Let me fix the headline. It should be self-explanatory:
Hasbro 2024 Q4 Financials Show Net Decrease Of 22% For Tabletop Gaming *Because* Dungeons & Dragons Core Book Release contains LGBT+ pedophilia, and BDSM perversity.
I was an avid purchaser and player of Magic since 2019. I gave it up this year with the release of Aetherdrift. I have also played DnD since 2018. I’ve bought a decent amount of 5e’s books. I have absolutely no desire to touch 2024, or 5.5e (which Wizards weirdly doesn’t want to call it). I suspect there are a lot of players like me.
The edition is completely unnecessary, and any rules-changes which players like, they can easily adopt in 5e homebrew. While most players were fine to purchase new sourcebooks when new additions came out, these sourcebooks didn’t actively hate their customer base. Yes, the most reliable customers and active players are still straight white males. And, strangely, they are increasingly socially conservative and even religious. So now, these players are instead looking to older editions. 5.5e ought to have been advanced 5e, much like 3.5e was to 3e. It was instead 5e “fixed”
There was little need to amend 5e, as so many of its supplemental books already did so. The only amendments that were added in 5.5e were along ideological lines, like changing race to species (even though race has been a term recognized since 1st edition), and removing stat bonuses from races. There was also the weird homogenization of classes, making all of them obtain their subclass at level 3, which felt unnecessary and unflavorful.
Frankly, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a much better amendment to 5e than 5.5e. Yes, stat bonuses were unrestricted by race, but race was still a restrictive matter with highly relevant racial abilities. Regardless, the game showed that 5e is a good system, and with merely a few fixes (like additional weapon abilities obtained with proficiency), it can make a phenomenal experience.
Wizards broke the social contract they had with their faithful customers. The games are not merely their systems. Perhaps DnD more so, but Dungeons and Dragons without its high fantasy roots is empty. Without instead leveraging their IP and turning that into the product, the MtG and DnD systems are not meant to be multibillion dollar products. Hasbro is bleeding the IP dry, and turning off their customers in the process. Yes, games adapt. And they ought to adapt or die. But they shouldn’t evolve into an entirely different creature. To whom are they appealing? The wider market? The vocal but parasitic minorities? I promise you, you will get no more sustainable returns than with those who you have already convinced of your product. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
Let me fix the headline. It should be self-explanatory:
Hasbro 2024 Q4 Financials Show Net Decrease Of 22% For Tabletop Gaming *Because* Dungeons & Dragons Core Book Release contains LGBT+ pedophilia, and BDSM perversity.
I was an avid purchaser and player of Magic since 2019. I gave it up this year with the release of Aetherdrift. I have also played DnD since 2018. I’ve bought a decent amount of 5e’s books. I have absolutely no desire to touch 2024, or 5.5e (which Wizards weirdly doesn’t want to call it). I suspect there are a lot of players like me.
The edition is completely unnecessary, and any rules-changes which players like, they can easily adopt in 5e homebrew. While most players were fine to purchase new sourcebooks when new additions came out, these sourcebooks didn’t actively hate their customer base. Yes, the most reliable customers and active players are still straight white males. And, strangely, they are increasingly socially conservative and even religious. So now, these players are instead looking to older editions. 5.5e ought to have been advanced 5e, much like 3.5e was to 3e. It was instead 5e “fixed”
There was little need to amend 5e, as so many of its supplemental books already did so. The only amendments that were added in 5.5e were along ideological lines, like changing race to species (even though race has been a term recognized since 1st edition), and removing stat bonuses from races. There was also the weird homogenization of classes, making all of them obtain their subclass at level 3, which felt unnecessary and unflavorful.
Frankly, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a much better amendment to 5e than 5.5e. Yes, stat bonuses were unrestricted by race, but race was still a restrictive matter with highly relevant racial abilities. Regardless, the game showed that 5e is a good system, and with merely a few fixes (like additional weapon abilities obtained with proficiency), it can make a phenomenal experience.
Wizards broke the social contract they had with their faithful customers. The games are not merely their systems. Perhaps DnD more so, but Dungeons and Dragons without its high fantasy roots is empty. Without instead leveraging their IP and turning that into the product, the MtG and DnD systems are not meant to be multibillion dollar products. Hasbro is bleeding the IP dry, and turning off their customers in the process. Yes, games adapt. And they ought to adapt or die. But they shouldn’t evolve into an entirely different creature. To whom are they appealing? The wider market? The vocal but parasitic minorities? I promise you, you will get no more sustainable returns than with those who you have already convinced of your product. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
At this point in time, Hasbro has become a parody of the "Keystone Cops". They are literally incapable of doing anything profitable.