D&D General Did 5e 2024 Not meet the economic goals set, and if not, why not?

GreyLord

Legend
Last year I decreased my investments in Hasbro significantly. I can't say the other investments I made ensuing that were wonderful as the past few months have been a rather rollercoaster ride on the markets, but I can say I think they are paying off more substantially in the tech markets than I would have done with the same investments in Hasbro. I tried wondering what aspects may have caused this. In that light, looking at things to see why and what was going on I stumbled on a rather interesting video (note, I don't know much about the backgrounds of the video maker, it is rather long but seems informative. I DO NOT agree with all the opinions that they state, but it made me asks questions in the same arena).

I had rather high expectations of the D&D 2024's release, and thus far, it does not look like it may even make those expectations (and I'm not going to reveal what those expectations are specifically, but you may get a slight idea if you've read other posts from me over the past year on the matter). So, now I'm left wondering what happened here. I know many here may not agree with my assumptions or thoughts. For those that do (if there are any out there) I am wondering what do you think occurred.
The video that sparked this was


This video is long, dry, and probably not very engaging. A short summary of what they thought went wrong (copied from their own summary)

9:47 Quiet sea change away from D&D
15:20 The OGL Plan failed
24:05 Staffing/morale crisis
28:10 5.5e made for economic, not game considerations
33:02 Unserious design process without a playtest
41:23 Mid-playtest retreat

I looked to try to see if this content creator was conservative or a little more to the right than I would normally ascribe to, but couldn't find much on that. They did make one point I may think contributed greatly, but isn't highlighted in their summary.

The reasons to change editions or versions that cause people to go with the change are

1. Rules different enough to be incompatible with the prior edition

2. Rules that improve the rules enough to cause people to want to switch.

To me, it is obvious that #1 was not a purpose of the edition and obviously not a driver of sales. #2 on the otherhand...I think may be perception vs. reality. Everything I've read (and I may be reading sources biased towards my viewpoints, so that is a problem on my part) is that the new rules improve things in every way. However, the perception may be that there were not that many major changes, or that the changes make things more complicated rather than help improve things.

I also think perceptions on the edition, vs. what the reality is, has greatly affected why people have or have not chosen to purchase the 2024 release. In fact, I'm not sure it's about the rules at all, but more about the messaging. In watching the video, a lot of what the creator points out, also seems more about the message the creator has heard or seen rather than what is actually contained in the rules.

I'm not posting a poll, as I'm not looking for a yes or not answer type thing, but more of actual answers on what people think is happening with the 2024 release economically and sales wise currently, and WHY they think these things are happening.


PS: As a short novelty, Level Up has a small mention near the end of the video.

PPS: Another thought I had. They didn't have a compatible Starter Set from the beginning. It could be that Starter Sets or Beginner Sets are a critical item in increasing interest in the core rules of a game, letting players have a taste without having to go in for the full cost from the start.
 
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I wonder if we should await the translations for no-English-speaker markets. If I wanted to buy the Spanish-translated 2024 edition I would await until the release of the monster manual.
 

From my local experience (local forum member and regional con organizer)
  • People have mostly forgotten about the OGL issue. There is still a flavor of the year game, currently daggerheart, but didn’t see sustained presence for any 5e look alike.
  • Most looking for games posts are for D&D
  • Most of those are using the 2024 rule set as a basis
  • People have generally been happy with the changes.
Cannot attest to the financial success, but at my local scene it is anecdotally highly successful.
 

I looked to try to see if this content creator was conservative or a little more to the right than I would normally ascribe to, but couldn't find much on that.
he is definitely not on the conservative end, he probably would be considered progressive by many (in some videos he says a bit about himself / his job)
 

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