D&D General D&D Book Prices Are Going Up

WotC announced today that D&D books will be increasing in price this year.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be $59.99 as a preorder and $69.99 thereafter. These will apparently come as physical and digital bundles, so you won’t need to buy the D&D Beyond version separately.

This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn’t particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we’ve kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we’ve finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.

This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don’t need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn’t impact backlist titles. While we can’t promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.

Players who purchase the Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants digital-physical bundle through Dungeons & Dragons store can get the bundle for $59.95 for the entire preorder window, which is consistent with our current digital-physical bundle pricing. After the preorder window closes, digital-physical bundle prices will go to $69.95.

 

[Zaukrie]

The DnDBeyond article is not clear on print only prices......

 

[Zaukrie]

One thing someone tweeted, it makes tiny publisher prices seem better, even if high.....so that's good for us tiny peoples...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

They've stated that the new books will have more content which means a higher page count.

This is one of the long-established ways of making the "pain" of a price-increase a little "easier". I hadn't heard anything about them doing that (page count increases) but it would be a good idea. From what I understand, adding a folio (or whatever a bundle of pages is called) is relatively cheap compared to most other costs in print. (Like covers and bindings and just getting the job started).

 

[Zaukrie]

This is one of the long-established ways of making the "pain" of a price-increase a little "easier". I hadn't heard anything about them doing that (page count increases) but it would be a good idea. From what I understand, adding a folio (or whatever a bundle of pages is called) is relatively cheap compared to most other costs in print. (Like covers and bindings and just getting the job started).

Hence my confusion over slip cases, three books, and a DM screen. Give me that dang book, not all that extra stuff that raises their cost.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Hopefully the quality increases as well. Last few releases have been subpar.

 

[Oofta]

This is one of the long-established ways of making the "pain" of a price-increase a little "easier". I hadn't heard anything about them doing that (page count increases) but it would be a good idea. From what I understand, adding a folio (or whatever a bundle of pages is called) is relatively cheap compared to most other costs in print. (Like covers and bindings and just getting the job started).

I believe they've confirmed a higher page count for the DMG and the MM. Not sure about the PHB. In any case, much better than shrinkflation so many companies are practicing.

EDIT: the PHB will also have a higher page count. I'll probably post details in a separate thread if it hasn't already been posted.

 

[Alzrius]

I wonder how much this dovetails with some of the leaked information that we heard during the OGL fiasco, about how Chris Cao wanted D&D to be VTT-centric, while print books were treated like collector's items.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The DnDBeyond article is not clear on print only prices......

Funny that, in an article about print prices going up...

 

[Micah Sweet]

I wonder how much this dovetails with some of the leaked information that we heard during the OGL fiasco, about how Chris Cao wanted D&D to be VTT-centric, while print books were treated like collector's items.

Sounds like it dovetails pretty well. They get to give their digital initiative the full court press, while not breaking their promise to maintain a print option. Now it's just an option they are discouraging as opposed to not offering at all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Interesting question: the Spelljammer product MSRPd for $70, I believe, because of the fancy format. Given that the Planescape product is in the same format, how much are they planning to charge for that?