The End of D&D? Fact Checking Video

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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:38 Sales down 30%
3:33 Revenues and Profits
14:02 1 Billion on games like BG3
19:02 Why we need to fact check

[RobearRich]

Once again, the most fair-minded and non-sensational YouTuber in D&D. Thank you for fact checking and continuing to be a voice of reason.

[japphan]

Best optimised Accountant build I've ever seen.
That dip into Journalist took it to another level.

[mydir]

Thank you Chris, I really appreciate the fact-checking video. These rumors and all the half informed scandal talk is tireding. Keep up the good work! Rico

[InsightCheck]

Videos like this are really important for the community to see. There's just so much misinformation spreading everywhere about everything. Great effort on your part.
Another point to mention about the sales decline at hobby stores, and to support your point, is that accessibility is a huge part of this. Someone like me, with a visual impairment, is never going to buy the physical book in store, I can't read it. But, buying through DNDBeyond which gets me a digital copy that I can easily read and getting a physical copy as a collector for a trivial cost feels beyond worth it to me. Yeah, I know, feeding the cycle and not supporting local businesses but also... I want to be able to use the product I am paying for. I think accessibility is an often overlooked element.

[CivilWarMan]

Even if we assume the claim of a 30% decline in D&D sales across the board is completely true, it's a pretty big logical leap to attribute it to WOTC alienating fans and the game dying from a mass exodus of players instead of the scenario mentioned later in the video of people delaying purchases until the release of an updated edition later in the year.

[_zurr]

Yo, a G.I. Joe video game with BG3's quality would never have been on my bingo card but it'd be funny as hell.

[liaminal]

Chris is now providing news consumption optimization content and I’m here for it

[arsarma]

The misinformation out there is pretty crazy. I agree with the sentiment that regardless of how you feel about Hasbro/WotC, you should make sure what you're upset about is at least true. It's an exercise in self harm to be upset about something fake.

[sldf]

Chris, I’d watch your deep dives on basically any topic. Keep doing what you’re doing, your reasoned takes are always a good watch.

[bobmcbobbob]

Keep in mind that much of their 'profit' is because Hasbro laid off 1, 100+ people in December. That makes their numbers look more attractive to investors.

[joshuajones]

I didn’t expect a treantmonk accounting tutorial but as always I was locked in 😂

[atingley]

Good morning Chris! About to rewatch the mounted combat/ knight in shining armor build because I can't remember where I left off, but had to come watch this first!

It's always interesting to see information like this and how data can be manipulated to tell a different story using the same numbers.

Have a great day, thank you for your diligence with this sort of info! 💜

[mariodosantos]

The ICV2 survey is just an interesting data point on the state of the hobby yet that has never stopped people from making sweep generalizations about the hobby or the brand.

ICV2 was also the source of the myth that PF sold more than DnD 4e

[SortKaffe]

Certain YouTubers are beating a dead horse. Since January 2022, they have jumped on any opportunity to create content with this narrative, disregarding that they're being a useful idiot in promoting fake news.

It's tiresome to find in my feed when their original content might be good enough that I hesitate unsubscribing, each time thinking "this has to be the last video before they let it go, right?"

[mikegeyer]

Thanks for breaking it down. This is just yet another example of NEVER believe any "news" source without doing the research first. Sad but true.

[acxbry]

Many of these YouTubers have incendiary content titles to drive in the clicks, so that at the 8:01 mark they can hit you with their kickstarter advert. "Hate on WotC, buy my Wotc compatible content." That turns me away more than anything.

[sanaaa-v]

Hi Chris! FYI, if you have paid access to Circana products you can see specific sales for specific books, run reports on specific sets of books, etc. It's the industry standard data collection product in the publishing industry and is considered fairly accurate regarding copies sold, etc.

That being said, I fully agree with you that hobby store sales being down say a lot more about *where* people buy D&D products, not *how much* people buy D&D products.

I'm not much of a commenter, but you've always struck me as someone who's genuinely interested in learning new things. So please take this in the spirit of sharing knowledge from our respective areas of expertise, the same way I've learned a lot from you.

[roninhare]

I would also like to toss out there, that I appreciate your in depth view on this matter, channels like dungeon craft and dungeons and discourse, feed off the negativity, they also don’t give the whole story, only feeding into the dead internet. While I get that bad news sells better then no news. It only serves to create a bigger divide with misinformation on their channels. I’ve personally stopped watching content like there’s because it only feeds into the hate train. Some people don’t want to see the world a better place, some people just want to see it burn.
Keep up the solid work Chris, we all appreciate everything you do for this game and its community! You’re a rock star my dude!

[RandomToon]

Digital might also include subscriptions to Beyond, and a whole lot of people have a much higher level of subscription that they strictly need. It is a huge cash cow for them. Once they get their own digital tabletop up and running I expect that number to go up quite a bit. 2023 still saw WotC paying for it, which hit their 2022 and 2023 financials since it was not purchased as a lump sum (they didn't just have $143m laying around). 2024 is the first time that they are taking full profits from it, so that number will also tick upwards for that reason.

[Notsogoodguitarguy]

I wonder when they'll make the "The End of Clickbait and Over-exaggeration for cheap clicks" video/article. I'd really like that.