D&D 5E Escapist article on SCAG is Brutal.

[SkidAce]

Never.
To WotC, their book publishing business was always a rounding error on the books. It's not their business, it was just something they did. Statistically irrelevant.

They did the Primal Order before MTG.

 

[Pauper]

I'll say this -- the single paragraph on Cormyr got me to buy Erin M. Evans's Brimstone Angels book set there so I could find out what happened with the succession.

I'd say the 'cross-marketing of the brand' strategy is working, at least when I consult this population of one.

--
Pauper

 

[Jester David]

Yeah,WoTC was "never" in the business of books:
Especially none of these:

Ballpark gross amount of money (i.e. before the production costs are taken off) from the sales of all of those 138 books : under 100 million dollars. 100 million over fifteen years. Or 6 million every year.
Ballpark net profits (i.e after production costs) from the sale of a single year of Magic the Gathering: over 100 million dollars.

Book publishing produces less than 5% of WotC's profits each year. The amount of money D&D makes is insignificant compared to the difference between a good set of MtG and a poor set. They probably spend more on upgrading computers every year than D&D brings in.

Or, in terms of people. There are 200+ employees at WotC. A half-dozen are associated with books. Again, around 5-6%. They likely have more people in charge of maintenance and janitorial services, but I wouldn't consider WotC a "office cleaning company".

Would you consider something you did for 5% of every day a major part of your day? Noteworthy?

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Ballpark gross amount of money (i.e. before the production costs are taken off) from the sales of all of those 138 books : under 100 million dollars. 100 million over fifteen years. Or 6 million every year.
Ballpark net profits (i.e after production costs) from the sale of a single year of Magic the Gathering: over 100 million dollars.

Book publishing produces less than 5% of WotC's profits each year. The amount of money D&D makes is insignificant compared to the difference between a good set of MtG and a poor set. They probably spend more on upgrading computers every year than D&D brings in.

Or, in terms of people. There are 200+ employees at WotC. A half-dozen are associated with books. Again, around 5-6%. They likely have more people in charge of maintenance and janitorial services, but I wouldn't consider WotC a "office cleaning company".

Would you consider something you did for 5% of every day a major part of your day? Noteworthy?

I would consider keeping an Iconic Brand alive, and spawning (for better or worse) a host of Third Party Publishers (many that still exist to this day)to be Noteworthy, yes, even if they had produced half as many books and it made only 1% compared to MtG.

Your take on it seems kind of flippant, like D&D was just a side-project that no one took seriously since churning out MtG cards was where the paycheck was.

Also, since I'm not in the 1%, I consider making about 6 million a year pretty good off of some insignificant books.

 

[Corpsetaker]

**Looks at big pile of books made by WotC beside huge pile of books produced by TSR**

**Looks back at forum post**

**Raises eyebrow**

Never, huh?

*crawls out from under the massive avalanche of D&D books that came crashing down*

I would hate to see if they were in the business of books then.

 

[Jester David]

I would consider keeping an Iconic Brand alive, and spawning (for better or worse) a host of Third Party Publishers (many that still exist to this day)to be Noteworthy, yes, even if they had produced half as many books and it made only 1% compared to MtG.

Your take on it seems kind of flippant, like D&D was just a side-project that no one took seriously since churning out MtG cards was where the paycheck was.

Flippant, yes. But also realistic.
The CEO of WotC is a businessman. A Hasbro manager. He has no love for D&D. He doesn't care much about keeping an "iconic brand" alive if it's not making money.

It's noteworthy to us. But not to anyone else really. It's one of the most important things in my life. But I'm not deluding myself into thinking it's a major priority of WotC's.

 

[darjr]

Actually I think your wrong about it not being important to WotC. Given that it isn't a huge money maker they are working on it and keeping it out of mothballs. WotC sees some potential at least.

 

[Jester David]

Actually I think your wrong about it not being important to WotC. Given that it isn't a huge money maker they are working on it and keeping it out of mothballs. WotC sees some potential at least.

Okay, the potential of the brand are important. But the role-playing game - let alone them publishing books - are not a huge part of their business.

*crawls out from under the massive avalanche of D&D books that came crashing down*

I would hate to see if they were in the business of books then.

They also employ quite a few lawyers. Would you consider them a law firm?

 

[Mark CMG]

Would you consider something you did for 5% of every day a major part of your day?

Um, phrasing . . ? [/Archer]

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Do we get a long rest after that 5%? >