D&D 5E Slow releases

[Nivenus]

From what I can tell, WotC's publishing model for 3e and 4e was profitable in the short-term but largely unsustainable. 3e was overwhelmed by a bunch of splatbooks no one ever bought and after the Player's Handbook 3 4e's release schedule slowed to a crawl. By starting slow and announcing products as they reach completion, WotC can a) get a clearer picture of how much demand there is and b) avoid product burnout.

I'm sure the designers are working on some stuff behind the scenes were not aware of yet. And I'm okay with that. I'm betting we'll hear something pretty soon after the release of the DMG. Don't forget that 5e's final release date wasn't even known until last spring.

 

[Stalker0]

No significant portion of the market is going to refuse to buy a product in three months that they would have bought three months earlier. There's time sensitivity in terms of years (because of competitors) but not in this industry in terms of months.

Only disagreement I have with this is in the factor of holiday timing. Product that you had intended for holiday sales, that got delayed past the holiday season, could definitely see a decrease in total sales overall.

But beyond that specific window I agree a month or two shouldn't matter too much.