Ive seen a calendar and a supposed lego set being released. I think there is also a documentary planned for the 50th anniversary. I am sure there is more coming. I hope its not horrible like the Magic the Gathering 30th anniversary this year.

Hasbro has not been well run for a while. DnD books have sold great, but the line cant go straight up forever. Magic the Gathering is the money driver for hasbro. They dont break it out in earnings, but they have signaled it is a multiple of DnD. Magic was a mess in 2023. Similar to the OGL with DnD. Its just a lot of obvious bad decisions. $30 for a pdf?

DnD wont go anywhere, even if hasbro goes bankrupt. It would be bought in the proceedings or reorganized as an IP. It just kinda sucks.

I think what startled me the most was the moving away from printed material.  POD is no where near the same quality as authentic publications.  I see this as a good thing for collectors but a harsh reality for current/new players.

-SKA

Surprised to hear the LotR MtG sold so well. I still occasionally play Magic at my LGS and there seemed to be little enthusiasm for the set. General vibe was people love MtG and LotR but didn't want them mixed together, it felt dissonant.

Re. downloadables vs. ownership, the answer is 'no'. You do not 'own' the download. You only 'own' the right to download and view. It can be removed from you at any time for any reason and you have to sue to have your right to download and view returned to you. I 'own' the right to listen to some 3K Audable files. I have them all downloaded and backed up on a seperate harddrive. But they are encrypted and should Audable close up shop and no third party step in, I lose everything I have ever purchased or bought with my subscription. Same goes for Apple iTunes products. You buy the right to use and download. But you 'own' nothing. At least their movie and audio files are useable without Apple's existence. But their games and software are not. The moment the game you thought you owned is no longer supported or Apple's fromt end changes and the software developer does not update their software on account of them no longer existing, you find out you own nothing and have no right to the software or support or and form of refund. You own nothing and you must be happy about it.

At the end of the day, if today's kids don't want to own anything, but still want to spend their money 'for the experience' of playing D&D, then f"ck 'em. It's their world and their future, and its the way they want to live. What do we know?

That sounds like waking up from a dream, & being unable to remember the dream.

HermitFromPluto wrote in Storm clouds on the horizon?:
https://www.gamingbible.com/news/platfo ... 1-20231204

Saw this interesting news and while it relates to video games, it is an interesting ruling on digital property. Any applicability to digital games in PDF form?

I don't know why, but the article isn't viewable in my little corner of the internet. That said, the law is nuaunced (where I am) and I don't know if I was specific...

I buy something digital (say and audio book). I purchase and own the right to listen to that audiobook forever. I download it onto a device and I store it on an external harddrive. But it is encrypted. I own the right to listen to that audiobook whenever I wnat and the seller is obligated by law to decrypt and play that audio file for me whenever I want to listen to is.

However... I do not own the right to tell the seller when and how and using what software I want to listen to my audiobook. Nor do I own the right to listen to that audiobook on whichever device I choose. The seller gets to choose which device I get to listen to my audiobook on, and if they choose no longer to allow me to listen to audiobooks on my old mobile phone, they can end my right to use that device whenever they choose.

And... if the seller goes bankrupt... gets hacked... loses the ability to provide the decryption service... I still own the right to listen to the audiobook, and they still have the obligation to provide me with access to my audio file, but those are just rights and obligations under the law. They ARE NOT PROPERTY. I own NOTHING except a right to listen to something. The minute they do not provide access to authorisation to listen on from their servers I LOSE EVERYTHING.

All I can then do is try to sue someone.

The same applies to anything digital where either encryption or third party authorization are required from someone other than the buyter. If you buy a digital movie and they send you an open source file, fair enough. If they sell you a movie and they send you a time expiring download which you then need to re-download every 28 days to have it re-authorised to view, or they send you a file that works forever, but only works when your device is connected to the internet, or only works in an application controlled by someone else, then you do not 'own' anything. You have only purchased a 'right', and when the provider of that right is no longer able, or willing to honour that right, you have nothing except the right to sue someone.

For example, I have a lot of audiobooks. None of them work at all 30 days after I lose access to the internet, or the seller disconnects their authorization server from the internet, or their server containing my account information becomes corrupted.

With PDFs, WotC have never successfully managed their PDF library. They impliment poor or no encryprion whatsoever, and everything they ever publish is freely available to all online with little searching and no encryption or special viewing software. Even the PDFs they publish that 'dial home' for additional content are completely open and have no rotection that I have seen. So maybe this will be their model going forward. Have a pay-to-read community for the loyal fans with the money to pay the subscription, but let them copy and distribute those files to whomsoever they choose with no protection and no safeguards at all. We shall have to see. From a consumer protection point of view, that is the safest model. But the moment the PDF becomes encrypted and viewable only through an online portal, the buyer is only buying a right to view. They do not own anything other than the right to sue for breach of contract under the law.

But really... Who honestly cares anyhoo? They will own nothing and they will be happy. Its the way they have been taught to think. If they are dumb enough to rent house plants, goldfish and bicycles, then they are dumb enough to rent D&D.

Sir Kill Alot wrote in Storm clouds on the horizon?:Not just you MB, I can’t access the link either.

With regards to the next version of D&D, will the electronic only versions be just expensive as a normal publication?  I can’t imagine them releasing a new DMG in only electronic form for $50.  I have no idea of the going rates of current electronic materials from WOTC.  Are they expensive?

-SKA

Why sell it at all?
It's not like you can go an buy a copy of Acrobat or AutoCAD etc. You have to pay a subscroption.

Make players pay a monthly subscrition of say $10 a month or so, and then they never get to own anything. They subscribe for the right to play the game, the same way you subscribe for the right to use the software your business uses. They have no obligation to you as a customer and you have no right to anything at all in return. Anytime they want to delete your account, they can just delete it. If you are obnoxious or vocal about one or other political stance or agenda WotC is pushing... If you are a YouTuber who makes the wrong video... Or you get ahold of previewed materials and talk about it... Or if you are in any way not a person they like... Someone who is revealed to be a porn star for example, or someone who is accused of soemthing distasteful... Boom! You are no longer able to access your D&D account and they can put out a press release saying the company has removed you from their service.

They should just stop publishing materials all together in print and PDF. They don't need the $50 price tag anyways because printer, distributer, haulage, retailer, wastage and lost opportunity costs are all in that $50 retail price. They could sell rolling subscriptions at $10 a pop, which is cheaper than playing on an Xbox or watching subscription TV, and they'd probably make more profit than they do right now. They just need to get the kiddies on board.

Meh.  This happens.  It's a cycle that D&D goes through.  A new edition comes out, sales go up and then eventually peak.  The edition gets stale and sales fall.  A new edition comes out and the cycle repeats.
There are always factors that steepen or lessen the curve.  Sometimes a new edition doesn't catch on quite as well IE 4th ed.  Outside market forces play a part IE Covid isolation and the Critical Role effect gave 5th Ed a huge boost beyond what it would normally have had.  Competing companies grab market share IE Paizo.

But in the end the overall curve averages out the same over time.

I'll grant in this instance we have some X factors, like Wizards wanting to go full digital and move to a pay to play model.  (Don't think for a second they've given up on that.)

So I guess we'll see.  I'm not worried yet.

Well, sure, if D&D runs out of ideas, then it will decline. But consider this new technology:
A real nightmare: Tech that lets you work in your sleep - The Hustle
"Tech startup Prophetic has already raised $1m+ to develop a headpiece called the Halo, which the company says could one day allow users to control their dreams...If tech could help individuals harness lucid dreams, they would — in theory — be able to induce them on demand and use that time productively (e.g., on a work project)."

If you can now work while sleeping & dreaming, surely you can play D&D too.