It must be a Friday because Wizards of the Coast strikes again.
First, let me be clear up front- this is NOT an attack on any specific Dungeons & Dragons YouTuber. Yes, I left some pretty harsh comments on someone’s video, but this is not aimed directly at him or anyone else. My beef is with Wizards of the Coast/D&D Studios.
Second, everything here is my opinion. As I’ve said many times in the past, it’s fine if you disagree with me. I don’t necessarily agree with everything I see on YouTube, but I still consume copious amounts of TTRPG content on there. Some people are capable of having a reasonable conversation and others just get nasty about it and block me on social media. Aside from creating your own blog or vlog, you may contact me via social media where allowed or email me at Jeffsgamebox@gmail.com.
Disclaimers out of the way, it’s bugging me that Wizards of the Coast continues to send out these care packages to all of the Dungeons & Dragons creators on YouTube. It’s not that I’m jealous of anyone. (LOL!) Okay maybe a tiny bit sometimes only because I’d love for WotC to take me and the rest of the D&D fans seriously. It’s because WotC is hemorrhaging money, and they could be doing so damned much better with D&D.
How to hemorrhage money with physical product.
Here’s what I’m seeing right now on YouTube (mostly-) Wizards of the Coast’s care packages contain various free copies of physical products. This wouldn’t seem so outrageous except the price tag on a lot of the items lately has been $70-$100. Figure the 50th Anniversary book is $99.99 plus shipping and even at cost, that’s still a lot of money taken times how many shills?
What I find more aggravating is these same product’s end up at the clearance store Ollie’s within six months of release. Then, Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro show an overall loss in the millions of dollars! Color me “stupid,” but wouldn’t it be cheaper to send out 50 or 60 watermarked PDFs as review copies? Why is vital to their financial interests to send care packages of physical goods?
How to hemorrhage money by alienating your fan base.
Something sort of unrelated came up earlier this week or late last week that looks more terrible. Wizards of the Coast announced February 24th they will no longer be supporting Portuguese language products. Naturally, WotC cited financial reasons for this move.
Needless to say Brazilian D&D fans were outraged. Who could blame them? D&D is huge in Brazil, where they speak mostly Portuguese. Magic: the Gathering took a massive hit from this, too. Who would guess people were buying cards in the language they most identify with?
Getting a friend to add insult to injury.
About a month ago YouTube put a video out on their YouTube channel all about TTRPG content creators. It glossed right over every other game and focused on D&D. Because we all obviously know D&D is the only TTRPG and their algorithm has chosen it. I guess all of the rest of us are just boned.
Then again, there are a few channels out there still reporting on WotC’s D&D based stupidity. There are also a few people out there who earn their keep in the entire TTRPG community, not just D&D. Again, I’d love to name them, but I don’t want to cheese anyone off. It’s a fine line I walk.
Where’s my Call of Cthulhu Jell-O mold?
So, what are all these other games that aren’t D&D? We don’t see other companies sending out much more than PDF review copies if that. How do they stay in business?
It’s really simple, and yet the highly paid corporate McStooges at WotC don’t get it. Make a good quality TTRPG product and a reasonable price. Chaosium doesn’t need to send out gift packages every time they release a new book. People don’t need to see their favorite Cthulhu YouTuber opening an expensive looking package in an unboxing video.
Heck, WotC has two YouTube channels all to themselves. Why do they need a bunch of grifting shills to promote D&D for them at all? Do the C-Suite executives really believe we all blindly follow what D&DTubers tell us to do? I mean, I do love my TTRPG YouTube content, but I use my own discernment when it comes to what I buy.
Ultimately, it’s the fans who pay the price.
If they were smart, Hasbro would split the D&D tabletop game off and give it to Darrington Press or Renegade Game Studios. That way everyone wins because the fans get a good game run by a good company and Hasbro still gets to milk the IP. I don’t see Darrington trying to bribe Critical Role fans into staying invested in their material, and Candela Obscura needed the help. Renegade already makes TTRPGs based on several Hasbro titles, and they don’t send out piles of freebies to YouTubers.
It’s a bona fide slap to the face to the fans who watch YouTubers rake in the freebies and listen to how “great” the $100 product of the month is knowing full well that the review is nothing more than a paid advertisement. Three months later the product is on clearance at 30% of the original price. Why would we ever pay full price for an official D&D book? I’ve vowed not to buy another official D&D book until the current regime at WotC is gone. (That includes certain creatives.)
I think it’s insulting to watch WotC/D&D Studios place so little value on their own product. What is that going to say for the next iteration of the Player’s Handbook? Are they going to drop it like a hot rock and forget about it three months down the road? How much do we hear the D&D staff talking about Planescape these days? What about the Deck of Many Errors? Have they already forgotten it?
Why does anyone, YouTubers included, continue to kiss the butts of a company who routinely treats the community at large like crap? This is the same Wizards of the Coast who fired a bunch of people right before Christmas; sent Pinkertons to harass a YouTuber and his wife; supposedly value DEI but then cut off Portuguese language translation entirely; and have no desire to talk about the real history of the D&D game on its 50th Anniversary. Seriously, why are people so dedicated to this one 🦆🦆🦆hole corporation?
For crying out loud. This is the same company, Wizards of the Coast, who wrote an Open Game License so draconian as to force anyone who signed it to report their annual income to them. The royalties on their revision of the “open” license were so stiff as to put half of the YouTubers, Third Party content producers and even cosplayers out of business. WotC went so far as to demand pre existing product be pulled off the market in the name of compliance. Since a bunch of the YouTube community who fought the Open License revision have gone back to shilling for WotC, I thought I’d throw the reminder out there. But this is the company they want to kiss up to? Really?
The only reason I talk about Hasbro/WotC/D&D Studios is because they are the elephant in the room. They do still hold the biggest share of product and recognition in the industry. (Just ask YouTube.) They are still the stewards of Dungeons & Dragons for the time being. It is such a gut-wrenching shame that the people in charge of the game are so unbelievably clueless. The game isn’t the problem. The company holding all the rights to the game is the problem.
If we were motivated to push for change, here’s what I think we should do.
Bring back #D&DBeGone. Boycott Hasbro/WotC until they at least bring back the Portuguese translations. Put some pressure on the corporate McShmucks to stop wasting money on YouTube shills and spend it toward putting out quality products.
I think WotC/D&D Studios should sincerely apologize to the fans for being insensitive and ignorant. Maybe do something nice for ALL of the fans for the 50th Anniversary. Then if they were feeling especially generous, move the Monster Manual up to 2024. They could be doing so much better in 2024 if they just cared enough to try. It’s so sad.
Yes, I’m arrogant enough to think I could do a better job if I were in charge of D&D. The problem is 50 years into the industry it created, D&D has lost its way. The company in charge of producing the game has completely forgotten how it’s supposed to work. All they see is dollar signs now. That approach wouldn’t have worked in 1975. It still doesn’t work that way for a lot of smaller TTRPG companies now.
We see it all the time in other businesses.
My oldest kid has me watching Kitchen Nightmares and Shark Tank. The one lesson taught by both shows is that if people lack the passion for what they do, they’re probably going to go belly up in business terms. No passion for a restaurant looks like a going out of business sign. No passion for the business on Shark Tank looks like no big time investment from the rich people.
I bet if we were to sit down with WotC CEO Cynthia Williams, D&D Management Guy (or whatever) Kyle Brink, and D&D Lead Architect Jeremy Crawford, we wouldn’t get through character creation before someone bailed out of the group. These people don’t care about the game anymore. They could be selling toothpaste or waffle irons with the same amount of passion for the business.
I wouldn’t keep going on this subject if I didn’t care about D&D the game. It’s never been a video game for me, and it never will be. I’ll keep running out of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia until the end of my days if I have to. The Virtual Tabletop and D&D Beyond be damned. I just want to enjoy the TTRPG. The Reptilian overlords at Hasbro and the clowns at WotC can go kick rocks. I wouldn’t say anything if I didn’t want to see improvement.
Thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you joy today.
Jeff's Game Box 