Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

I recommend DndBeyond move to a paid monthly subscription to have access to all digital content.

A monthly cost of $20, for example, to have access to all digital books, adventures, etc. instead of individual purchasing of this or that digital books and adventures.

If users want to "own" the digital content they can and don't need a subscription, or when they stop their subscription, they will still have access to digital purchases they did make earlier.

But DndBeyond needs to be the Netflix of RPG, or become another Blockbuster for not advancing with the times (there are a dozens sites that host digital).

If DndBeyond got only 3% of it's current forum members to buy ALL ACCESS DIGITAL CONTENT for a monthly fee of $20, they'd make $4+ million a month, be the go to place to up sell other services and ancillary products. That 3% equals to over 150,000 digital books being sold every month. And what if the 80/20 rule applied? That would be equivalent to 1 Million digital books sold a month - not even mentioning other services and ancillary products.

PS this model can also help DndBeyond migrate to new editions, like 6e, without complications, complaints or backlash for current members who will feel disenfranchised when they and their 5e purchases are sidelined and marginalized (e.g. marketing and sales will be forced to promote new edition).

 

This is not for Beyond to decide. You are better off asking Wizards on social media. As far as I can tell, Beyond has less influence than you think on these matters, and Beyond is basically just an online bookstore with digital tools thrown in.

As far as I know, if a subscription based model would work as well as you claim it would, Wizards would have already made that happen already, and they have tried the model before with 4e.

I personally do not support $20 per month. As a consumer, I would obviously want something as cheap as possible. However, practically speaking, I do not think $20 is viable at all with the way this website is currently set up. People can just pay $20 for one month, copy everything via homebrew, download every book's webpage, and then stop paying after that. While I am not as passionate about D&D compared to my other interests, I do not want other hobbyists and enthusiasts to experience losing their favorite past time due to businesses cheapening their products to satisfy cheap customers.

Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

This is not for Beyond to decide. You are better off asking Wizards on social media. As far as I can tell, Beyond has less influence than you think on these matters, and Beyond is basically just an online bookstore with digital tools thrown in.

As far as I know, if a subscription based model would work as well as you claim it would, Wizards would have already made that happen already, and they have tried the model before with 4e.

I personally do not support $20 per month. As a consumer, I would obviously want something as cheap as possible. However, practically speaking, I do not think $20 is viable at all with the way this website is currently set up. People can just pay $20 for one month, copy everything via homebrew, download every book's webpage, and then stop paying after that. While I am not as passionate about D&D compared to my other interests, I do not want other hobbyists and enthusiasts to experience losing their favorite past time due to businesses cheapening their products to satisfy cheap customers.

 

Just a suggestion. I buy only hardcover books, but I did try out 2 digital purchases - and my concern is no content available unless I buy many more digital books - another $800+ investment that will go away whenever they decide they don't want to host 5e anymore. So, having access to all digital content would be more practical, and that access naturally evolves as they post new books and editions. But again, it's just a suggestion - their marketing and sales teams know what works best, I'm just nudging for a subscription service, since that is the trend (I subscribe to ParamountPlus, DIsney+, Showtime, HBOmax, YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime, etc. so I see subscription more practical in reach, for me).

except again, 4e had proven to WotC that a subscription model was not sustainable, because people would subscribe, then rip off the content all at once for piracy, then cancel the subscription. Why would they force another company to suffer the same fate?

Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

Piracy is not the issue as ALL 5e books are readily available online for free, including the latest Candlekeep Mysteries, digital and in PDF form. It's great they tried it with 4e, and as you can see, 4e isn't available now as the game moved onto 5e, so what do you think might happen in the nearer future when they move onto 6e? A lot of owners may be upset because they didn't buy the hardcovers as 5e isn't digitally hosted anymore... . But hey, one day they might just sell the whole thing off like they did before, and did before that.

 ...except there are only three legal PDFs (the Basic Rules, the SRD, and Elemental Evil). Any other PDF available for free is pirated. Piracy is not a problem you say? Hmm...

Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

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It is one thing to get robbed, but it is an entirely different thing to run a bad business operation. Running a bad business operation will definitely kill a business. Robberies and piracy on the other hand can be accounted for, and it is not always fatal to a business. Often times it is not practical to fight piracy by cheapening your products, as that can kill the business if the customer base is looking for a certain kind of quality and is willing to pay for it.

For example, it makes no sense for Gucci to give out bags as free samples just to combat counterfeit goods when Gucci's selling point towards their target market is exclusivity.

For Wizards, it makes no sense to combat piracy with subscriptions if it means lower overall revenue, as that will mean they will need to lay off employees and probably result in lower quality products that nobody wants. Why even bother with the official stuff if the homebrew stuff is so much better?

The Legendary Bundle costs $785.90 right now, and it will take over 3 years for Beyond recuperate that revenue with a monthly $20 subscription model. I am not sure how realistic that time frame is without some additional sources of revenue stream and limitations like running ads and locking homebrew behind a paywall.

Discussion of piracy of D&D content, including advocating, justifying or stating the easy of accessing said content, is against site rules

Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

Quote from XXXGammaRay >>

Quote from JJ_Seattle >>

[REDACTED]

It is one thing to get robbed, but it is an entirely different thing to run a bad business operation. Running a bad business operation will definitely kill a business. Robberies and piracy on the other hand can be accounted for, and it is not always fatal to a business. Often times it is not practical to fight piracy by cheapening your products, as that can kill the business if the customer base is looking for a certain kind of quality and is willing to pay for it.

For example, it makes no sense for Gucci to give out bags as free samples just to combat counterfeit goods when Gucci's selling point towards their target market is exclusivity.

For Wizards, it makes no sense to combat piracy with subscriptions if it means lower overall revenue, as that will mean they will need to lay off employees and probably result in lower quality products that nobody wants. Why even bother with the official stuff if the homebrew stuff is so much better?

The Legendary Bundle costs $785.90 right now, and it will take over 3 years for Beyond recuperate that revenue with a monthly $20 subscription model. I am not sure how realistic that time frame is without some additional sources of revenue stream and limitations like running ads and locking homebrew behind a paywall.

 Oh, that is a great point - but think of making something instead of nothing. That is to say, many people won't buy all those digital adventures and core books because it's cost prohibitive = $800+ after taxes after purchasing hardcover books (nobody I know games with digital), though the information may be useful when not in group (designing adventure, brainstorming at work, etc.). So, $20 * X = $$$$  VS  $20 * 0 = $0 Alright, begots to get in the lab, gotta make that money money - to pay for more D&D, cause you know me, who's down with D&D, every last homie!

It does not make sense to satisfy every potential customer, and not every potential customer is worth serving. Just as you should not work for a boss that would not pay you right, businesses should not serve a group of customers that would not keep the business alive. Dropping price will not always lead more revenue nor profits. Dropping prices does not always lead to higher revenue nor profits, and it could very well lead to lower numbers for both, since the price drop might not cause enough additional people to buy to offset the lower profit per customer.

If a D&D book costs $30 and 1,000 people buy them, the revenue would be $30,000. If dropping the price to $10 only causes 1,100 people to buy them, then the revenue would be $11,000, effectively losing a lot of potential profit. Just because you drop the price by a third does not mean three times more people will buy the product. In this case, it would be a mistake to try to serve those extra 100 customers.

If some people cannot afford to get the books, then they probably should not attempt to buy it and spend whatever money they have on another hobby. They can still play D&D completely for free though since the Basic Rules/SRD, UA, and EEPC are completely free. People can also input the information on their physical completely for free into Beyond manually.

I have to chime in. I've seen mentioned multiple times throughout threads like this one that D&D Beyond is cost prohibitive because the Legendary Bundle is roughly $800, except you don't need the Legendary Bundle.

I've been a subscriber for a few years now and I still don't have it and likely won't. I bought what I needed as I needed it and could justify the expense. You can run a game with just the PHB and have a bevy of options. Not to mention we have the amazing ability to purchase anything a la carte instead of an entire book and that purchase gets discounted.

A pure subscription method would lose D&D Beyond money, so they're not going to do it and even if they did the moment you canceled you're out everything. If I want to cancel my subscription I still have my digital content. I urge people to stop looking at the cost of the Legendary bundle as this gigantic hurdle in their way. Buy what you need and can afford. Let's also not pretend that the other sites out there don't charge for modules and sourcebooks which, I'm pretty sure, is full price. 

The game is free to play.

The basic rules gives you everything you need to play the game. You can make new stuff as you need from there. You want more subclasses and races but don't want to buy the other books? Then just make them yourself. And this site has tools to do so that will work with the free character sheet. 

You can play from 1st to 20th level completely, utterly, free. So, whether an American lives paycheque to paycheque is irrelevant - they can play for free.

Buying books is just an expansion of ideas and extra stuff to explore - for simplicity and convenience, but is entirely unnecessary and exists purely as a luxury choice.

So, D&D Beyond and WotC will decide on what is most profitable for this additional, unnecessary, only-as-luxury content. 

WotC tried the subscription model you're posing. It failed. Massively. It resulted in massive losses and was not sustainable at all. They will never implement this ever again for the currently supported edition. D&D Beyond cannot go against WotC and implement it without their consent , so they'll never implement it.

Now, you're free to discuss it as much as you like but always know: it will not change anything. It was tried. It failed. It will not happen again, no matter what gets said here.

"Hey, ya know that business model that we proved, beyond all shadow of doubt, was not sustainable at all and very nearly bankrupted us? Should we try it again?"

...

Yeah, while I can't predict the future, I doubt it's going to happen again.

And it is an absolute, indescribably 100% accurately guarantee that posting here will not achieve anything. Because it is illegal for D&D Beyond to implement this if WotC don't approve it first. So if your posting is "hey I want this" - it needs to go to WotC -- who don't read these forums --, as D&D Beyond have no say in the matter. If your posts are more "would this be financially possible, if not why" then it's fine for this site but should probably be in General Discussion as it's not really viable feedback for this site.

Up to you how to progress from there.

No, he is right. As has been posted more than once 4E showed WotC that a subscription based digital service wasn't profitable and D&D Beyond couldn't do this even if they wanted to, which they don't.