D&D 5E So you're in charge of Wizards marketing department

[Uchawi]

I will just add another conspiracy theory. What if they posted the price on purpose, to get a feel for what players are willing to play?

 

[Warskull]

I am not sure it is entirely a marketing strategy to claw back market share from Pathfinder, convert 4E players, and convert 3.5E holdouts.

Some ideas:
1. Adopt the OGL again. At least with the core rules.
2. Possibly release a basic version (pdf) of the PHB for free. Use it as a loss leader. If there is a $50 barrier to entry many players simply may not try it. If everyone can play the basics for free it gets them to try it.
3. Keep pushing the DnD classics store.
4. Have a lot of cheap options to acquire rulebooks. Cheap PDFs purchased online are great.
5. Pay popular podcasters and youtubers to do content about 5e.

5E's battle in not one to make profit, but one to build a playerbase. Bleeding money early doesn't matter if you get a huge player base you can sell content to later on.

 

[Hussar]

Is it really six months though? Gen Con is in August and it's April now. We're only talking four months before release.

I would expect to see some ramp up very soon.

 

[frogimus]

Is it really six months though? Gen Con is in August and it's April now. We're only talking four months before release.

I would expect to see some ramp up very soon.

Wow! Your timezone is waaaay ahead of mine.

You know, the B&N slip may also have been a way to give us a schedule without commiting to a schedule. Not that the internet would catch on fire if they missed a tentative date or anything.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

1) Acquire product placement for the new edition on Big Bang Theory
2) Get somebody to write a story to make into a D&D web series that doesn't suck
3) Provide incentives to the independent gaming stores so they can compete with Amazon (are there that many left? This shouldn't be a big budget item).
4) Downplay all expectations to management

 

[Hussar]

Wow! Your timezone is waaaay ahead of mine.

You know, the B&N slip may also have been a way to give us a schedule without commiting to a schedule. Not that the internet would catch on fire if they missed a tentative date or anything.

Lol. Brain fart. For some reasoning was thinking its April. Whoops.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I would make a daily twitter comment about something cool that happened in a play test.

I would double the articles on the wotc site... every week day something new about the new edition.

I would put up biweekly pod casts talking and joking about the game and the big threads on enworld and there own site.

I would run a short "Happy Birthday D&D" with a wrapped box that says don't open till Gen con, saying a new edition is coming, and put it in comics, and online.

I would put a big banner up on the wotc site "Always, and still the best selling RPG on the market."

 

[tuxgeo]

Lol. Brain fart. For some reasoning was thinking its April. Whoops.

Maybe that's a part of their marketing strategy?
WotC is known for participating in April Fool's Day shenanigans. Maybe their first intense marketing will appear on their website on April 1, to the consternation and/or delight of the web-connected public.