WotC WotC can, and probably should support multiple editions of D&D.

[Lanefan]

There's a fundamental problem with @ECMO3 's premise.

How many of those that bought 1e, 2e and/or Basic/Expert books have also bought 5e books? In other words, even if he's right and AD&D sold so many copies - how many of those people are still in the hobby but not into 5e? There's no evidence that there is this huge, untapped market of Gen X'ers (which is what we're talking about) who are interested in D&D, but not 5e.

There's a considerable overlap already. @ECMO3 needs to provide some sort of evidence that there would be significant additional sales if WotC were to try to chase gamers who played in the 80's, would be interested in playing D&D, but feel they are not being served by 5e.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's a pretty niche market.

Perhaps.

But perhaps consider this: many of those who were in college during the 1e boom are now at or approaching retirement age, and thus can soon-ish expect to have a lot more time on their hands for hobby-recreation activities. Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing? Can't hurt to try.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Perhaps.

But perhaps consider this: many of those who were in college during the 1e boom are now at or approaching retirement age, and thus can soon-ish expect to have a lot more time on their hands for hobby-recreation activities. Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing? Can't hurt to try.

But, barring keeping older books in PDF, it absolutely can hurt. Its not a zero effort/resource process.

 

[mamba]

Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing?

unclear, at least to me

Can't hurt to try.

it certainly can, if you spend effort and get little in return then you should rather have spent it on something else. In WotC's case that is 5e

 

[Remathilis]

I skip-read through this thread, so forgive me if some of this is covered...

This has got to be one of the biggest boomer-energy threads I've seen in forever. This is right up there with "GM should start making Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles again" in terms of pie-in-the-sky thinking. It sounds perfectly fine in a nostalgia induced haze, but it doesn't make a lick of sense once cold reality hits.

The market for old editions is small. It is currently well-served by the OSR movement who understand what their audience likes far better than WotC would. WotC doesn't want to design for AD&D any more than Microsoft wants apps to be Windows 95 compatible or Sony wants new games playable on the PS2. They want to move product in thier current material, and devoting resources to make products for old editions are a waste of time and resources.

Even if they created a brand-new AD&D 1e compatible module, the very fandom its catering to would tear it to shreds for no other reason that WotC made it. Many of the players still playing those editions have long given up on WotC, with indifference at best and vitriol at worst. Even if WotC resurrected Gary himself to write it, most people would find reason to deride it. It's absolutely a lose-lose scenario for WotC.

I certainly get the desire to have your favorite version of something supported. But I don't see any way that it is remotely feasible for it work. And to be honest, there are lots of devoted fans and small publishing companies who DO know what their audience wants and has the goodwill of the community to do it. Yeah, Shmayhawk isn't quite the same, but I'd rather have them produce things than WotC fumble itself with trying to court a community who doesn't really want them.

 

[Oofta]

Perhaps.

But perhaps consider this: many of those who were in college during the 1e boom are now at or approaching retirement age, and thus can soon-ish expect to have a lot more time on their hands for hobby-recreation activities. Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing? Can't hurt to try.

That assumes that people who haven't played 1E in that many years would prefer the old version over the new, that it could be marketed to them or that the market isn't already served. I don't think there's any reason to believe that any of those things is true, at least not at a level that would be more profitable than moving forward with 5E.

Most boomers that played 1E back in the day that would still even think about playing now have either moved on (like I did, and others that I know) or they're still playing some version of the old game. If someone thinks back to their college days and wonders if they could play D&D again, finding a 5E game is as (relatively) easy as finding an AL game to find like minded individuals. Finding people would would want to play a game that hasn't been in print for 40 some odd years? Much, much more difficult.

 

[Velderan]

The market for old editions is small. It is currently well-served by the OSR movement who understand what their audience likes far better than WotC would.

This is the main thing to me. I just don't think current WotC would understand what players of TSR editions would even want to see for new material, so it's probably better for all parties involved that they just don't try since it's not like there isn't enough OSR material out there from independent publishers already.

That having been said, I do think it would be cool if once a year they'd pick a handful of old products and reprint them in a format close to their original printing. I realize most of this stuff is available on DM's Guild, but I've bought a few things that I already owned an original copy and usually the print quality is pretty bad compared to the original. My DM's Guild copy of 1e Dragonlance Adventures has a slight blurriness to the text that becomes more noticeable the longer you read. A couple of the 2e products I've bought have the same issue.

YMMV, IMO, IME, etc, etc.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Perhaps.

But perhaps consider this: many of those who were in college during the 1e boom are now at or approaching retirement age, and thus can soon-ish expect to have a lot more time on their hands for hobby-recreation activities. Is there enough potential market there to be worth chasing? Can't hurt to try.

I too suggested that once, a while ago...

Now is the time for Enworld to expand into an untapped market!

So according to some people in this thread, the over 55 TTRPG crowd is not being catered to by WOTC. That means a smart publisher can step in and dominate it! Enworld's a smart publisher so why don't they???

www.enworld.org

 

[Hussar]

where did they make that claim? All I see it ‘1e had more sales’

And?

Even if he’s right and adnd had more sales, there’s still no evidence that providing an alternative DnD from WotC would have a large enough audience to be worth it.

 

[mamba]

And?

Even if he’s right and adnd had more sales, there’s still no evidence that providing an alternative DnD from WotC would have a large enough audience to be worth it.

deja vu...

And?

Even if he’s right and adnd had more sales, there’s still no evidence that providing an alternative DnD from WotC would have a large enough audience to be worth it.

 

[Hussar]

deja vu...

It apparently needed repeating because you couldn't see it the first time?

Look, the argument is that WotC can support multiple lines of D&D at the same time. The evidence for this is because during the TSR days, TSR supported multiple lines and had combined sales exceeding 5e. Is that a close enough approximation?

So, in order for that to be true, that would mean that the sales EXCEEDING 5e must exceed enough to make it profitable. Since we don't know how many from the old TSR days have moved into 5e, thus not being a market for our competing D&D line, it still remains for proof to be shown that the excess is enough to be profitable.

I'm really not sure how to explain this any clearer. I would have thought that this was pretty obvious. But, apparently not?