D&D 5E (2024) Predict WotC's 2026 D&D releases

[FitzTheRuke]

The older I get, the more often I tag things as the "least bad solution". It's imperfect, it has obvious downsides, but it's still better than the available alternatives. And while it's easy to point at the flaws, it's hard to offer up a better idea.

That's where I feel we are with this. Early product announcements are the least bad solution available at the moment.

I get where you're coming from, but I disagree. I think ignoring the online chatter and announcing things properly is the way to go.

Take our whole "is Dark Sun coming in 2026 or not?" thread here on ENWorld. I don't think that it actually does any harm to the eventual product if they announce it "for real" in say, February, assuming it ships in May. Whereas I think that it DOES potentially harm it to announce it now, in particular if it doesn't come out until September. Or worse, it's meant to come out in May, but production delays hold it until November.

Especially if by May, they've announced what's coming in September, and everyone is talking about that, while Dark Sun rolls out with (relative) less attention than it otherwise would have.

 

[Zaukrie]

I get where you're coming from, but I disagree. I think ignoring the online chatter and announcing things properly is the way to go.

Take our whole "is Dark Sun coming in 2026 or not?" thread here on ENWorld. I don't think that it actually does any harm to the eventual product if they announce it "for real" in say, February, assuming it ships in May. Whereas I think that it DOES potentially harm it to announce it now, in particular if it doesn't come out until September. Or worse, it's meant to come out in May, but production delays hold it until November.

Especially if by May, they've announced what's coming in September, and everyone is talking about that, while Dark Sun rolls out with (relative) less attention than it otherwise would have.

I generally agree with you here. While I'd like to know what's coming sooner (in case I want to run it/ use it, so I can plan for that), I think from a marketing perspective they should announce the next 1-2 products about 2-4 weeks after one comes out. After the initial hype has died for the latest product. But, as I said, their marketing is 100% not aimed at me, so I could be wrong here (and it's been 35 + years since I got my marketing degree).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I generally agree with you here. While I'd like to know what's coming sooner (in case I want to run it/ use it, so I can plan for that), I think from a marketing perspective they should announce the next 1-2 products about 2-4 weeks after one comes out. After the initial hype has died for the latest product. But, as I said, their marketing is 100% not aimed at me, so I could be wrong here (and it's been 35 + years since I got my marketing degree).

Yeah! I mean, I get it. I want to know what's next myself, and what's after that, and what's after that!

But I don't think that it's good for the business. Or ultimately, for fans, either.