From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd


Of course they do. https://www.enworld.org/threads/chris-cocks-says-it-makes-sense-to-move-d-d-to-a-live-service-model-but-hasbro-will-always-make-physical-books.719057/

Even though they insist they will /always/ make physical books...
although even if that is true, that isn't the panacea it might first
appear (just ask any university student buying their text books).

But Hasbro wants D&D to be a 'game-as-a-service', where you pay a
continual monthly service fee. Sure, you'll be able to buy the core
books as usual... but all those new classes and adventures and updated
rules? No access unless you crack open the wallet. And forget about
subscribing for a while, then accessing those rulebooks after your
subscription lapses. No, you only keep access so long as you keep
paying.

This shift to a live-service model been rumored for a while, but now
it's confirmed. Hasbro's argument is that EVERYBODY plays D&D online
anyway, all using D&D Beyond or Roll20, so why shouldn't Hasbro cash
in on that money train?

The advantage to players? Umm... well, instead of you having to wait
for a book to be finished, they can release it piecemeal to you in
beta format. And you don't have to buy the WHOLE book all at once; you
can buy it chapter by chapter! I'm sure that will end up being cheaper
for players, right? Right? Plus, it'll make it harder for people to
justify jumping to a different system. I mean, if I'm already paying a
monthly fee for D&D, I'm going to be less likely to want to try
RuneQuest (or whatever).

Look, I don't really care. I don't play modern D&D, and what new stuff
I get tends to be from third-parties... partly because it's as good,
but more because... well, there's just more of it (Hasbro's release
schedule sucks).

But locking the game behind a subscription is going to crash the user
base... and that is something I care about. Because there is a lot of
friction into getting people to go to a website, set up an account,
hand over their credit card and then care enough to follow up on
what's new with the game. Sure, the diehards will do that... but the
average player? The new player. They'll just pick another product...
or opt out of the game entirely.

More, it won't benefit the die-hards either. Rather, it will fragment
even that audience into ever smaller chunks. Because only those who
have a constant subscription will have ALL the rules and player
character races and monsters available to them. If I buy just the
PHB/DMG/MM, I won't have the same range of options to me as somebody
who pays the monthly fee... which means -after a while- we will be
playing significantly different games. So I'll find other players who
match my access level, and the rich-kids will only play with the other subscribers.

Oh, and no re-selling or sharing your old books either, of course.

But Hasbro never really cared about D&D. They've never given a damn
about the community, the game's history, its rules, its settings. They
never saw it as anything but a source of revenue. And if the revenue
dries up? Just close down shop and maybe try to milk it for more cash
in twenty years, when nostalgia drives another wave of gamers back
into their arms (and in the meantime, sue anybody who dares use the
trademark to keep the game alive without Hasbro getting their cut).



* fuck hasbro https://www.enworld.org/threads/chris-cocks-says-it-makes-sense-to-move-d-d-to-a-live-service-model-but-hasbro-will-always-make-physical-books.719057/



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