D&D 5E Could D&D Die Again?

[clearstream]

Nothing that is shall last forever.

That which is not dead may eternal lie
And with strange aeons, even death may die

 

[Benjamin Olson]

In light of this thread getting necroed (or more like recovering with 1 HP 1d4 hours after being stabilized at zero) I would like to say now from a little further in the future that I now believe (with comic specificity) that we reached peak (current wave) D&D on November 29, 2022. For that was the fateful day that self-described D-List (but actually quite excellent and totally worth watching) YouTube comedian Mark of Weird Movies with Mark posted a review of 1980s satanic panic classic Mazes and Monsters (video itself not important, but here it is for reference)...
...which had a tie-in 3rd party 5e compatible module inspired by his YouTube channel despite the fact that he had never, to my knowledge, publicly mentioned any particular interest in the game previously and his YouTube channel is a b-movie review channel with no other D&D related content.

Oh those halcyon days of late 2022, when it looked like we might be be on the cusp of an age where literally everything had a D&D tie-in product. Sure there was some anxiety about a needless edition switch, but D&D itself, in some form, seemed to be in endless Summer. And while there weren't actually nearly enough profits to go around for most the people trying to make money, it seemed like anyone so inclined could at least somewhat reasonably dream of the possibility of building themself some sort of little D&D adjacent niche (if only as a side hustle) as an independent creator.

But meanwhile, in secret, Sauron forged his one ring.

 

[niklinna]

Why plausible? For those of you who don't know is Magic is not in the best condition right now and Hasbros stock price is falling.

Due to various decisions made by WotC there's a lot of angry MtG players out there. It's probably worse than 4E comparatively. Espicially to WotC bottom line.

I've got a huge collection of On the Edge cards that I got cheap on eBay and such. But I have nobody to play it with. Maybe you can find some cheap on eBay, too!

 

[guachi]

Hasbro goes all in on digital and screws that up in any number of ways. That's another option.

 

[reelo]

This meme makes its rounds...

 

[teitan]

I think D&D almost died once. That was mismanagement by TSR and the company died. I don’t think D&D will ever “die” but will carry on with less popularity and spike again. When it hits market saturation it will start a downhill decline. One D&D will either stall that decline again or it will kickstart it as the OGL fiasco showed there are weaknesses in the brand that can be exploited if they make the wrong missteps and now Hasbro knows for sure that D&D isn’t bullet proof.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think D&D almost died once. That was mismanagement by TSR and the company died. I don’t think D&D will ever “die” but will carry on with less popularity and spike again. When it hits market saturation it will start a downhill decline. One D&D will either stall that decline again or it will kickstart it as the OGL fiasco showed there are weaknesses in the brand that can be exploited if they make the wrong missteps and now Hasbro knows for sure that D&D isn’t bullet proof.

Almost died twice. Gary took Blumes money hich lead to Lorraine ousting him.

 

[mamba]

Almost died twice. Gary took Blumes money hich lead to Lorraine ousting him.

how is that twice? Gary taking the money made D&D possible… or is the dying him not taking it? That is D&D not getting started… feels like we have been down this road before

 

[GMforPowergamers]

how is that twice? Gary taking the money made D&D possible… or is the dying him not taking it? That is D&D not getting started… feels like we have been down this road before

D&D ran under gary for years... then he almost lost it but took the first set of investors... that then ALMOST ran it into the ground before second invester bought it oartially out... and she almost destroyed it... the WotC got it and it has flurished and gone no where but up (buisness wise) since then

 

[Vaalingrade]

This meme makes its rounds...

Oh god, right up to the part where they made one that's too good and the humans rebelled.