Hasbro are attempting to do the same thing to the D&D brand, sadly. I don't know the details but the idea is to move to One D&D from 5e, which will inevitably come with more online/offline integration.

Why they can't stick (in terms of D&D) with the 'core product' - selling the rulebooks, selling spin-off merch like miniatures and dice, selling books for DMs detailing new worlds and campaigns - I don't know. Dollar signs, probably.

Just finished burning a whole pile of goodwill for no gains with the Open Gaming License fiasco.

Is it burn user goodwill month? Did someone invite Hasbro and Netflix and not tell me?

You sell a book once.

You sell a subscription eternally.

This is what Hasbro actually believes.

I mean it's true, but that's part of the appeal. The TCO of a hobby is a consideration.

I feel like most people don’t buy the book either

I've definitely paid less than the price of a book to scrape a subscription site that wouldn't just sell me a copy of what I was looking for.

Beats going to library and photocopying whole books, though.

Ehh but this is the 5e players handbook we’re talking about. Google 5e handbook pdf and you’ll get results, for free, easily found even if you’re not pirate savvy.

2017/2018 is when MtG started going off the rails for me.

Just look at how many sets are released per year and it is easy to see the problem of over monetization: https://onlyontuesdays27.com/2022/10/18/30-years-of-magic-th...

That doesn’t include other supplemental products such as secret lairs or commander decks.

Not only are there many more sets per year, but the power creep is quite insane meaning that if you want to be competitive you need to constantly keep up with the new sets and buying new cards.

I will say that the draft experience has gotten better on average.

I don’t know if it is priced into Hasbro’s stock price, but they are still sitting on a golden egg of the reserved list. If they reprinted the reserve list I’m guessing they could easily rake in a few hundred million for basically doing nothing, and would in general improve customer relations.

> 2017/2018 is when MtG started going off the rails for me.

Maybe a little off, but probably not by much.

MtG cards seemed to be calibrated such that if you preordered the "box set" (whatever it was) directly at retail prices (not speculative ones), you would wind up with a net profit if you went and sold the cards as individual pieces.

This has been increasingly less true over time. And some of the current box sets seem to be a significant loss.

> If they reprinted the reserve list

Every collector would head for the exit, MtG card prices would absolutely collapse, and the system would pretty much curl up and die.

They just did reprint reserved list cards in mtg 30th. Revised dual lands did take a significant hit to price. If anything I saw more people buying revised duals because of this.

Yea I don’t buy the “reprinting the reserved list will crash everything to 0”. Many old cards hold their value even after they are reprinted. Anything originally printed in 1993/1994 holds tremendously more value than reprints: see anything from legends, arabian nights, alpha, beta, unlimited, antiquities.

Yes maybe original revised dual lands go down to $100 if they are reprinted, but they are definitely not going to be $5.