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

[Truth Seeker]

No...

No...

No...

If Wotc goes, the industry will bounce back...literally.

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?

 

[Hairfoot]

If Wotc goes, the industry will bounce back...literally.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk"]Literally[/ame]?

 

[DracoSuave]

As Leslie Poles Hartley said, "the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

I think that during the TSR era the people who chucked in D&D went to another RPG, like GURPS. But these days they go to a MMORPG. If WotC screws it up, the industry itself may go into a terminal decline as potential and current players leech out to computer games and don't come back.

That's like saying if they stop making Ford cars that people will ride jetskis. Or that if Blizzard goes under, people will play Counterstrike. I'm sorry, but people don't always get the same experience from a MMO as they do from a table top RPG. The two aren't even comparable. They provide different 'feel good' moments, and have different styles of socialization. They hit different buttons, and are -different products entirely.- They are in a measure of competition for time and money, but they aren't replacements for each other.

The more likely substitute for D&D will be a product that offers the same sensations and socialization. And given that the places that sell D&D will be financially invested in selling a replacement product, the chances of that replacement being marketted by those whose lives will depend on it are pretty good.

They've been saying video games will replace D&D for decades, and that's never happened. Video games -based on- D&D haven't even replaced D&D.

It's just not the same animal.

 

[Hairfoot]

Dracosuave, the analogies are inaccurate. If someone invented teleportation technology, some people would still drive cars because they enjoy the experience. Let's say that the overwhelming majority of those are Ford enthusiasts. If Ford then packed up, a lot of those people wouldn't bother to adjust to a vintage Honda, they'd just use the teleporter.

And if Blizzard went under, a lot of people would start playing Counterstrike instead!

My argument is that D&D has always been the flagship of RPGs, and that 4E has been designed and marketed to appeal specifically to a new generation of players, which lives and breathes MMORPGs and anime, and for which the fantasy tropes of previous D&D editions are no more relevant or appealing than The Monkees.

Hopefully Hasbro has the brand power and marketing budget to bring in new customers from that demographic. But if 4E dies, those potential players will never know that "people don't always get the same experience from a MMO as they do from a table top RPG", and they certainly won't be tracking Paizo down to see if Pathfinder can do it.

I don't like 4E. I cannot consider it a genuine edition of D&D. But I have a strong interest in seeing it succeed, because for all of the customers it wins, some will drift into other P&P games, which keeps the hobby vibrant and alive.

 

[Derren]

Could WotC ruin the RPG business? Yes, but imo not by failing but by succeeding and driving more people away from role playing towards miniature wargaming.

 

[Grazzt]

Given that the company that used to hold D&D before WoTC did far worse with it than the current holders of the property are, ever have, or ever could, and the industry not only survived but actually -thrived- in that era, I think this is just a bunch of baseless fear-and-loathing.

There -was- a time when D&D wasn't the new hotness, when people went on to other RPGs. Other companies started to get more and more popular, and more mature games appeared on the landscape. The hobby started to broaden its horizons, and more people were attracted as a result.

So, even if the impossible happened and WoTC (A profitable division in a profitable company) tanked, the hobby itself would adjust, because it has before. D&D is the number one, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not -that- important.

Yep. Agreed. If WotC collapsed and D&D went away or even faltered like it did near the TSR end times, the industry may take a brief hit, but it will adjust and bounce back. So, D&D #1, even if it vanishes will not signal the end of the industry by any means.

 

[Jack Colby]

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.

I agree with this. Even if we somehow lost the D&D brand due to WotC's actions, a lot of D&D players would find something else to buy. There's never been an RPG industry without someone publishing D&D though, so nobody could really say what would happen.

 

[Festivus]

There is no way that if WoTC/Hasbro were to disappear/stop publishing D&D tomorrow that the hobby would stop functioning. Some other publisher would step in to fill the void... and short of something along the lines of Orwell's "1984", or Farenheit 451, they will not be taking my printed books away from me.

My opinion (just for Mistwell here), is that WoTC is doing a dandy job with the new edition of the game, and that it's a great base upon which to build a new series of adventures from that is cleaner and easier to learn and play... this will make it ultimately a larger seller than any prior edition, regardless of fanbase splintering.

 

[Xath]

Dude, I fully admit it is opinion. I also think, reading the threads in this new subforum, that it is not a unique one.

Disagree if you like, but I hardly think I deserve chastisement for "promoting it as fact."


I'm sorry you misread it that way.

Well that is a backhanded apology if I ever read one!

I'm sorry you improperly posted it that way dude

Passive agression is still agression, no matter how many smilies you attach to it. Keep it civil folks.

- Xath

 

[Truth Seeker]

LOL!!!!
XP for thee....

Literally?