D&D 5E Chris Cocks WotC CEO interviewed by RollingStone
ad_hoc
(they/them)
November was also 5e's best selling month.
If we are going to define success as anything, this is it.
There are plenty of games out there that offer the things that a minority of people say that 5e fails at. So there is a lot to choose from to make them happy, but the problem is that very few people play those games. I can understand the frustration when a person wants to play a game but no one else does. I felt that way through 3e and 4e, I realized that there were other games out there but I didn't want to put in the effort to learn them/find players. So I played the e6 variant of 3e and didn't play 4e at all. What I didn't do is bemoan the games for being terrible because they weren't what I wanted.
I also think it is common for people who have been in the hobby game scene for a long time to not realize the scope of 5e's popularity. It's not just another D&D edition like 3e or 4e. It is no longer confined to hobby game stores. Reaching #1 on Amazon is no small feat.
I am stoked that 5e is doing so well because it is my favourite RPG. Its popularity means it should have a long life and it also means that I have plenty of friends to play with. People who either aren't into hobby games or just on the periphery are playing D&D with me.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Ah, yes, that does make sense of the sentence. But not buying is always an option, WotC didn't hold the buying public at gunpoint to make XGtE a hit.
Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app
Sure, but have you ever begrudgingly made a purchase? Maybe you picked out a paint color that wasn't what you really wanted, but it was the closest thing they had? You spent money on it, but you weren't really satisfied. So it was a successful business strategy, but it doesn't mean the customer is happy.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
For health insurance, sure but never for a book purchase. I don't see much evidence of mass dissatisfaction with XGtE, at any rate, and I doubt begrudging purchases could account for it being an all time bestseller for D&D.
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ad_hoc
(they/them)
Saying that people aren't satisfied with 5e is a bold claim. How do you determine that other than (sustained) sales.
5e is selling more and is more popular than when it released. That sounds like a satisfied customer base.
The thing is, the customer base of 5e is not the people who come to this (or other) boards. We are not the core customers.
I'm not actually making that claim. But there is empirical evidence on these boards that some people are dissatisfied. My only point is that it's easy to conflate commercial success with customer satisfaction, when it's a lot more complicated than that. From my own perspective, I'm thrilled that D&D is selling gangbusters. I want to see my hobby be healthy and successful for the long-term. As for what is causing the commercial success, I'm sure that some is due to the product strategy, and some may be due to other factors beyond our ken at the moment. Perhaps the digital webcast phenomenon has caught on at just the right time to make a huge impact. Without that, would the strategy still be more successful than all other editions up to this point? Who knows? But I don't think it's helpful to dismiss people out of hand who say they aren't thrilled with the product strategy by just claiming "Numbers!" It's not unreasonable to think that a slightly different product strategy might be even more successful.
To be clear, I don't think anyone has really been dismissive in this thread. I'm more making a point about some discussions I've seen in the past.
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