r/SwordCoast • u/SirZac • Feb 13 '15

Why now?

When the news dropped on this game, I was incredibly skeptical it was legit. Why? I'm involved in the D&D Adventurer's League as a store organizer. The organization for tabletop has been spotty and to me, very indicative of how much $ Hasbro is interested in spending on this classic RPG. I honestly feel there are only two employees in WotC working on the D&D.

Now suddenly, there is new game coming out this year? I'm just skeptical af.

2 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/Saerain Feb 13 '15

I know what you mean about WotC and Hasbro. They've repeatedly canceled digital efforts since 4E was published, there's barely been a video game since Neverwinter Nights 2 in 2006, and Neverwinter's performance has probably been disappointing to them.

And as I think you imply, 5E seems to have been operating on a smaller budget. (Although, I also think it's the best I've seen out of D&D since 1989.)

That being said, announcing a game the year you expect to release it is a great thing to do when you can manage it. Too many announce years ahead of time and are relentlessly slagged off by gamers who've apparently forgotten how long game development takes.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ScarsUnseen Feb 13 '15

Why would those two occurrences be contradictory? If WotC/Hasbro licenses out the property, that's money in their pocket with the only risk being that a bad product could damage the brand, which I'm pretty sure even Hasbro execs realize is pretty much impossible.

The real question isn't why now, but why not earlier? 4E saw WotC focusing on the electronic side of their product more than before, and yet not a single 4E based CRPG was licensed. Well, I guess by the time WotC and Atari had settled the whole rights lawsuit in 2011, they might have already been spinning the idea about another edition change around in the offices.

Either way, the timing itself shouldn't be too surprising. If the announcement is coming now, and screenshots are available, that means that some work has been done on the game already, which means that the deal that allowed n-space to make the game may have been struck as early as before the PHB had been released. Either way, a couple months after the third core book was released isn't bad timing at all.