Quote from: RPGPundit on July 26, 2024, 05:40:09 AM

Quote from: Omega on July 25, 2024, 07:45:57 PMI can not see them totally cutting off printed media.

But we are seeing already that they are trying to tie in effectively collecible minis and features into buying the books. Pre-order all three AND the Beyond versions for 0ver 250$ and get a dragon mini for the VTT.

All sight unseen.

They already did end "printed media" in any form resembling what they had.

No, they didn't.

QuoteBasically everyone involved in the publishing of D&D books was fired.

No, they were not. Not most of them.

QuoteLike I said in the video, there could still be books (or box sets) coming out after the OneDnD corebooks, but they will be done through the division that does "D&D merch" rather than publishing.

No, they won't.

I will make a prediction of my own now. When physical books continue to come out, with people not in the merch department and not just special high end collectible versions but also normal books through normal channels at normal prices, you will not take responsibility for your incorrect claims. It will be forgotten, and a new bullshit claim will be posted that week with no mention of your false claims from this one.

And you're basing your "no it isn't" and "no it's nots" on what? Your own feelings?

So, as of right now, the only books on the WotC release schedule at the moment are two of the three core books for OneDnD, plus a collectible (merch) book of illustrations and short stories about the many worlds of D&D, obviously for the 50th anniversary. The only thing currently listed for 2025 is the last corebook.

This doesn't mean that nothing at all will come after that in 2025; it's about a two-year process to make a new project from start to publication for WotC, and while some of these may be cancelled, there may be a few that still come out. And as I said, after that you may get one or two (or maybe even three) products per year that are some kind of specialty item, possibly in the style of the "book of many things" boxed set. Like I said, merch.

But as the CEO of Hasbro said, they're now "all in" on digital gaming. Sadly for some, unlamented for others, there won't be a string of a half-dozen shitty DEI leftist propaganda books coming out in dead tree format (though who knows how woke their digital products will end up being).

EDITED to add: The only caveat to all this is the eventuality of the VTT completely failing to manifest, or being a massive flop due to problems. In that case I suppose they might try to start doing books again, but that would be a bit of a herculean task at that point. They might just stop doing D&D stuff altogether, possibly farming the license out to some other company, or not.

From the quarterly report management remarks:

"Within D&D, we're seeing solid pre-orders of the 2024 Core Rules book for the revised and
expanded Fifth Edition. D&D also shows how we are increasing digitization across our portfolio.
Digital revenue already accounts for over half of the mix due to the success of D&D Beyond.

Next week at GenCon, fans can expect to see more of our 3D roleplaying sandbox experience
built on Unreal engine 5, bringing players' favorite franchises to life across PC, console, and
mobile. We look forward to getting it in gamers' hands later this year."

We finally can see D&D brought to life. Thanks Hasbro.

In this report they also emphasize that digital revenue has a much higher profit margin than tabletop products. Which is why I've been saying that it doesn't matter to Hasbro if the total number of people playing D&D drops significantly in the move to digital.

I do think that the one set of products that Hasbro will keep in the deadtree version are the boxed sets they sell at Target. These products are simply a method for Hasbro to maintain the copyright and trademark protections for tabletop D&D.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on July 29, 2024, 12:22:28 PM... bringing players' favorite franchises to life across PC, console, and mobile

I'm not an English professor, but I'm pretty sure going from my dining room table to a phone screen is the very opposite of "bringing something to life".

Quote from: hedgehobbit on July 29, 2024, 12:22:28 PMFrom the quarterly report management remarks:

"Within D&D, we're seeing solid pre-orders of the 2024 Core Rules book for the revised and
expanded Fifth Edition. D&D also shows how we are increasing digitization across our portfolio.
Digital revenue already accounts for over half of the mix due to the success of D&D Beyond.

Next week at GenCon, fans can expect to see more of our 3D roleplaying sandbox experience
built on Unreal engine 5, bringing players' favorite franchises to life across PC, console, and
mobile. We look forward to getting it in gamers' hands later this year."

We finally can see D&D brought to life. Thanks Hasbro.

In this report they also emphasize that digital revenue has a much higher profit margin than tabletop products. Which is why I've been saying that it doesn't matter to Hasbro if the total number of people playing D&D drops significantly in the move to digital.

I do think that the one set of products that Hasbro will keep in the deadtree version are the boxed sets they sell at Target. These products are simply a method for Hasbro to maintain the copyright and trademark protections for tabletop D&D.

But do they need to make new books? Can't they just keep printing the same ones?

Quote from: hedgehobbit on July 29, 2024, 12:22:28 PMthe revised and
expanded Fifth Edition.

Ah wotc lying through their teeth yet again.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 29, 2024, 01:41:18 PMBut do they need to make new books? Can't they just keep printing the same ones?

Marketing says Edition treadmilling everything to death is the road to untold riches. Despite knowing that they lose 50% of their customers every time.

Quote from: Omega on July 29, 2024, 08:57:19 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 29, 2024, 01:41:18 PMBut do they need to make new books? Can't they just keep printing the same ones?

Marketing says Edition treadmilling everything to death is the road to untold riches. Despite knowing that they lose 50% of their customers every time.

And WotKKK (like TSR before them) can't learn from their mistakes.

Quote from: Mistwell on July 28, 2024, 02:01:08 PMI will make a prediction of my own now. When physical books continue to come out, with people not in the merch department and not just special high end collectible versions but also normal books through normal channels at normal prices, you will not take responsibility for your incorrect claims. It will be forgotten, and a new bullshit claim will be posted that week with no mention of your false claims from this one.

Mistwell, you're one of the people I respect in this forum, so don't take this as a personal attack.

The folks currently running WotC are from Microsoft's gaming division and Activision/Blizzard.

These are the same folks who pushed for the removal of physical media for videogames. The ones that pushed for digital only copies they could control at any time. They're the ones that pushed for the need of an always online connection even to play your single player games.

The ones when blatantly asked about players that live in countries with poor Internet service "They can play our older consoles and games."

Now they're in charge of Dungeons and Dragons and are pushing this VTT hard.

You really think they're going to regularly push physical books like they used to? They're past that, they don't care about the older customers anymore. They know they've already lost us, so now they're switching gears to their new audience.

Just like happened with the Videogame industry.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 29, 2024, 08:59:31 PM

Quote from: Omega on July 29, 2024, 08:57:19 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 29, 2024, 01:41:18 PMBut do they need to make new books? Can't they just keep printing the same ones?

Marketing says Edition treadmilling everything to death is the road to untold riches. Despite knowing that they lose 50% of their customers every time.

And WotKKK (like TSR before them) can't learn from their mistakes.

They never have.

Hasbro during 4e got so fed up with wotc botching everything they handed them and D&D that they cut funding drastically. Was talking with one of the designers for the 4e D&D GW game and why the CCG didnt have different card backs to tell em apart.

Answer?

"Because we did not have enough funds for that"

Well, gee, WotC just announced they're investing another $125 MILLION dollars into D&D as a product.
Guess how much percent of that money they said is going into making more books?

That's right, ZERO PERCENT. It's all digital product.

No announcements at all about new book products.

Digital with a VTT that does not actually use it.

If their new VTT does not have a plug-in for Beyond then that means they expect players to have it open and running in the backgound.