Worst case scenario: Could WotC "break" the whole industry?

[Aberzanzorax]

Inspired by a number of recent events...

What if WotC screws D&D up royally? Like, far worse than they have so far...


Could they break the industry?

Could they ruin everything if they tried (or were just even mroe radically incompetent)?

Or is the industry way, way bigger than WotC?


Your opinion?

 

[Wicht]

My opinion is that I will keep playing D&D (though not 4e) for as long as I can. Whether it is supported or not is another question. That being said, if WotC dropped all support of TRPGs, I think that some other companies would see an increase in their sales, thereby allowing them to sustain their businesses until one of them became the true market leader.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I think there is the posibility for Wizards to lose D&D, or sell it or whatever, but the industry itself is way bigger than WotC itself, and will survive, even if WotC somehow completely goes out of buisness.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I think you only need ot look at the people who play older editions of D&D, especially those supported by fan websites, to answer that question.

The hobby is bigger than WOTC, but WOTC is the main company that gets D&D into mainstream bookstores and such, so losing WOTC would hurt.

 

[Treebore]

Inspired by a number of recent events...

What if WotC screws D&D up royally? Like, far worse than they have so far...


Could they break the industry?

Could they ruin everything if they tried (or were just even mroe radically incompetent)?

Or is the industry way, way bigger than WotC?


Your opinion?

I think the hobby will be broken when we all quit playing the games. WOTC can certainly hurt it, but I think Paizo, Mongoose, Green Ronin, and everyone else will keep it alive.

 

[DaveMage]

What if WotC screws D&D up royally? Like, far worse than they have so far...

Could they break the industry?

Could they ruin everything if they tried (or were just even mroe radically incompetent)?

Or is the industry way, way bigger than WotC?

The rest of the industry was doing well enough (maybe better) when TSR was failing, so no, I don't think WotC could ruin everything if they fail or tried to ruin things for everyone else.

 

[Staffan]

The problems I see from WOTC imploding are more long-term in nature.

A significant chunk of the RPG market belongs to D&D. If Wizards stop making D&D (and deep-six it instead of selling it off), that's gonna put a hurting on many FLGSes. Many of these will have to close or direct their business away from RPGs. That, in turn, will make it harder to recruit new players to replace those that stop playing for whatever reason.

We're already in a similar situation with more and more people buying their games online, but a potential WOTC implosion would make it much worse.

 

[Korgoth]

The problems I see from WOTC imploding are more long-term in nature.

A significant chunk of the RPG market belongs to D&D. If Wizards stop making D&D (and deep-six it instead of selling it off), that's gonna put a hurting on many FLGSes. Many of these will have to close or direct their business away from RPGs. That, in turn, will make it harder to recruit new players to replace those that stop playing for whatever reason.

We're already in a similar situation with more and more people buying their games online, but a potential WOTC implosion would make it much worse.

Are there actually game stores out there that don't also sell several of the following: comic books, games workshop stuff, historical miniatures, collectible games, j-pop stuff and boardgames? If a store just sold, or even mostly sold, role playing games I don't see how it could survive, especially these days. But if a store sells mostly other stuff but has a few shelves of role playing games, and gets by on that mix, I don't think WOTC going under would sink it.

Really, the actual money seems to be in Settlers of Catan, FFG products, minis, etc.

I don't think WOTC going down would sink the industry. I think the industry would keep on keepin' on, and would be more hobbyist-focused.

Paizo, FFG, Mongoose, WW and others would keep putting out product. I think D&D retro-clone products would become higher profile as shops looked for D&D stuff to put on the shelves.

 

[Xyxox]

Worst case scenario, Hasbro shelves D&D and the OGL becomes the focus of RPGs for years to come.

Hasbro will never ever sell D&D. Hasbro is not in the business of selling off their IP.

 

[carmachu]

Did they screw up? Yes.

Took something away from customers, bad PR, AND their competetion moved in and offered a discount or free on theirs.

Breal the industry? Doubtful.