D&D Beyond Changes

[Psyren]

Which unfortunately seems like a very workable model to me.

I'll bet they keep making physical books, but I also suspect they'll test the waters with some D&DBeyond exclusive subclasses. If that's successful, after a few years we could see a D&DBeyond exclusive release.

I could see timed exclusives, e.g. a digital pre-release of a new book ahead of the physical copy. Alternatively, I could see individual releases online, with physical book compilations coming later. This has the potential to be great, because they can get very targeted feedback on how something actually plays in a way they couldn't in a pre-release state, and apply errata to it, before it gets enshrined in immutable physical copy; almost like everything getting a second UA with a much broader audience. (Many tables, including all AL ones, don't allow UA at all for instance.)

I'm guessing here, but I think they've concluded that the hardcopy tabletop publishing model has peaked. There's only so many copies of the hardcovers they can sell and the cost of selling hardcopies is increasing so profit margins are decreasing. The old customer base will continue to get hardcopies, at least for a few years, just after the electronic publishing (not before or simultaneously).

Corollary to this - physical releases/products are heavily dependent on traditional supply chains, which have proven to be highly unstable in this industry. WotC are not as exposed to that as the likes of, say, Games Workshop, but they're still susceptible.

Guessing, again, but I think they have concluded that, in addition to e-publishing, online gaming is where the potential for growth lays. AI DMs is a good indicator that one of their poll takeaways is that more people would play if they could get a schedule that works for them. And AI DMs are going to appeal heavily to solo or very small group players and they are going to be using published content. Vastly oversimplifying, it's a group play of a turn-based video game. Which, again, puts WotC in the driver's seat for IP because how is a third-party publisher going to get their cool scenario into the VTT for the AI DMs to offer to players? It's not competing with themselves, it's growing the market.

Some people just want a rudimentary experience - testing builds, demoing combat encounters before game day, "how should I change this fight if Jim can't show up" etc. An AI DM would be able to run such things in an interesting way.

Which makes the current uproar amusing to me because it's largely about the old model and not the new model.

Most such uproars are 👍

What would make it worth your while to do so? I can't think of anything, for me, though I am not above being proven wrong. I do not, personally, use D&D Beyond except through a free account when a DM insists on having stat pages there. I don't see the need nor use of it now.

First, I don't think it's about "proving you wrong." Everyone has their own things they value, especially monetarily, and different financial situations to boot; yours and mine not being in alignment does not make either of us wrong.

But to answer your question: $30/mo is as others have said a hefty price tag, moreso even than MMOs which are playable purely solo, or GamePass which has literally hundreds of unique experiences built in. So I don't know that they could offer anything that's worth that much specifically - unless maybe it meant not having to buy any future book releases either, which I think would be a loss for them.

But reframing your question more broadly into something like "what would make it worth your while to pay more than the $6 /mo you currently pay?" I've listed a number of these features already, but to reiterate: The 3D VTT, AI DMing, early access to new releases, some form of homebrew curation, free giveaways like they've been doing, priority queue for new feature suggestions - things like that would definitely get me to spend more recurrently than I do today.