LogFAQs > #900304833

shadowsword87 posted...

I don't know if it's ever been directly failing, but when WoW hit in 04 it really did a number. That's why they made 4e in 08

I know, that's why I said "with expected ups and downs at various points".

For any given line (not just D&D), there's an expected slow-down point after the current edition has been out for a while, where most of the people who ARE going to buy the core rules have already bought the core rules, and successive releases are either incredibly niche (and thus will draw lower buy rates), or wind up screwing over the entire existing system to justify themselves (3.5 and 4.5 are good examples). This was a large part of what eventually led White Wolf to shoot themselves in the foot with the nWoD.

D&D 3e was basically screwed over in multiple ways - when it first came out the WoD was still going strong (and was the #1 system in the marketplace at the time, having passed D&D during TSR's slow dying end), and it had to overcome some of the negativity associated with TSR as a whole (and try to reintegrate and cater to both Basic D&D and AD&D audiences). As it continued its sales were weakened for anything other than the core rules because of the OGL and d20 free-for-all of books from other companies, and it ultimately hit its inherent weak-point (ie, the end of the sales cycle, when most of the important books are already out and most of the audience has already bought them) at the same time that console gaming sales and MMOs (aka, WoW) were peaking.

That being said, I'm not sure even the weakest sales period of 3e was as bad as the line under TSR towards the end. And 4e - for as much as some people hated it - DID generally accomplish its goal, bringing younger people who hadn't necessarily played P&P RPGs before but who WERE familiar with video game RPGs into the mix. A large part of the success of 5e (and, in turn, the reason WHY we're seeing so many online play-alongs and RP series) is rooted in the players that 4e brought into the fold in the first place.

Hence my impression that D&D as a whole, looked at in a big picture view and not just in minute chunks of time, hasn't really been "in trouble" since 2000 or so, and has consistently made WotC money. Maybe not as much as Magic does, but even that has its down periods and shitty cycles *cough*Homelands*cough*.


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