D&D 5E Why is WOTC so awful at providing digital content?

[Shemeska]

Yeah, that would have been embarrassing had anyone really cared about Gleemax.

I think the take home message is that when you're planning a major software project, you need to have someone with prior experience in managing software projects, not just that they were a world champion Magic player. That makes you great at working on MtG stuff, but it'd be the same if I with a cell biology background were suddenly put in charge of a major software development project for my company's parent company: it would tank and I wouldn't even see the warning signs.

The VTT wasn't vapourware and was available for many months on the WotC site. No one cared though, since it turned out VTTs are not as popular as expected.

The one you're thinking about that was rolled out for limited use and never really caught on wasn't the original one that had been vapourware. Different people and a good number of years in between.

 

[transtemporal]

Actually, the laundry list you just gave raises a major thought: What if it isn't that WotC is poor at picking good license partners. What if good license partners for what the community wants don't exist or are extremely rare?

Purely comes down to business and commercial acumen (on both sides). I guess you could grossly generalise and say people in creative industries are less likely to have these skills, compared to say, manufacturing or financial services. I certainly know creative types who fit this mold but I also know enough who break it to say it doesn't really hold.

But that's where corporate big brother can come in and throw their weight around. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes it can be counter-productive.

 

[Jester David]

Actually, the laundry list you just gave raises a major thought: What if it isn't that WotC is poor at picking good license partners. What if good license partners for what the community wants don't exist or are extremely rare?

Likely a bit of both.

Paizo is proving much better with their licensed products, but they're particularly choosy and anal over the quality of the people they work with. But they've haven't had much better success with some of their digital ventures, such as their vapourware VTT.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Actually, the laundry list you just gave raises a major thought: What if it isn't that WotC is poor at picking good license partners. What if good license partners for what the community wants don't exist or are extremely rare?

I think you are on the right track here.

If you cannot bring an attractive business model to the project, it makes it all the harder to find the right partner. I am still stuck on what the heck the business plan would look like.

"We would be lucky to sell 50,000 of these for $25. And we need a cool $1 million (or maybe more if we support it) or the project is doomed from the start."
"Wonderful! Where do I sign? Oh, hmmm. On second thoughts, put in the contract that we can cancel so that we can cut our losses at no more than a million."
"Great. That will make it easy to hire the A Team. Potential partners will be lining up around the block, for sure."

When compared to a generic RPG game app, D&D is a very fussy beast. A team with the right skill to succeed are people who are already writing RPG games, most likely. Maybe they are not making a mint there either, but WotC is not going to shower them with cash. But it is problably more fun to not deal with a the headaches of a complex game system someone else created, especially if you are not allowed to decide where to cut corners on the rules. "Can't we just re-write that rule?" "Nope."

 

[Shasarak]

Actually, the laundry list you just gave raises a major thought: What if it isn't that WotC is poor at picking good license partners. What if good license partners for what the community wants don't exist or are extremely rare?

License partners: "good, cheap, fast; pick two"

 

[Umbran]

Purely comes down to business and commercial acumen (on both sides).

Those are required, yes, but beyond that, there's significant technical acumen involved, and non-trivial design for a use that simply isn't common.

It may be that the skillset required isn't readily available at a price point that makes sense for the size of the market.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Yeah, the market is simply too small to support real salaries being paid to the digital team so that means finding an alternative better than simply hiring people nobody else wants.

They should have hired one decent manager with actual experience on a solid salary and then outsourced the work here or to India.

 

[transtemporal]

Those are required, yes, but beyond that, there's significant technical acumen involved, and non-trivial design for a use that simply isn't common.

Nah. Universities in the States, Europe, Russia, Asia, India churn out grads with business/computer science degrees by the 100s of thousands per year. Its not a trivial development, but its not cutting edge stuff either. The technology and the functionality is well-trodden ground. I'm sure Seattle alone has hundreds of software outfits.

It may be that the skillset required isn't readily available at a price point that makes sense for the size of the market.

Its more likely this. Big consultancies are too expensive, small ones have the price point, but not the commercial maturity to deal with a customer like Hasbro.

Or WotC don't have capacity to deal with this at the moment, so they've de-prioritised it and put it on the backburner.

 

[Bugleyman]

in·com·pe·tence
noun
inability to do something successfully; ineptitude.

 

[Gundan Shadeslinger]

Why is WotC being held to a different standard than other publishers, game companies, or RPG companies? Why do they need fantastic digital support at day one?

Because that's where they have put themselves. They are trying to run before they can crawl. This is what happens when a company had ideas above their station and instead of sticking with what they know, they try to be something they aren't but claim to be.

If I put myself out there as being able to do this and that but fail to deliver, then don't be surprised when you get criticised, especially from a company with the resources that are available.