Not a "stupid" rumor - or rumor per se - it's business.
...
My original post was for the consumers, errr...I mean players, that are needing to know an answer to their question, "Will D&D 5e be here forever if I buy the digital version", and that answer is, "No."
I have no problem with the original post. What I have a problem with is the spreading of outright rumors and misinformation. Saying that 6e will be available soon is absolutely a rumor with no substantive evidence backing it up. If anything, the evidence points towards sticking with 5e for the foreseeable future, at least through the next few years.
Once D&D's growth start to slow down, then maybe there will be a need to bring in a new edition to liven things up. Until then, there is no reason to sink a significant amount resources into creating a whole new ruleset when the market just wants expansions to the current ruleset. Despite what a vocal minority say about TCOE, TCOE is pretty well received by the vast majority and D&D's sales growth was still strong through the last quarter of 2020.
They could decided that the current D&D, over the past several years, has been saturated, and the new CEO Perkins Miller and Chief Revenue Officer Kenneth Shapiro wants to make an impression with their bosses, will roll out a new version of D&D (e6?) to pump new volume of sales as demanded by the board of directors...Beth Birnbaum just joined Fandom Inc (that owns D&D Beyond, through purchasing Curse LLC back in 2018) also, in 2020, and if you read Fandom description of her, "Beth adds an incredible track record in product development, operations and strategy...to our board. Her belief in and vision for Fandom will help accelerate our growth.”
I just want to highlight something here; Fandom does not own, nor make, D&D. Fandom owns D&D Beyond which is a separate company from Wizards of the Coast, who make D&D.
It would not be a decision by Fandom to release a new edition of D&D, it would be one made by Wizards of the Coast.
As such, the management structure of Fandom doesn't actually have any bearing on future editions of D&D.
I still don't understand why you resurrected a thread almost three years old to make your proclamations. Everyone, or at least many users of DDB, supposes WotC will sometime publish a a ruleset maybe called 6e, maybe called something else, most likely no sooner than the game's 50th anniversary in three years, that may be compatible with rules currently supported by DDB (there are statements from Wizards that claim any future edition will be completely backwards compatible to 5e, but that's been received with a lot of skepticism, I think it's a coin toss and comes down to who's running the D&D studio at Wizards at the time). Few, if any, users thing the content they're bought access to is eternal.
This close to three year old thread isn't the most recent discussion of this topic.
So the broad supposition that the things folks bought access to may go away is understood. However, your speculation as to how they could go away was entirely off base (that is, Fandom doesn't produce D&D, their licensed by WotC, a subsidiary of Hasbro who evidently really likes D&D as it currently is), and folks on this thread tried to educate you to move your thinking more in terms of reality. You're welcome, by the way.
After your four posts, I can't really figure out what you're trying to accomplish other than engage in thread necromancy to say "me too." Well, ok then. I guess there's not much else to discuss.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Three years ago now bring 5e to a 7 year life cycle. Some consumers are concerned about 5e digital availability when the next iteration is released. Please read the threads more thoughfully to ensure you understand and not spam post with misinformation, else rage. Thank you for your cooperation, and future endeavors.
Did I miss something? It has been stated by Mike Mearls that a 6th edition will of course come one day, and that 6th edition will most likely compatible with 5th edition much in the same way that 2nd edition was compatible with 1st edition. Now as times go on they may change their minds on that, but I cannot see them going to a completely new ruleset that could alienate the most popular edition players from going into a 6th edition. The Hasbro shareholders meet stated WotC made almost 1 billion over the course of a year and they plan on having that double by 2023, which you don't get by cheesing off your player base whether that be Magic or D&D as well as future electronic games as that is something WotC now controls in Hasbro. So having WotC release their own version of D&D beyond would again cheese off the player base that uses this service. I cannot see folks buying a new eversion of the system if the were to cancel Beyond's contract so to speak.
6e will be coming, not a rumor. Maybe not next week or next month, but it will. And new consumers who don't know that this games goes through evolutions, as it has for the past 40+ years, do now. Its nothing "stupid" or mean, it's just business. I look forward to all editions, all products, all hardback/softback books, art, stories, retelling of stories and all ancillary products, from dice to character sheets...I'm a fan - forever. I admit, I not the biggest fan of digital content - though I "own" several digital books (and all things in PDF), I prefer physical books.
We all know 6e will be coming. But what you are doing is spreading misinformation by saying it will come soon, when the evidence clearly implies otherwise.
Honestly from a business perspective, I would fully expect a 6e to be operated concurrently with 5e for at least some amount of time (I would bet several years) to allow folks time to get acquainted with a new system and buy into new books/rules/etc. WotC has to recognize that a large portion of their customers, even casual players play campaigns that are months to years long, so an immediate switch would be unwise. So even if 6e was "only" 3 years out, I would guess based on the concurrence between 4e/5e that Davyd mentioned that this sites support for 5e would have a lifespan remaining of 5-7 more years minimum...if 6e is further out, that likely extends as well (unless other factors force a closure, like loss of revenue or license/contract disputes)
Even then, if D&D Beyond/Fandom is still a thing when 6e rolls out, it would make more sense to launch a companion site/update to this site with its built-in user base than launch a site from scratch, and if the revenue continues to be sustainable there would be no reason to stop support for 5e unless WotC specifically forced them to.
I personally feel like the next step is probably a 5.5e "advanced" version of the game that builds off of existing content, rather than a truly new game system. I would also bet for more established info on the development of a 6e/5.5e to be leaked in advance, especially if they do any sort of focus group playtesting.
I have no problem with the original post. What I have a problem with is the spreading of outright rumors and misinformation. Saying that 6e will be available soon is absolutely a rumor with no substantive evidence backing it up. If anything, the evidence points towards sticking with 5e for the foreseeable future, at least through the next few years.
Once D&D's growth start to slow down, then maybe there will be a need to bring in a new edition to liven things up. Until then, there is no reason to sink a significant amount resources into creating a whole new ruleset when the market just wants expansions to the current ruleset. Despite what a vocal minority say about TCOE, TCOE is pretty well received by the vast majority and D&D's sales growth was still strong through the last quarter of 2020.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I just want to highlight something here; Fandom does not own, nor make, D&D. Fandom owns D&D Beyond which is a separate company from Wizards of the Coast, who make D&D.
It would not be a decision by Fandom to release a new edition of D&D, it would be one made by Wizards of the Coast.
As such, the management structure of Fandom doesn't actually have any bearing on future editions of D&D.
Hope that clears up some confusion.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
I still don't understand why you resurrected a thread almost three years old to make your proclamations. Everyone, or at least many users of DDB, supposes WotC will sometime publish a a ruleset maybe called 6e, maybe called something else, most likely no sooner than the game's 50th anniversary in three years, that may be compatible with rules currently supported by DDB (there are statements from Wizards that claim any future edition will be completely backwards compatible to 5e, but that's been received with a lot of skepticism, I think it's a coin toss and comes down to who's running the D&D studio at Wizards at the time). Few, if any, users thing the content they're bought access to is eternal.
This close to three year old thread isn't the most recent discussion of this topic.
So the broad supposition that the things folks bought access to may go away is understood. However, your speculation as to how they could go away was entirely off base (that is, Fandom doesn't produce D&D, their licensed by WotC, a subsidiary of Hasbro who evidently really likes D&D as it currently is), and folks on this thread tried to educate you to move your thinking more in terms of reality. You're welcome, by the way.
After your four posts, I can't really figure out what you're trying to accomplish other than engage in thread necromancy to say "me too." Well, ok then. I guess there's not much else to discuss.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Did I miss something? It has been stated by Mike Mearls that a 6th edition will of course come one day, and that 6th edition will most likely compatible with 5th edition much in the same way that 2nd edition was compatible with 1st edition. Now as times go on they may change their minds on that, but I cannot see them going to a completely new ruleset that could alienate the most popular edition players from going into a 6th edition. The Hasbro shareholders meet stated WotC made almost 1 billion over the course of a year and they plan on having that double by 2023, which you don't get by cheesing off your player base whether that be Magic or D&D as well as future electronic games as that is something WotC now controls in Hasbro. So having WotC release their own version of D&D beyond would again cheese off the player base that uses this service. I cannot see folks buying a new eversion of the system if the were to cancel Beyond's contract so to speak.
We all know 6e will be coming. But what you are doing is spreading misinformation by saying it will come soon, when the evidence clearly implies otherwise.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Honestly from a business perspective, I would fully expect a 6e to be operated concurrently with 5e for at least some amount of time (I would bet several years) to allow folks time to get acquainted with a new system and buy into new books/rules/etc. WotC has to recognize that a large portion of their customers, even casual players play campaigns that are months to years long, so an immediate switch would be unwise. So even if 6e was "only" 3 years out, I would guess based on the concurrence between 4e/5e that Davyd mentioned that this sites support for 5e would have a lifespan remaining of 5-7 more years minimum...if 6e is further out, that likely extends as well (unless other factors force a closure, like loss of revenue or license/contract disputes)
Even then, if D&D Beyond/Fandom is still a thing when 6e rolls out, it would make more sense to launch a companion site/update to this site with its built-in user base than launch a site from scratch, and if the revenue continues to be sustainable there would be no reason to stop support for 5e unless WotC specifically forced them to.
I personally feel like the next step is probably a 5.5e "advanced" version of the game that builds off of existing content, rather than a truly new game system. I would also bet for more established info on the development of a 6e/5.5e to be leaked in advance, especially if they do any sort of focus group playtesting.