[UPDATED] Has ADVENTURER'S HANDBOOK Been Cancelled?

Today's official announcement about the Elemental Evil storyline mentioned Princes of the Apocalypse, a new DM screen, miniatures, video games... but not the Adventurer's Handbook! This could mean nothing, of course. The book was first announced last year, back in August; but the below screenshot from Edelweiss shows it as cancelled. The mystery deepens!

UPDATE: WotC's Mike Mearls answers "We can't cancel a book we never announced!" So that sounds like the Adventurer's Handbook will definitely not be appearing. WotC certainly wrote ad copy and designed a cover for the book (see below). Mike added "we've played things close to the vest is that it's a huge, open question on what support for the RPG should look like... we do a lot of stuff that may or may not end up as a released product. For instance, we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D. It wasn't too many settings that hurt TSR, but too many D&D books of any kind. lots of experiments ahead..."

Here's the cancellation screenshot. Now, that could mean a number of things - maybe it's been pushed back, maybe it's been renamed, or maybe it's just an admin error. Princes of the Apolocaypse has been pushed back from March 17 to April 7.

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What do we know about the book? We have a description from August 2014 and a more recent cover image. Right now, anything could be true; I haven't heard anything about a cancellation or a pushed back release date. If I do, I'll be sure to report it.

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Adventurer's Handbook (March 17, 2015; hardcover; $39.95) -- A Dungeons & Dragons Accessory. Create Heroic Characters to Conquer the Elements in this Accessory for the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game​ Not inherently evil, elemental power can be mastered by those with both malevolent and benign intentions. The Elemental Evil Adventurer’s Handbook provides everything that players need to build a character that is tied directly into the Elemental Evil story arc, with skills, abilities, and spells meant to augment their play experience throughout the campaign. Additionally, valuable background and story information provides greater depth and immersion. An accessory that expands the number of options available for character creation for the Elemental Evil story arc, providing expanded backgrounds, class builds, and races meant specifically for this campaign. Provides background and setting information critical to having the greatest chance of success. Accessory design and development by Sasquatch Game Studio LLC.​ ​

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[Halivar]

See, the Transformer movies everyone's familiar with are not the first Transformer movies. Most Transformer fans are well-aware of the rather long cinema history the franchise has. Most of the movies were crap; that's why you don't really hear of them.

There was one previous Transformers movie; it was called Transformers: The Movie (1986), and it was the finest cinema ever produced in the history of man.

In the history.

Of man.

"You got the touch... you got the pooowwwaaaaaaah... YEAH!!!"

 

[bmfrosty]

There was one previous Transformers movie; it was called Transformers: The Movie (1986), and it was the finest cinema ever produced in the history of man.

In the history.

Of man.

"You got the touch... you got the pooowwwaaaaaaah... YEAH!!!"

You're forgetting the multitude of Japanese Transformers TV Shows and OAVs:

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=rel&aid=2103

 

[Halivar]

You're forgetting the multitude of Japanese Transformers TV Shows and OAVs:

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=rel&aid=2103

Convoy was not voiced by Peter Cullins, ergo it does not exist in my head-canon.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

There was one previous Transformers movie; it was called Transformers: The Movie (1986), and it was the finest cinema ever produced in the history of man.

In the history.

Of man.

"You got the touch... you got the pooowwwaaaaaaah... YEAH!!!"

That movie traumatized many a small boy by killing their toys brutally. It's all fun and games until you see Prowl get his friggin soul snuffed out!

 

[Parmandur]

Here's the thong: a fairly mediocre D&D movie, sat Yransformers 2 level production and quality, can make more in sheer profit than the entire TTRPG industry does In a year. WB has done this three years running with the Hobbit films; they want to keep doing it, which is why they have been pursuing a bottomless pit of IP material, namely D&D. I know, from personal experience, that many of the people enjoying the Hobbit movies haven't read the book. People interested in seeing Elf vs. Orc action are not limited by the bounds of literary interest, let alone tabletop gaming circles. Wizards is making smart decisions by looking to the brand to make money rather than the game by itself.

 

[Halivar]

Here's the thong:

Ok... you have my attention.

a fairly mediocre D&D movie, sat Yransformers 2 level production and quality, can make more in sheer profit than the entire TTRPG industry does In a year.

Yep. Note that the original brand product, the toys, do not suffer from the expansion of the brand beyond the core product; rather, the core product benefits pretty well from it.

 

[Kramodlog]

D&D is selling very well right now.

As WotC/Hasbro officially announced it?

 

[TDarien]

As WotC/Hasbro officially announced it?

I don't think they've made a press release, but both Mearls and Perkins have said in interviews and on Twitter that 5e sales exceeding expectations by quite a bit.

EDIT:
Here's an interview from August about the release of the PHB and Starter set.

 

[Lee Singleton]

As WotC/Hasbro officially announced it?

I don't think they have but as nearly everywhere sold out of PHB's sometime around October last year and has been desperate for the reprint which has only just arrived, I think that it has probably exceeded their expectations.

 

[guachi]

A resurgent D&D is probably a key piece of any further mainstream licensing success, movies primarily. Any buzz about a movie can be burnished by fans saying good things about the game to their friends and press saying good things about the sales of the game.