WotC Ray Winninger Steps Back From WotC

Former leader of the D&D team Ray Winninger has announced his departure from WotC, having "accomplished the ambitious goals we set". Dan Rawson was announced the new head of D&D earlier this month, leading many to speculate about Winninger's departure.

"Sorry for the radio silence; I'm in the midst of a SORELY needed Long Rest. I have indeed left WotC, having accomplished the ambitious goals we set when I took over the D&D team.

Shepherding D&D was an honor and a privilege, but I'm looking forward to slowing down and getting back to a list of personal design projects. (Gamers, you haven't seen the last of me!) Most of all, I look forward to following D&D as a fan again.

Proud of the team I left behind; D&D is in very good hands: @JeremyECrawford, @ChrisPerkinsDnD, @DroidsForSale, @dtovar77, Liz Schuh, Kate Irwin, Trish Yochum, @aquelajames, @FWesSchneider, @MakenzieLaneDA, @amandahamon, Emi Tanji, Bree Heiss, @doctorcomics. @justicearman

@RPGRonLundeen, @BillBenham2, Rob Hawkey, Ben Petrisor, @Dan_Dillon_1, @EytanBernstein, Adrian Ng, Janica Carter, @chrislindsay, @TrystanFalcone, @mattchucole, Bob Jordan, @christulach, Natalie Egan, Hilary Ross, Carl Sibley. Thanks for being such great adventuring companions."

 

[Alzrius]

That's good for a one-time sales bump per player at best.

If the current pace and pricing of releases continues as it has been for the last 10 years, they'll have to triple their consumer base or sell 3x as many products.

Which they obviously can't do, so instead they're going to turn to other revenue streams a la licensing. Video games, a VTT with a lot of micro-transactions, and what they're probably hoping will become a cinematic universe are where D&D's future is, at least from a corporate standpoint.

None of which is a surprise; everything I wrote in the above paragraph is basically something that James Lowder said at a Gen Con seminar a few years back, and he was right.

 

[Parmandur]

From Kyle Brink's linked in (why does it appear he's not on Twitter when he's been executive producer for 4 months!) Was Spelljammer Ray or Kyle's fault?

"Experience

Wizards of the Coast

1 year 9 months

Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons

Jul 2022 - Present4 months

Renton, Washington, United States

I lead the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game studio, producing and publishing a game I've been playing since I was in grade school. Couldn't be happier or more in my element.

Director of Studio Operations

Feb 2021 - Jul 20221 year 6 months

Renton, Washington, United States"

Well, well, it seems Winninger has actually been done for a few months and we didn't notice.

 

[Malmuria]

The thing is he is wrong.

That guy's entire brand is how everyone else is doing it wrong and is probably stupid. I'm not sure I would give him much credence.

These are some great arguments, but could you expand a bit on what aspects of the video are wrong?

Personally, though the author of the video is speculating and providing his opinion (things that every youtuber does because it drives engagement), there are some salient points

• wotc would like to make a closed ecosystem for customers, instead of having them cobble together a set of tools that work for them, which means producing content and selling it via beyond and the vtt
• an advantage of this model for wotc is getting players (and not just DMs) to purchase more things, perhaps in smaller transactions
• If 3rd party products don't work with that closed ecosystem (for either legal or technical reasons) they will find it increasingly difficult, and in certain cases impossible, to make and sell their products
• this closed ecosystem would solidify wotc's monopoly/dominance over the ttrpg hobby

The above is to some degree already the case, but it's easy to see how a new edition focused on digital products would exacerbate each situation. In every case these changes stand to make wotc more money. They are consistent with how wotc/hasbro has operated as a corporation and with how media corporations in general try to expand their revenue base.

 

[Zaukrie]

These are some great arguments, but could you expand a bit on what aspects of the video are wrong?

Personally, though the author of the video is speculating and providing his opinion (things that every youtuber does because it drives engagement), there are some salient points

• wotc would like to make a closed ecosystem for customers, instead of having them cobble together a set of tools that work for them, which means producing content and selling it via beyond and the vtt
• an advantage of this model for wotc is getting players (and not just DMs) to purchase more things, perhaps in smaller transactions
• If 3rd party products don't work with that closed ecosystem (for either legal or technical reasons) they will find it increasingly difficult, and in certain cases impossible, to make and sell their products
• this closed ecosystem would solidify wotc's monopoly/dominance over the ttrpg hobby

The above is to some degree already the case, but it's easy to see how a new edition focused on digital products would exacerbate each situation. In every case these changes stand to make wotc more money. They are consistent with how wotc/hasbro has operated as a corporation and with how media corporations in general try to expand their revenue base.

They've not once released a tool that didn't allow homebrew...... So just copy third party stuff you want into the new VTT. That's consistent with all their practices and history, but doesn't fit doom and gloom....

 

[Haplo781]

They've not once released a tool that didn't allow homebrew...... So just copy third party stuff you want into the new VTT. That's consistent with all their practices and history, but doesn't fit doom and gloom....

They've not once released a VTT, period. You're speculating based on what you're hoping will happen instead of looking at the facts on the ground.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

These are some great arguments, but could you expand a bit on what aspects of the video are wrong?

No, because I don't want to give bad faith YouTubers the clicks.

His entire schtick is that everyone -- including you and me -- are stupid.

It's his reflexive stance that everything is terrible, because it drives engagement. Given that it's what he's doing in all of his videos, I think it's fair to assume that many of these are bad faith arguments.

There's plenty of discussion going on here and elsewhere that are worth going into. But "Dungeon Masterpiece" (sure, bro) is not a place I look to for salient arguments.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They've not once released a VTT, period. You're speculating based on what you're hoping will happen instead of looking at the facts on the ground.

The facts on the ground are that you can put homebrew stuff into D&D Beyond. There are no other facts on the ground about what WotC will or won't do; it's all speculation.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, well, it seems Winninger has actually been done for a few months and we didn't notice.

Which also suggests that his departure isn't necessarily a sign of the apocalypse. I'd like to think we'd all notice if it was raining blood up in this joint.

 

[JEB]

The purchase of DnDBeyond and MtG only having a single major set (versus 2 in '21) are credited as the reasons for the decline.

Oof, that's going to rile up investors. There was some obvious skepticism of the DDB purchase at the last investor call.

 

[Parmandur]

Which also suggests that his departure isn't necessarily a sign of the apocalypse. I'd like to think we'd all notice if it was raining blood up in this joint.

He was definitely posting as a WotC insider after July, so it could be that he gave notice and trained his replacement, because he didn't want the job anymore. We just don't know anything.