Eberron: Forge of the Artificer Delayed Until December

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will now launch in December 2025 due to a cover defect. Wizards of the Coast announced that the upcoming Eberron: Forge of the Artificer rulebook is being delayed for several months after warping was discovered on the covers of published books. The entire original print run of the book is being recalled and reprinted ahead of its release, which means that the production process will be extended by several months.

As a result of the production delay, the book will now be released on December 9, 2025, with early access happening two weeks prior. To make up for the delay, both digital and physical customers who pre-ordered their books as a WPN store will receive an Eberron mini-adventure when they receive their book.

A similar delay took place in October 2023 when the Deck of Many Things product was recalled due to faulty product just two weeks before its initial release. That was re-released in January 2024.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm pretty certain this is delayed/cancelled, and the surprise is there is no October release.

If the printers are busy frantically reprinting Eberron, then they can't be printing an October book, can they?

Limited print capacity is going to make it difficult to get the FR books out on time too.

They haven't said anything yet, but your point is logical.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm pretty certain this is delayed/cancelled, and the surprise is there is no October release.

If the printers are busy frantically reprinting Eberron, then they can't be printing an October book, can they?

Limited print capacity is going to make it difficult to get the FR books out on time too.

The October book would have to be finished by now and we have heard hide nor hair on it. I'm guess is that it was quietly delayed until 2026.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I assume the printer shouldered at least part of the cost. But I don't think Deck sold particularly well - quite possibly because it ended up too close to the 2024 revised rules.

Well, the physical version was quite expensive as a single cost. That certainly affected my decision about purchase, and it seems unlikely I was the only one.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The October book would have to be finished by now and we have heard hide nor hair on it. I'm guess is that it was quietly delayed until 2026.

As opposed to the loud delay about Eberron?

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

You don't screw every game store in the nation because gamers who game online want their stuff earlier. They're absolutely right to delay both releases.

This is literal anti-consumer behavior. The consumer was promised the digital edition in August. There is no reason to delay the digital edition; there is nothing wrong with it. The only reason to delay something promised to the consumer, many of whom already paid for it, is because they want to prop up an industry

 

[pukunui]

As opposed to the loud delay about Eberron?

In fairness, there was a loud delay about Eberron because it had been announced and had had plenty of previews, whereas the supposed October release got a single mention.

Remember when Mike Mearls told us “you can’t cancel a book that hasn’t been announced yet” (or words to that effect) in reference to the player options book that was supposed to come out with the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure? (We got bits of it in the form of the free Elemental Evil Player’s Companion pdf).

 

[Marandahir]

Isn't that what happened with the Deck of Many Things? While they released both, the print issues resulted in the digital one being the only one available for months

Mythic Odysseys of Theros, too.

 

[Marandahir]

This is literal anti-consumer behavior. The consumer was promised the digital edition in August. There is no reason to delay the digital edition; there is nothing wrong with it. The only reason to delay something promised to the consumer, many of whom already paid for it, is because they want to prop up an industry

Disagreed. Nothing was promised, releases get pulled all the time for various reasons. This is a lifeline to Mom and Pop shops that otherwise would have been screwed as everyone would have gotten the D&D Beyond version instead.

 

[Kurotowa]

This is literal anti-consumer behavior. The consumer was promised the digital edition in August. There is no reason to delay the digital edition; there is nothing wrong with it. The only reason to delay something promised to the consumer, many of whom already paid for it, is because they want to prop up an industry

Well, it's a big assumption to say the "only" reason. There might be distribution contracts that stipulate specific relative release windows to other versions of the product. We really have no way of knowing.

That said... yes. Absolutely they want to prop up the gaming store industry. This is not news. Game stores getting it two weeks before the big box stores and Amazon is to prop them up. Game stores getting exclusive limited edition covers is to prop them up. WotC clearly feels that game stores are an essential part of their player community, for building local ties and supporting local events and serving as a gateway for new or casual players. Thus they're willing to go out of their way to subsidize the game stores and keep them happily recommending WotC books to people.

 

[pukunui]

WotC helping FLGSes stay in business because of Amazon etc is a good thing. I don’t care if it’s “anti-consumer”.