D&D 5E November 2015 interview with WotC CEO and D&D 5e sales

Gundark · Jan 7, 2016

Apologies if this has been posted and/or discussed at length. I poked around looking for it here and did not see it. ICv2 interviewed the CEO of WotC here http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/33104/icv2-interview-wizards-coast-ceo-greg-leeds-part-1 . What was interesting was some comments he made about the sales of 5e and their release strategy

Can you discuss the strategy of reducing the number of total products released per year for D&D?
We try to optimize what we think the fans are most interested in in terms of when they’re ready to go to the next story or campaign or adventure. So there are less product launches than there have been in the past but what we found is people get more deeply engaged and they enjoy them for a longer period of time. From a business perspective our revenue has gone up.

So you get more people buying fewer products for greater net revenue?
That’s correct.

This has been the case at my FLGS 5e sold out for Christmas and they had a lot of stock in. They (the store) reported that sales for 5e has been great since launch, and I've NEVER seen D&D sell out here.

Who would have thought that not releasing a ton of splat books would have increased revenue.

pdegan2814 · Jan 7, 2016

It's almost as if people appreciate a well-designed product that doesn't overload them with so much material that it ceases to be fun!

mcmillan · Jan 7, 2016

pretty long discussion from when this first posted
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?472885-Greg-Leeds-talks-about-D-amp-D

Sacrosanct · Jan 7, 2016

Business 101. Reduce costs and maximize profit for the product you do sell, understanding that your niche customer base does not have infinite $ to buy all of your products

Lorraine Williams clearly never took a business class

darjr · Jan 7, 2016

I think a more focused thread on this topic is a great idea. I just recently found out that early on the flgs bought a ton of PHBs and still didn't have enough. Even now its selling well for him.

Shasarak · Jan 7, 2016

Gundark said:
Who would have thought that not releasing a ton of splat books would have increased revenue.

And that is a great tactic if your target is to maximise your revenue.

Krakenspire · Jan 8, 2016

There's more to it as many people who found D&D inaccessible because of the splat books have returned and bought the new rules. People who haven't played in years and years. It's also more accessible for casual RPGers, you know like the guys who play the miniature wargames at the same store that sells D&D. Costs them the same as a Space Marine Codex to buy the PHB, which is to say pocket change for those type of hobbyists.