D&D (2024) What do you think One D&D will do to the VTT industry?

[doctorbadwolf]

know this sounds ridiculous to people on these boards who are huge WotC fans, because I guess you think WotC are your friends? They are a business, a darn big business.

Neighbor, I don’t think my FLGS are my friends.

You are completely ignoring the direction the company has taken since launching the next playtest, and stuck with for 8+ years through constantly growing sales, which is to promote the hobby as a whole and grow the DND brand, going out of their way to actively give platforms to 3pp.

The people making D&D have probably never been as responsive to fans and willing to change things to suit fan reactions in my lifetime.

Not because they are anyone’s “friend” (what an utterly nonsensical notion. Way to insult the basic intelligence of everyone who disagrees with you), but because it is the strategy that has propelled them to a level of success wherein their mini-boss is taking his bosses job, and they’ve become the primary moneymaker in their parent company’s stable.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Or they can sell it themselves directly to the consumer, cut out the middleman and increase their profits

And dramatically reduce sales volume, and strike an incredible blow to the brand and the company’s reputation.

 

[Retreater]

Not because they are anyone’s “friend” (what an utterly nonsensical notion. Way to insult the basic intelligence of everyone who disagrees with you), but because it is the strategy that has propelled them to a level of success wherein their mini-boss is taking his bosses job, and they’ve become the primary moneymaker in their parent company’s stable.

My intent isn't to insult anybody. I assume everyone posting on here has at least basic intelligence, probably well above that.
But look at precedence. Look at the rest of the entertainment market zeitgeist, and I think you can see where I'm coming to these observations.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The people making D&D have probably never been as responsive to fans and willing to change things to suit fan reactions in my lifetime.

Not because they are anyone’s “friend” (what an utterly nonsensical notion. Way to insult the basic intelligence of everyone who disagrees with you), but because it is the strategy that has propelled them to a level of success wherein their mini-boss is taking his bosses job, and they’ve become the primary moneymaker in their parent company’s stable.

This strategy being selling Magic the Gathering cards

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I think this is putting the cart a mile in front of the horse. Maybe I'm just cynically remembering the never delivered VTT for 4e, but this is the part of One DnD that I'm least interested in and most skeptical about.

That said ... brand recognition is brand recognition, and if (and that's a huge IF), the product is good, easy to use and well integrated with the rest of DnD Beyond, it'll quickly be the elephant in the room, without WotC even needing to revoke licenses or other such hardball tactics.

I doubt there will be a murder suicide that takes out the guy who was making the tabletop.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My intent isn't to insult anybody. I assume everyone posting on here has at least basic intelligence, probably well above that.
But look at precedence. Look at the rest of the entertainment market zeitgeist, and I think you can see where I'm coming to these observations.

I don’t think there is a way to tell us that we must think wizards are our friends without suggesting that we are idiots, frankly, but I’ll take you at your word wrt intention.

Look at video games, toys, and board games. They’re a better predictor of what wizards might do than tv and movie based media franchises and distributors.

This strategy being selling Magic the Gathering cards

This is a bit of an outdated sentiment, IMO. MtG is a huge moneymaker, sure, but so are the dnd books and so are licensed products that use the IP. That said, selling magic cards depends on not ruining thier reputation, so…

 

[MonsterEnvy]

My intent isn't to insult anybody. I assume everyone posting on here has at least basic intelligence, probably well above that.
But look at precedence. Look at the rest of the entertainment market zeitgeist, and I think you can see where I'm coming to these observations.

I have watched this and I still can’t see what you see.

 

[Retreater]

Look at video games, toys, and board games. They’re a better predictor of what wizards might do than tv and movie based media franchises and distributors.

Does Nintendo let you play Mario Kart on Steam?
If you don't want to follow the TV/streaming media connection, then consider first party video games. You're not playing Halo on Playstation. They want to sell you an Xbox and the Game Pass service.

 

[Hex08]

I think what most people are missing is that Hasbro/WotC doesn't have to pull anything from existing VTTs, they could even increase support, for them to negatively impact other VTTs. The whole premise of my original post was based on the idea that WotC is able to pull off all of the promises of One D&D (farfetched or not) and if that if that is the case I don't see many convincing arguments supporting the idea that most people who play D&D, the most popular RPG by far, wouldn't migrate to that service. If they migrate to that service, I don't see how that won't negatively impact other VTTs.

I'm not saying that Fantasy Grounds, Foundry or any other VTT are going to lose access to WotC material (although they could lose stuff that requires a license). My point is that the modern consumer who is so used to subscription-based models vs physical ownership (Netflix subscriptions vs Blu-ray sales), walled gardens (Apple's app store and the like) and microtransactions that most of the player base will naturally migrate to One D&D and that's bad for the competition.

Once again, I don't play D&D but to think that Hasbro worries about competitors digital store fronts seems silly to me because, from my limited understanding, Hasbro doesn't make products like the 5E Players Handbook available as a PDF. If they aren't willing to sell such an important book as a PDF via their own website, let alone DriveThru RPG, then I don't see why they would want to consider helping what will be their competition.

 

[Retreater]

I have watched this and I still can’t see what you see.

You've gotta be extremly pessimistic with an anxiety disorder. I guess that's my superpower.