What kind of hit did DDI take a year after subscriptions started? Was it huge?

[Dire Bare]

The total change in format with products coming later this year, the continual layoffs, and the continuing start/stop on the miniatures line makes me wonder.

The success/failure of DDI has little to do with the books, minis, and other accessories for the game. Which is the thread topic. The health of the franchise overall of course does include all of these things, but they are not all necessarily tightly related.

I can see book sales possibly dropping a bit due to the success of DDI, but not much, and certainly not the reverse.

The problems with the miniatures line, IMO, has nothing to do with DDI. Considering how long the D&D prepainted line has run, it is an unbridled success that is finally losing some steam due to a variety of causes. The recession is an external one and "mini saturation" a more internal one. WotC is experimenting with the line to extend its life and profit. The last experiment of separting DM and Player minis and having visible minis was not a success for WotC for whatever reason, so they are retreating to a more familiar format supplemented with the unpainted minis in the upcoming boxed sets and board games. I wouldn't be surprised to see more changes/experiments down the road in the near future.

 

[DaveMage]

25,000 subscribers seems very strong.

Since people are saying they no longer need the books with the DDI, it looks like WotC may have found the future here.

 

[Drkfathr1]

The success/failure of DDI has little to do with the books, minis, and other accessories for the game. Which is the thread topic. The health of the franchise overall of course does include all of these things, but they are not all necessarily tightly related.

I can see book sales possibly dropping a bit due to the success of DDI, but not much, and certainly not the reverse.

The problems with the miniatures line, IMO, has nothing to do with DDI. Considering how long the D&D prepainted line has run, it is an unbridled success that is finally losing some steam due to a variety of causes. The recession is an external one and "mini saturation" a more internal one. WotC is experimenting with the line to extend its life and profit. The last experiment of separting DM and Player minis and having visible minis was not a success for WotC for whatever reason, so they are retreating to a more familiar format supplemented with the unpainted minis in the upcoming boxed sets and board games. I wouldn't be surprised to see more changes/experiments down the road in the near future.

Maybe you misunderstand my point. I don't think DDI has anything to do with the miniature's success or failure.

My point is, that if DDI was such a huge revenue stream, it would prop up the other parts of the franchise that were having troubles. That doesn't seem to be happening.

Look at it this way: what's the lowest montly cost for the DDI subscription? $6?

If everyone starts relying on the DDI at $6 a month, instead of spending $30-$60 a month on books, WoTC loses.

But, as has been mentioned, its all speculative.

 

[Squizzle]

If everyone starts relying on the DDI at $6 a month, instead of spending $30-$60 a month on books, WoTC loses.

Not if the margins for DDI are significantly better than the margins for printed books. My wife works in publishing, and I'll be interested in getting her perspective on this, but I do know that it depends a lot on the sort of book, and the editing process in place for DDI. If they don't have to hire outside proofreaders, copy-editors, etc. for DDI content, the margin is going to be incredibly good for them. They also have less of the cover-price being eaten by distributors and stores; DDI has to be mostly their own, in terms of where the sale price goes.

Note also that it's very reliable money. Most businesses would rather know that they're getting $30 each month than get $70 one month and zero the next, and $40 the month after that, and $20 after that, and have none of those months relate in sales numbers to the same month the year before. Reliable revenue is better than unpredictable revenue that averages higher.

 

[ghearus]

Look at it this way: what's the lowest montly cost for the DDI subscription? $6?

If everyone starts relying on the DDI at $6 a month, instead of spending $30-$60 a month on books, WoTC loses.

On the other hand, due to having a baby this year, I couldn't justify spending $30-45 / month on D&D for something I only do once a week, but it was pretty easy to justify the DDI subscription. I suspect there are a large number of subscribers out there like me.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

snip

Look at it this way: what's the lowest montly cost for the DDI subscription? $6?

If everyone starts relying on the DDI at $6 a month, instead of spending $30-$60 a month on books, WoTC loses.

But, as has been mentioned, its all speculative.

$30 - $60 a month!

A quick glance at my shelf reveals that I bought about 30 book in the 3.e era and a subscription to Dragon. That is probably the most I ever spent on an RPG in my life. So I spent about $9 a month on books over the life of 3.x. Most of the people I game with spent a lot less.

OK, so perhaps I am lower end of the people here but I suspect that the majority that do not hang out on messageboards probably spend even less on D&D books in a year. Yet they probably make up the majority of WoTC's sales.

Now I subscribe to DDI and I have bought 11 books so far, though I am slowing down somewhat now due to my financial circulstances. I am definitly keeping my DDI subscription but I really only see me buying settings/modules and maybe DMG's

 

[Nebulous]

I'll probably keep the subscription just for the Character Builder and Monster Builder (and whatever they trot out later). As for Dragon and Dungeon...i don't use them. I used to when they were in print, but i don't know if it is the overall quality of them or what, but they're not keeping my interest. Especially Dragon, i just don't need anything related to characters. And i've been running the WotC modules so i haven't even needed dungeon adventures.

 

[DaveMage]

I think a publisher grosses $10 - $15 on a $40 list price book.

 

[Shemeska]

25,000 subscribers seems very strong.

Actually here's a question (that has probably been asked before but oh well):

How does that figure of ~25,000 compare to the subscription numbers for the printed Dragon and Dungeon magazines (during any era) as well as the price for DDI versus the price for subscribing to either magazine.

 

[Mark]

On the other hand, due to having a baby this year, (. . .)

Congrats!