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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 5763671" data-attributes="member: 5834">There was never a split in D&D like the one that came about when 4E was released. You can ask guys like Morrus who built his business up during 3E, any of the game publishers like Mark CMG or the Necromancer games publishers. Or any of the game designers that have worked with D&D over the years. I've been playing D&D for 30 years now. I was around when EN World was Eric Noah's site. I have never seen the community split like it did with 4E.  4E was the cause of the split, not differing opinions on the direction of the game. Some went with the new version, some wanted to stick with the old. You cannot estabilsh a new market unless a split is big enough to support that market. No ediition of D&D caused a large enough split for another game company to come in and take a large slice of the market away from what was once The Market Big Dog. This was an unusual and unforseen mistake by WotC's market research. As has already been stated, pen and paper RPGs are not the biggest money makers for a company like Hasbro. Hasbro most likely purchased D&D because it was the market leader in pen and paper RPGs. Companies generally like to pick up properties with strong, established market leadership even in obscure hobbies.The move to 4E caused a schism which damaged what Hasbro had purchased: the market leader in pen and paper RPGs. You can expect they are not happy and most likely have issued an edict within the company to re-establish D&D as the dominant market leader and take back what was lost to Paizo as much as possible. Or they are contemplating selling the D&D property since it is not as powerful as it once was or retiring it for a while until they decide what to do with it.But make no mistake, 4E created the schism. And some group at WotC made assurances that the people that didn't like 4E were a marginal group that weren't worth taking into account. When the schism happened and another company built themselves up off WotCs marketing mistake, you can bet Hasbro brass wasn't happy. And still isn't.We gamers go off how we feel. If we feel we like a game better, then we play it and are passionate about it. Hasbro has no such attachment to D&D. All they care about is where they're at in the market and how much revenue they are generating off D&D and WotC. As far as they're concerned, WotC lost a substantial part of their market. They want it back or they have some other plan for D&D we do not see. But wheels are churning behind the scenes at WotC. I think we'll see some moves made with a new edition to re-establish clear market dominance, not simply market leadership. That I have little doubt of. Whether it works or not, we shall see.</blockquote>

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