Critical Role Critical Role Suspends Broadcasts

With the ongoing global health crisis, Critical Role has announced that all live broadcasts will be suspended for the foreseeable future, starting today.

Here's the announcement:

"Like many of you, we have been monitoring the progressing situation around COVID-19 and have made the difficult decision to temporarily stop all live broadcasts, effective Tuesday, March 17th, 2020. Please note that our next episode of All Work No Play will air live on Twitch today at 4pm Pacific and the finale will air on Tuesday, March 31st at 7pm Pacific.

The health, safety, and well-being of our company and employees is the highest priority for us and we asked our staff to begin working from home to practice social distancing last week.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by COVID-19. If you are interested in helping, many state governments have set up special funds to help those in your local community or check out covid19responsefund.org.

Going forward, we’ll keep our social media accounts and website updated with the latest news.

Stay healthy, friends. We’ll be back soon.

Critical Role"

 

[akr71]

It'll be interesting to see if that changes when their advertising revenue drops off, since I assume the biggest draw is to advertise along new content, not previously released stuff.

Which is why I said I wouldn't be surprised to see a one-shot game or games in the near future. However, I would be surprised if the advertising is the sweetest plum of their revenue. DND Beyond isn't likely going anywhere on them and the (usual) second sponsor can't be contributing to their bottom line that much compared to subscriptions and the store.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Which is why I said I wouldn't be surprised to see a one-shot game or games in the near future. However, I would be surprised if the advertising is the sweetest plum of their revenue. DND Beyond isn't likely going anywhere on them and the (usual) second sponsor can't be contributing to their bottom line that much compared to subscriptions and the store.

Even if advertising is only 20 percent of their revenue -- which I doubt -- 20 percent of your bottom line is a big bite.

We'll see. None of us know how long this state of affairs will last or what things will look like six weeks from now. I suspect we will all be doing different things than we anticipate at this moment.

 

[Eilathen]

Honestly? People need things like CR even more right now, with all the isolation and having to be at home. So while i totally understand shuting down the studio for the safety of their employees, I think it'd be a big mistake to just sit Covid out without any CR.
I know I am pretty sad at the prospect that in this time where i have nothing but time for such things, there will not be those things. It would have kept a lot of people's spirits up...or put another way, this will put the spirits of a lot of people even further down if they really go on a hiatus for weeks or even months.

I really hope they can get, with their connections and skills, a good quality stream game going. And to be honest, there is ample proof that it is possible to do so. I know several streamers who produce quality rpg sessions where all the participants are in front of their own PC and play remote. If they can do that, it should be no problem for the big hitter in the business with lots of $$ behind it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think they would be wise to suspend it and not go to another format. Then when things are safer announce the grand restarting of the campaign with new introductions of the characters and a summary of events thus far.

It could give the CR folks a deserved break during this stressful time and perhaps be a chance to attract new viewers when they restart - you know critters are not going anywhere!

This.

Nothing wrong with a mid-season hiatus.

 

[jgsugden]

My take on this: They do not want to put out bad product. They need time to figure out if/when they can put good product out given the constraints they are facing. Once they figure it out, they'll resume something, although I think the 100th episode of campaign 2 will likely wait untl they're back in the studio.

Of note: These folks make a living with their voices. Those voices are powered by lungs. This bug can do some real damage to lungs that stays with you. They are likely very concerned with avoiding it.

Still, it would have been nice for them to do a Q&A or something tonight.

 

[Zardnaar]

Honestly? People need things like CR even more right now, with all the isolation and having to be at home. So while i totally understand shuting down the studio for the safety of their employees, I think it'd be a big mistake to just sit Covid out without any CR.
I know I am pretty sad at the prospect that in this time where i have nothing but time for such things, there will not be those things. It would have kept a lot of people's spirits up...or put another way, this will put the spirits of a lot of people even further down if they really go on a hiatus for weeks or even months.

I really hope they can get, with their connections and skills, a good quality stream game going. And to be honest, there is ample proof that it is possible to do so. I know several streamers who produce quality rpg sessions where all the participants are in front of their own PC and play remote. If they can do that, it should be no problem for the big hitter in the business with lots of $$ behind it.

First world problems rewatch.

 

[zhivik]

It looks like those expecting one-shots or something similar are on the right path. There was a tweet yesterday from CR, saying they have "some fun stuff planned for the future". It will be probably not an RPG play (or just a simple one-shot), maybe some online video or board game fun - these tend to be pretty hilarious, judging from past experience

 

[Eilathen]

First world problems rewatch.

Yeah, No and No.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It looks like those expecting one-shots or something similar are on the right path. There was a tweet yesterday from CR, saying they have "some fun stuff planned for the future". It will be probably not an RPG play (or just a simple one-shot), maybe some online video or board game fun - these tend to be pretty hilarious, judging from past experience

I really liked their Monsterhearts show, which was a good fit for their naturally melodramatic playstyle. I never really "got" Monsterhearts before that, but Critical Role showed me how it could work (and that it might be a weird choice for a family to play together).

 

[MarkB]

It looks like those expecting one-shots or something similar are on the right path. There was a tweet yesterday from CR, saying they have "some fun stuff planned for the future". It will be probably not an RPG play (or just a simple one-shot), maybe some online video or board game fun - these tend to be pretty hilarious, judging from past experience

I've watched Let's Plays of the online version of Talisman before. It's a very well-done conversion, and actually makes for some quite narrative play.