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

[MonsterEnvy]

Official sources from WotC say it’s doing well, so I don’t know why so many try to paint it as not.

 

[bedir than]

We'll learn more on July 25th than we will learn from a fan video, and we won't learn much on July 25th unless the new rule set is a complete failure or an extreme success

Estimates from Q1 were that D&D was roughly an 80 million dollar revenue earner, but that wasn't enough to get a direct mention in the earnings call. Hasbro is so big that a brand earning more than a quarter million a year doesn't get broken out

 

[Micah Sweet]

Anything that is not strictly mechanics-related will absolutely be able to be used. I mean I would presume anyone playing Level Up has been able to use any of EN Publishing's older adventures with it even though those were made for 5E14 and not Level Up specifically. So there's no reason to think any WotC 5E adventures (during '14 or '24) would be the same thing.

Likewise any campaign setting material is mostly all merely narrative and descriptive information, and thus the mechanical foundation of the game that is using it doesn't matter. People are using and playing with 5E14 settings even though they might be using the 5E24 rules, just like people used the 3E Eberron material while playing 5E14... so there's no reason to believe the inverse of those can't be true-- a setting book released following 5E24 being used by a person playing 5E14 (or TotV or LU or heck even Shadowdark.)

The only books that will have probably the least usefulness to a 5E14 player will be any 'of Everything' book-type thing that comes out that is specifically written to give new character options to 5E24 characters. But if there are people who don't buy those books... that's fine. Every single one of us D&D players don't buy MOST of the books WotC publishes. So it's perfectly okay if 5E14 players choose to skip the splatbooks, as WotC isn't expecting everyone to buy everything anyway. I mean heck... I've been a 5E supporter this entire decade and yet have probably only purchased 1/10th of the products WotC has released (if that). And that hasn't affected the game's success one bit. So 5E14 players who chose not to buy the 5E24 books are going to be just as ineffective to adjusting WotC's bottom line as I was. They don't need us. We are not important in the grand scheme of things. We are all as individuals virtually invisible and what we chose to do or not do does not in fact matter.

I often forget about published adventures. I never buy them. The stuff I buy is also the stuff most likely to have compatibility problems.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There is no point in asking Question #3 or debating #3 or worrying about #3. We don't know... we will never know... so bringing it up or using it as some sort of evidence for one's beliefs about the state of Dungeons & Dragons is a waste of time.

As I said... WotC's game line continues. Right now that's the beginning and end of it. For us it's a binary switch-- the game is being published or it's not being published. That's all that matters.

I didn't say it was evidence. I said it was a question. You're welcome to not care about it. I have no horse in this race, really. Just a little bored and the topic seemed interesting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It should be noted that there is no correct answer to the question, the investors view can and do change over time.

The investors during the 4e era didn't seem to change their mind.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Official sources from WotC say it’s doing well, so I don’t know why so many try to paint it as not.

Maybe so, but no official source is going to say it's not doing well (unless it absolutely tanks and they have to), to be fair.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The investors during the 4e era didn't seem to change their mind.

They did, in a way we got the early 5e release schedule out of it. I really doubt that investors mandate any particular strategy with regard to D&D but someone decided to walk away from 4e and someone decided that budget situation that forced Mearls and co to adopt a very slow book release schedule in 5e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They did, in a way we got the early 5e release schedule out of it. I really doubt that investors mandate any particular strategy with regard to D&D but someone decided to walk away from 4e and someone decided that budget situation that forced Mearls and co to adopt a very slow book release schedule in 5e.

The strategy they mandate is whatever makes them the most money, personally. The fact that they have this power without any required understanding of the product producing said money is, IMO, the actual problem here.

 

[Stalker0]

All I can do is quote my own experience. Which is…the books aren’t a different enough to justify.

When I think 3e vs 3.5…it felt like everything was changed. So many adjustments and improvements. 5.5 in comparison is just a lot less, and wasn’t worth re-teaching my players on the things that did change.

Now you could argue that 5e got it right the first time and didn’t need as much improvement…and that’s a fine platform to stand on. But it again highlights the problem with a rule book driven financial model…the better you do this time the harder it is to do well next time

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The strategy they mandate is whatever makes them the most money, personally. The fact that they have this power without any required understanding of the product producing said money is, IMO, the actual problem here.

Investors always want the strategy that nets them the most money and that goes back to the invention of merchants and money. The management get to choose that strategy.