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

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The "don't compete with yourself" argument also fails to take into account traditional book publishers

The profusion of cookbooks is a great example, some of which, like the big America's Test Kitchen doorstop, gets yearly updates, which is a great racket, along with literally dozens of specialized cookbooks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The OSR community already exists, supporting old editions. I don't see that WotC is any more qualified than the fans to support games they did not design.

A lot of people put a lot of weight on something being produced by the official D&D publisher. I don't agree with it, myself, but I'd never deny that it's a Very Big Deal for a lot of customers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

All of those people worried that WotC's dominance of the RPG industry was bad for the hobby must feel pretty silly right about now. Turns out the problem is that WotC isn't dominant enough.

1) I don't think these are the same people.

2) This is just a thought experiment. I don't think anyone thinks this is going to happen in the foreseeable future.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I looked at Roll20 stats two months ago and this is what i gathered.

On 4/8/24 0001 Hours (12am) there were 1000 games on offer (including mature only games) [At least this is how many games it showed 34 Pages. 30 games per page and the 34th page had 10 games.]

81% Official DnD systems (5e, 4e, 3e, 2e, 1e, od&d) [771 are 5E, 39 are 4e, 3e, 2e, 1e, od&d; 523 [511 5E] have a cost, 287 [260 5E] are free to play]
8.5% Pathfinder 1&2e (50 games or 60% PF1E, 35 games or 40% PF2E)
2.6% Call of Cthulhu (any edition)
1.7 % WOD systems
1.4 % Star Wars (any system)
1.1 % Savage Worlds
1.0 % Old School Essentials
.9% Apocalypse World Systems
.7 Traveler (any edition)
.6% Dungeon Crawl Classics

99.5%
.5 % All other games.

Now this is not representative of actual play since many games are TotM and perhaps are organized elsewhere (discord, reddit, etc) But its good to see the biggest vtt's numbers.

I know the TTRPG space is probably too small potatoes to merit it, but it feels like there's a good case study in the rise and fall of the World of Darkness. It's not gone, but boy, those lofty heights of the 1990s seem almost unimaginable now.

Meanwhile, Call of Cthulhu, which has always been a quiet and steady performer, just keeps chugging along, decade after decade.

 

[Staffan]

The secret is that salt and vinegar chips are delicious.

They're great in small doses, but wear out their welcome pretty quick.

Another flaw with “don’t compete with yourself” is so many other, similar companies do. Toy makers do. Video game makers do. Boardgame makers do. None of them produce one thing then an endless supply of supplements for it. Most of them (including all the big names) have multiple lines that “compete” against each other.

But in many cases, the things they make fall into one of two categories:

1. Updated version/sequel to an old thing. They keep making Calls of Duty that do more or less the same thing as the last one, but with added features, better graphics, and an experience that's different enough to feel new but still scratches the same itch because you got bored of the old one.
2. Different games/toys aimed at providing different experiences. Elder Sign, Eldritch Horror, Arkham Horror 3e, Arkham Horror LCG, and Mansions of Madness all feature investigators getting caught up in Mythos stuff and fighting back, but they do so in very different ways (and note that Eldritch Horror basically replaced Arkham Horror 2e as a better version of the same game).

You could make a case for Wizards publishing other games that would actually be different from D&D. There might very well be people who don't particularly care for D&D but would be up for a new version of Gamma World, for example, or maybe a space opera RPG or something like that. But would that number be big enough to justify the investment to the bean counters?

 

[Clint_L]

FLGS owners, the heroes of our hobby IMO, have to allocate their purchasing budget and shelf space with very thin profit margins. Why would they want to support other versions of D&D with a fraction of 5e's customer base? And how could they afford it?

For this to work, alternate edition products would probably have to be sold directly by WotC, and at much higher prices than 5e books because the print runs would be much lower. I'm not an economist, but it just doesn't make much sense to me. And that's setting aside the problem of splitting your own customer base, which really is what killed TSR.

I think Kickstarters are a much better model for limited scale publications of this nature.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Updated version/sequel to an old thing. They keep making Calls of Duty that do more or less the same thing as the last one, but with added features, better graphics, and an experience that's different enough to feel new but still scratches the same itch because you got bored of the old one.

Not that every thread needs to be the same argument about the 2024 books, but I think it's hard to say what's happening there is dramatically different than the latest iteration of Madden or Call of Duty or what have you. A few tweaks, a new coat of paint and a big price tag with the expectation that nearly all fans are going to buy the new thing.

 

[Moonmover]

Not that every thread needs to be the same argument about the 2024 books, but I think it's hard to say what's happening there is dramatically different than the latest iteration of Madden or Call of Duty or what have you. A few tweaks, a new coat of paint and a big price tag with the expectation that nearly all fans are going to buy the new thing.

Other than the fact that the last iteration was ten years ago. Madden and CoD are infamous for getting updated annually.

 

[payn]

Not that every thread needs to be the same argument about the 2024 books, but I think it's hard to say what's happening there is dramatically different than the latest iteration of Madden or Call of Duty or what have you. A few tweaks, a new coat of paint and a big price tag with the expectation that nearly all fans are going to buy the new thing.

If Madden was only refreshed every ten years maybe.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Other than the fact that the last iteration was ten years ago. Madden and CoD are infamous for getting updated annually.

This feels like hair-splitting.

The fact of the matter is that video game companies have no fear of flooding the market with content or about competing with themselves.

EA is not saying "whoa, we can't release Madden '25 -- it'll cannibalize sales of Madden '24!" A large part of their business model is built around the fact that fans will reliably drop $70 on the new version year after year.

TTRPGs aren't some special unique product category. Heck, TTRPG fans can reliably be counted on to purchase stuff they don't need (if you've actually run and completed every adventure WotC has published for 5E, WotC should buy you and your group VIP tickets to GenCon) that already duplicates the stuff that they've got (no one really needs dozens of dice, as much as it pains me to say it).