D&D 5E Greg Leeds talks about D&D


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delericho

Legend
I was glad to finally see an insider confirm that a slower release schedule has increased their net revenue.

I hate to be "that guy", but correlation doesn't equal causation. It's possible that 5e is just so damn good that it's selling that much better.

(Important note: I said 'possible', not 'likely', and definitely not 'certain'.)

That said, there's almost certainly some sort of D&D equivalent of the Laffer Curve - if they don't release any products then their net revenue is obviously $0; if they release an infinite number than it's also $0 because the cost to produce is too high, and between the two extremes there is one or more points where net profit is maximised. And so from any given point the 'right' thing to do might be to release more product or to release less product. (And, as with the Laffer Curve, it's invisible so you can't actually ever know for certain - and, yes, it does look like they've found one of the "sweet spots".)
 



I suppose there was something meaningful in that interview, but the language was all marketing buzz words that made my head swim. I think he said something like, "People like being engaged in the story so we're releasing denser products at a slower pace to allow our customers time to enjoy that before launching a new one." Oh, and something about digital...
 

Jessica

First Post
That sucks. I guess that means we shouldn't be expecting them to update old campaign settings or branch out with new mechanics or experimental concepts in the near future. :/
 

DEFCON 1

Legend
Supporter
I suppose there was something meaningful in that interview, but the language was all marketing buzz words that made my head swim. I think he said something like, "People like being engaged in the story so we're releasing denser products at a slower pace to allow our customers time to enjoy that before launching a new one." Oh, and something about digital...

You need to go take some Corporate As A Second Language courses at the local community college. ;)
 

gyor

Legend
Now I know whose responsible for the slow D&D release schedule and who I hope gets fired so D&D can be properly supported.
 

JohnLynch

Explorer
That sucks. I guess that means we shouldn't be expecting them to update old campaign settings or branch out with new mechanics or experimental concepts in the near future. :/
Unfortunately no-one but WotC can officially update prior campaign material. However I hear EN5ider certainly isn't worried about including experimental concepts ;)
 




Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Now I know whose responsible for the slow D&D release schedule and who I hope gets fired so D&D can be properly supported.

Some would argue this IS proper support. Increased profit for WOTC says perhaps it is for the long term as well.
 

Interesting interview, though notably it is hard to extract any really concrete comments from it. I fully expect this guy to do well in politics in a decade's time :)
 

Jessica

First Post
Anything worth doing is worth doing yourself. ;)

I either play AL or more short term Roll20 campaigns where they usually aren't terribly trusting of some stranger wanting to play some new class/race they themselves created. For my situation, if it isn't official(or from a well known/high production value 3PP) then it doesn't see the table. :/
 

MwaO

Adventurer
I think with Greg Leeds, it is helpful to look at his previous interviews... from September 2011, a time we now know they were working on developing D&D Next.

"What are the results of that multi-year strategy?
Over-all our business is up significantly. I think anyone you talk to about what’s going on with Magic and D&D will tell you that we are having very, very strong sales. We are having very strong sales in digital, and we’re having strong sales in mass market, but our strongest sales are in the hobby shops. So that’s working. The best evidence of this is if you just talk to retailers about the last couple of years, the number of players that have been playing Magic and D&D, with a program like D&D Encounters, which is just completing its second season, the numbers are not falling off at all in terms of participation. When you come to a place like Gen Con you can see that there are so many people interested in getting together and finding like-minded D&D players. They love getting together. Now it’s happening in stores every Wednesday night on a regular basis. We are continuing to invest in great D&D content--the kind of content that gets someone not only to play D&D but also to go on Wednesday night to their local store and play with their friends."

"This year there have been some new developments in Dungeons & Dragons, and people are trying to read between the lines. There have been some reductions in staff (a couple of long time people have left the D&D team), and also there has been a cutback in releases at the beginning of the year for D&D. Are you reducing your emphasis on the role-playing game exploitation of the D&D property?
No, we are not reducing the emphasis on the roleplaying game property for D&D. I need to correct you. We have had some long time staff leave, a couple of people, but we haven’t reduced the overall number of people working on D&D. We are constantly adjusting and tweaking our organization. I think that any healthy organization has some amount of movement. With Dungeons & Dragons, because of that direct personal relationship that our staff has with the gaming community, our ultimate customers, when someone changes it’s far more noticeable than it is in many other businesses. But, I can tell you that in my 20 years of management experience I don’t think that I have seen an organization more stable over a period of 15 years than we have had in Wizards of the Coast or D&D. You take the average tenure of our employees working on D&D and it’s extremely high. We will have and have had occasional turnover, but D&D is a healthy, thriving business on the role-playing side and will continue to be."
 

Pauper

That guy, who does that thing.
Bad news (or at least an unfortunate implication) for those looking for support for other D&D settings from WotC:

"Do you have research that shows that is a path of customer acquisition for the physical product?"
"Yes, absolutely. The Forgotten Realms has been a key part of historical and current digital expressions of the brand, and as we execute paper products in The Forgotten Realms we find that fans can easily gravitate toward those products because of their engagement in other forms of entertainment. As long as the story’s the same, they work synergistically."

So be ready to hang out in the Realms for a long, long time.

--
Pauper
 

delericho

Legend
Now I know whose responsible for the slow D&D release schedule and who I hope gets fired so D&D can be properly supported.

Do you? For all you know, it could be Mearls who had the idea and persuaded Greg Leeds that this was the right strategy. In which case, GL getting fired wouldn't change things - especially since the strategy is working (from a financial point of view).
 

fjw70

Adventurer
I think with Greg Leeds, it is helpful to look at his previous interviews... from September 2011, a time we now know they were working on developing D&D Next.

Over-all our business is up significantly. I think anyone you talk to about what’s going on with Magic and D&D will tell you that we are having very, very strong sales.

We will have and have had occasional turnover, but D&D is a healthy, thriving business on the role-playing side and will continue to be."

The best time to work on a replacement product is when your current product is still doing well.
 


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