D&D Beyond for $146 million in April 2022, Williams reiterated the company’s commitment to expanding its monetization strategies on the platform, potentially introducing additional downloadable content akin to video games.

While D&D Beyond currently offers microtransactions for items like specialty dice and avatars, Williams hinted at future developments to enhance the platform’s revenue streams. Additionally, the platform will continue to serve as a vital hub for player engagement, offering exclusive content such as the recent online release of the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium exclusively to subscribers. "

Statements were made in 2022. We had micro-transactions in the form of buying specific content that I thought was awesome which ended up not working because DDB wasn't set up to handle that many unique items and it impacted performance of the system. Now we can purchase third party products and easily integrate it into our game. I count that as a win for people that use the system and if it makes some extra money for the companies involved I don't see an issue with it.

If there was some sort of micro-transaction where people could "pay to win" - hint: there isn't - we would have seen it by now. People keep repeating this one quote because after all ...

'
... and has been for years.

 

[abazaba]

Statements were made in 2022. We had micro-transactions in the form of buying specific content that I thought was awesome which ended up not working because DDB wasn't set up to handle that many unique items and it impacted performance of the system. Now we can purchase third party products and easily integrate it into our game. I count that as a win for people that use the system and if it makes some extra money for the companies involved I don't see an issue with it.

If there was some sort of micro-transaction where people could "pay to win" - hint: there isn't - we would have seen it by now. People keep repeating this one quote because after all ...

'
... and has been for years.

I'm not specifically saying that 'the end is near'. But I am saying that Hasbro/WotC is trying to get far more profit out of DnDBeyond (and I guess preferably through subscriptions).

Yes, the 'a-la-cart' micro transactions were causing too much load on the system, so they stopped offering those. And then they announced they were rewriting the entire backend, because the limits of what they could do with the system were being reached. Stopping to offer the micro transactions was a technological decision, not a financial one. It would not surprise me at all if they started offering some version of that again once the backend rewrite is complete. And yes, you can now buy third party products on D&DBeyond. Which means more profit for WotC, because you are now buying it through their platform instead of through other means.

I do not understand that people are failing to see that WotC/Hasbro is testing out ways to increase the D&D Beyond profits through sales via their platform (either through single buys or preferably subscriptions) and see what works and what not.

 

[GrimCo]

I mean, they didn't really bend over backward trying to monetize brand itself. To put it plainly, official WoTC D&D merch sucks. Selection is very small and it's done trough different website which isn't even linked on main d&d wotc site. With so much iconic art over 50 years of the game, one would expect posters, t shirts, hats, hoodies, backpacks, key chains, stickers etc.

When it comes to media. Well, same thing. Compared to bygone era of 2ed/3ed, we got only one game in 5e and one ok movie. BG3 is great game, no question about it. But, BG1&2 with expansions, IWD 1&2, Planscape Torment, Neverwinter Nights 1&2 were all big hits, plus we had DDO, which was solid mmorpg.

D&D as brand probably is undermonetized. D&D as a ttrpg, well, don't know. DDB is only thing that can boost revenue and profit of game itself. Subscription model gives them steady recurring revenue and digital sales on it gives them high profit margin sales. TTRPGs have big problem in that they are esentially traditional publishing business which just doesn't scale well.

 

[AlViking]

I'm not specifically saying that 'the end is near'. But I am saying that Hasbro/WotC is trying to get far more profit out of DnDBeyond (and I guess preferably through subscriptions).

Yes, the 'a-la-cart' micro transactions were causing too much load on the system, so they stopped offering those. And then they announced they were rewriting the entire backend, because the limits of what they could do with the system were being reached. Stopping to offer the micro transactions was a technological decision, not a financial one. It would not surprise me at all if they started offering some version of that again once the backend rewrite is complete. And yes, you can now buy third party products on D&DBeyond. Which means more profit for WotC, because you are now buying it through their platform instead of through other means.

I do not understand that people are failing to see that WotC/Hasbro is testing out ways to increase the D&D Beyond profits through sales via their platform (either through single buys or preferably subscriptions) and see what works and what not.

I hope the do bring back a la carte purchases, it allowed me to buy some things when the rest of the book wasn't worth it. I would also note that no subscription is required for any purchase.

I don't see how getting content I find worthwhile is a bad thing. I am buying products on DDB, including third party products, because they are cheaper and far more convenient than books while also allowing me to share them with all my players. That includes third party products that in the past I may have never purchased in any other format.

How is me getting more value for my money a negative?

 

[mamba]

First, the statement was made 4 years ago. Has much changed? No.

I assume the OGL crisis and failure of Sigil have a lot more to do with that than WotC deciding to stay the course

They certainly are trying now what they said then
“Williams discussed the need to capitalize on the brand’s strong fan base, mentioning insights from D&D Beyond, where Dungeon Masters accounted for the majority of purchases despite being a smaller segment of the user base.”

 

[abazaba]

I hope the do bring back a la carte purchases, it allowed me to buy some things when the rest of the book wasn't worth it.

I get that. It also translates to more profit for WotC that they otherwise would not have. Or perhaps even when someone, after one or two a la carte purchases were made, decided to get the entire book after all.

I would also note that no subscription is required for any purchase.

Understood. I do not have an DnDBeyond account, so I do not actually know, but: would using the book you purchased in an online game ('maps', I guess ?) require a subscription ? (perhaps only for the DM, but I guess that WotC would sure like to get the players to subscribe, too).

I am buying products on DDB, including third party products, because they are cheaper and far more convenient than books while also allowing me to share them with all my players.

It would not surprise me if WotC would try to change the 'sharing' part in the future and also require the players to have a subscription as well (and then see how much of a pushback they get, or not).

How is me getting more value for my money a negative?

It keeps you attached to (or perhaps even 'locked in') to DnDBeyond. What if, at some point in the future, you would prefer to switch to another digital provider and leave DnDBeyond behind ? You would lose the benefit of (and perhaps access to) all of that content, including the products that were a one-time purchase.