Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 5369091" data-attributes="member: 4348">Overall, revisions make for a quick profit, but kill the line.  That's what I think will eventually happen with D&D...and what we may be seeing the beginnings of right now.  Dancey, much maligned...I think has a right call in someways on the situation in the market.  (and no, I'm NOT Dancey, but I think he was one of the brightest guys involved with 3e...OGL was PURE genius).I don't think it has to be that way...but WotC's marketing stinks right now.Yes, believe it or not...your D&D stuff are BOOKS.  If you buy a PHB, it's a book.  If you buy dice...sure it could qualify as a toy...but overall, D&D is a book brand.LotR is an excellent example...because they DON'T want to isolate the 100 million fans.  So they market the heck out of it.  They create books by Mr. Tolkien (Christopher) based around the writings of the books (ironically there are MORE books on the history of the writing of LotR then there are in the LotR).  You make GOOD (key being the word good) movies that draw lots of crowds and draw excitement about the brand so you sell more books.  You make boardgames and other accessory items that are unnecessary, but boost up the fringe interest in the key product.  You use the product to produce other products (LotR monopoly, LotR risk, LotR video games, LotR action figures...etc.).  The key is to use your marketing to sale more of the key product, whilst making money off the key product and it's various branches at the same time...but NOT change the key product.As above, they could temporarily boost sales by doing a complete rewrite with up to date modern prose, modern writing styles, etc..., and probably make MORE money...but it would isolate a lot of the people who may be interested in the original but not picking it up.  The key is to INTEREST that other 90 million who would NOT buy a reboot or rewrite and FAR outnumber those who have.If you did do a revision however...the key then is to keep the 10 million who bought into it, to keep buying into it...and that means more stuff.  For books, then yes...you keep publishing MORE books.  Star Wars makes an extended universe...and KEEPS extending that universe.  You don't go and destroy the original trilogy with remakes (well...Lucas may still remake and create NEW Star Wars movies with modern movie techniques...but as of yet has simply done touch ups and slight changes in the OT...and that STILL upsets many a person) and start over typically.So yes...if it takes 300 books a year, then that's what you do.  Of course, WotC as a book publisher IS selling quite a number of books in their D&D lines...and they AREN'T rulebooks...most of it is actually fiction.  They do support the book line...but there's more to it.Marketing is key...and the marketing from WotC really stinks.  Hasbro has normally had better marketing, and I'm wondering what has happened to the good marketers they had for other lines which they put in charge of the WotC line.  It's hard to get someone in there that doesn't get polluted (yes, I know many gamers are probably wanting to give me the finger right now) by the old guard in how to promote the brand.  It's like they forget everything on how to make good choices and simply market it, instead of what they have been doing (IMO).Revisions are typically BAD for business.  It alienates your hardcore base who then spread the bad word, it fractures the community, and it can bring on a bad reputation...AND that's even before the reviewers get a hold of it and people know whether it's any good or not.  Revisions are risky.  People say if you don't take risks you don't get any profit...but there comes a point where it starts to get ridiculous.  I think 4e was PERILOUSLY CLOSE to that mark as far as marketing goes.  I think it was a miracle almost that it didn't flop outright because people were so sick of what they saw as a money grab, or whatever they wanted to call it for being released so soon after 3.5 edition.I think there's been a serious problem with WotC marketing for the past 3 years...and I think it could be getting worse.  It will become VERY apparent in the next 3-5 years if I'm correct...and that could spell MELTDOWN.Even the most popular brands can suffer from this.  Star Trek was always marketable...but when they did something that fans believed was trying to rewrite what Star Trek was...it just about literally killed the series.  Star Trek Enterprise wasn't a bad show...but it failed for all the reasons that Revisions with bad marketing fail for.  Now after something fails...nostalgia kicks in...and people want more...and that want get's worse as it's not available.  A reboot sometimes can be the best thing to happen and allows a LOT more freedom.  A careful reboot can be more successful than a revision.I don't see D&D dead in the grave...I think the Red box shows some promise with it's campaign, ad, and influx in the mass stores...but the jury is still out on whether the WotC managers can deliver on what they promised Hasbro with it's success.  I'm thinking that it will be successful to a degree...but fail the final test for Hasbro.So...another loooooooooooong post from me.  Hopefully that explains the point even more...and answers the questions on how many books to sell.  The original post shows WHAT WotC NEEDS to do.  I expect they won't and that D&D will come out with a 5e and then die off...at least for a while.Hopefully I'm wrong.</blockquote>

Verification