Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
OGL: What Are The Publishers Saying [UPDATED]
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 8888430" data-attributes="member: 2205"><p>Fair enough; there are certainly other conclusions that are "drawable" from the data. In my experience, though, upper management of publicly held companies usually feel like drastic action of some kind is needed when your stock is downgraded by investment analysts. This would simply build on or add to the conclusion that WotC's management are under the gun to deliver some results quickly. Looking at this change with that as a possible context under it, the move feels very different. </p><p></p><p>I agree with the p_johnston post above too; I can see plenty of elements of mismanagement in the WotC brands. I don't pay much attention to M:tG, but given that its woes are making mainstream stock analyst reports, it's hard to ignore. </p><p></p><p>What's a little bit shakier of a conclusion, but it <em>seems to me</em> (emphasis on the uncertainty here) that the recent D&D products have not been as well received, and therefore probably have disappointing sales too, including Strixhaven, Radiant Citadel and Spelljammer. I know, I know—we don't have any sales data, but even YouTube channels that were WotC shills in their behavior have been kind of down on those products, and I've seen more than my share of "do not buy" recommendations for those three products in particular. </p><p></p><p>Again, this is a bit of pretty shaky dead-reckoning, but if WotC is the engine that drives Hasbro's profitability, and the stock has been on a steady decline for more than a year, the M:tG fiasco has cost them ratings with financial analysts, and D&D sales are on the decline, then WotC making a decision that is an attempt to squeeze every last drop of profitability out of their upcoming product launch at least makes <em>some </em>sense, especially if you're worked in the video game industry and don't understand the ttrpg industry specifically. It's no wonder that they're treating D&D like a video game and trying to reassure investors that they think D&D is under-monetized, but that they have plants to get it "back on track."</p><p></p><p>The real question is: are they right, or not? I suspect that an awful lot of D&D players who don't spend their time talking about D&D online don't really care about any of this, so maybe WotC's management thinks that the bad PR is something that they can weather and it won't have a significant impact on their profitability going forward. And frankly, although many people here will feel strongly about that, I think the jury is still out on who's right there. We'll have to see.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Desdichado, post: 8888430, member: 2205"] Fair enough; there are certainly other conclusions that are "drawable" from the data. In my experience, though, upper management of publicly held companies usually feel like drastic action of some kind is needed when your stock is downgraded by investment analysts. This would simply build on or add to the conclusion that WotC's management are under the gun to deliver some results quickly. Looking at this change with that as a possible context under it, the move feels very different. I agree with the p_johnston post above too; I can see plenty of elements of mismanagement in the WotC brands. I don't pay much attention to M:tG, but given that its woes are making mainstream stock analyst reports, it's hard to ignore. What's a little bit shakier of a conclusion, but it [I]seems to me[/I] (emphasis on the uncertainty here) that the recent D&D products have not been as well received, and therefore probably have disappointing sales too, including Strixhaven, Radiant Citadel and Spelljammer. I know, I know—we don't have any sales data, but even YouTube channels that were WotC shills in their behavior have been kind of down on those products, and I've seen more than my share of "do not buy" recommendations for those three products in particular. Again, this is a bit of pretty shaky dead-reckoning, but if WotC is the engine that drives Hasbro's profitability, and the stock has been on a steady decline for more than a year, the M:tG fiasco has cost them ratings with financial analysts, and D&D sales are on the decline, then WotC making a decision that is an attempt to squeeze every last drop of profitability out of their upcoming product launch at least makes [I]some [/I]sense, especially if you're worked in the video game industry and don't understand the ttrpg industry specifically. It's no wonder that they're treating D&D like a video game and trying to reassure investors that they think D&D is under-monetized, but that they have plants to get it "back on track." The real question is: are they right, or not? I suspect that an awful lot of D&D players who don't spend their time talking about D&D online don't really care about any of this, so maybe WotC's management thinks that the bad PR is something that they can weather and it won't have a significant impact on their profitability going forward. And frankly, although many people here will feel strongly about that, I think the jury is still out on who's right there. We'll have to see. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
OGL: What Are The Publishers Saying [UPDATED]
Top