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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7660283" data-attributes="member: 4937">First, we don't know how many sells that actually translates too because Amazon's algorithm is opaque.  Being a top seller on Amazon over the course of a few hours doesn't necessarily mean lots of books at the scale that would mean WoTC's D&D brand is flowing with cash considering the multiyear design and development period 5e went through that had to be repaid.Secondly, almost all of the sells were at 30% or higher discounts, which means that WotC was agreeing with Amazon to take a hit on their profit per item.Thirdly, I wouldn't be surprised if they lost a huge amount of money on the Tyranny of Dragons/Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign that significantly dented their overall profits on the year.Fourthly, WotC's D&D department isn't acting like a company that is awash in cash.  We have a very limited release cycle and immediate cut backs in staffing.Ultimately the real problem here is that when WotC abandoned the OGL and tried to take their game back, the goal had to have been that without the D&D brand that no one would play D&D and that a majority of the customer base would eventually abandon the old technology and return to D&D because of the value of the brand.   That hasn't happened.  The fact that you have a reasonably hefty publisher of intellectual property in a medium you used to dominate picking up a competitive brand over your brand cannot feel good.  The fact that Pathfinder is even still going two editions after you abandoned the technology they depend on is itself probably really disconcerting.  I think 5e is great.  It's far better than I ever hoped it would be.  If I wasn't already very happy with my 3e based homebrew and in the midst of a campaign, I'd probably play 5e.   But there it is.And I can't say that my overall fondness for the 5e design has in any way changed my assessment of what 5e would mean for the brand.</blockquote>

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