Predictions of the d20/gaming Industry

[Ulrick]

What fate shall befall the gaming industry in the near future? Weal or woe? Mass saturation or oblivion? How many gaming companies will survive out of those that suffer and perish? Will Hasbro cut WotC free?

I don't know the answers to these overly-dramatized questions, but I am willing to hear other perpectives on the future of the gaming industry.

Personally, I think most of the d20 companies out right now won't be around by this time next year. This is due to survival of the fittest. But even the best company may not make it due to the amount of volume out there.


As for WotC, who knows with them? They've survived gluts before. And it would suck if Hasbro canned them.

Just some thoughts.

I'd especially like to hear from "professional" people in the industry that have been around awhile. Just have to have some "insider" beliefs shared with us all.

Ulrick

 

[Lady Dragon]

When referring to print publishers I think some will go under but not as many as you think.There profit margins may not be tremendous but I'm betting They are making enough to survive on a middle-class salary.No I don't think many will become wealthy doing this but its better than selling insurance for some ungrateful corporation.I wish I had a job I loved.

The publishers who are buisness savvy and or experienced will make it.There has always been a number of companies making RPG's now they do D20.

I think about 10 comapanies will be really successful with another 20 or so who hang on with minimal profits.I am referring only to print publishers since PDF's is a totally different game with only minimal costs to the publishers.

After 18 months there have only been minimal bailouts and I think if they were actually losing money we would have seen a lot more by now.

I think your also going to see a heavy emphasis on player oriented books such as Class and race books because there are more players than DM's.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see a few mergers or buyout in the next year or so.

But the biggest thing I have noticed is that a large portion of the D20 companies such as Malhavoc,Atlas,Bastion and Fast forward are being run by experienced industry professionals who know what they are doing and how to market their products.Most of them will make it.The few that go under are going to be the amatuers who don't learn fast enough what needs to be done.

 

[trancejeremy]

I think many d20 companies are not the full-time business of the people who run it. Most probably have day jobs.

While these companies probably don't make much of a profit, they don't have to in order to survive as a publishing company. It's not unlike how many smaller game companies survived before d20. Like say, R. Talsorian. The head of that company apparently works for Microsoft (as what, I dunno).

I think the main problem will be too many books about the same subject coming out at the same time. For instance, following the success of the original Creature Collection, about a half-dozen fairly prominent companies announced critter books. While some of them never came out, there was something of a glut. And it could have been worse. Or look at how so many seafaring books are out now or will be out in the near future. By my count, about 4-5 in a year's time.

 

[rounser]

I expect that in the next 5 years or so, NWN will do strange things to the P&P hobby as it brings one of the main paradigms and drawcards of P&P (your world, your game, your toolkit) into computer gaming.

This should either cause a boom in interest in the P&P game, or a waning. I'm not sure which - maybe both.

 

[Black Omega]

I expect that in the next 5 years or so, NWN will do strange things to the P&P hobby as it brings one of the main paradigms and drawcards of P&P (your world, your game, your toolkit) into computer gaming.

This should either cause a boom in interest in the P&P game, or a waning. I'm not sure which - maybe both.

I'm sure I'm missing something..but..P&P? Pen and paper? I've heard that NWN might put an end to table top gaming, but frankly I just don't believe it.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm sure I'm missing something..but..P&P? Pen and paper? I've heard that NWN might put an end to table top gaming, but frankly I just don't believe it.

Me neither. P&P gaming won't be destroyed by a computer game. P&P gaming is a social occasion to my group. if we wanted to ICQ with one another, I suppose we could.

We may play NWN as well as P&P, but I don't see us quitting P&P. Sitting around a table enjoying one another's company is too much a part of why we game.

 

[rounser]

I'm sure I'm missing something..but..P&P? Pen and paper? I've heard that NWN might put an end to table top gaming, but frankly I just don't believe it.

Notice that I didn't say that at all. I even said it might cause a boom in P&P gaming, rather than a wane. But I do believe that P&P D&D's future popularity is partially dependent on what happens in NWN-style computer gaming over the next few years, either way.

It may not affect you and your group, but I think it will affect the millions of D&D gamers out there statistically one way or another.

 

[Numion]

My personal opinion is that the sky will fall. WotC will go bankrupt, and the gaming police will confiscate all the current D&D/d20 material from everyones homes so no-one can play anymore. RPGing will be made illegal. Honest.

 

[Tsyr]

Remember though, several of the current D20 publishers have other lines going that have supported them for some time BEFORE d20, so I don't see them folding. AEG, for example.

Likewise, I don't see Kenzer folding, not just because they do other things, but because Kalamar was actualy popular with some people long before D20.

As long as FF and Mongoose continue putting out books that are of fair or better quality I don't think they will be going anywhere for the immediate future either.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

Fantasy Flight Games aren't going anywhere - they have plenty of profitable gaming lines besides their d20.

-Zarrock