D&D 5E D&D Beyond: No More À La Carte Purchases But US Customers Can Buy Physical Books

WotC has announced some changes to D&D Beyond's marketplace. These include physical products (for US customers), the removal of à la carte purchases, and various navigational changes.

You can no longer buy individual feats, subclasses, etc. -- you'll need to buy the whole book. The full list of changes includes:

• US shoppers can now buy physical books
• More info on product listings, including previews
• UI improvements to makee finding your purchased content and redeeming keys easier
• No more à la carte purchases (though your previous ones still count)

 

[mamba]

12 million out of 50 million. That leaves 38 million offline and spending money, even if it's just casually. Killing the FLGS is going to be hurting the majority of players.

I don’t think there are 50M active players, wasn’t that the total number?

DDB is about half of players from what I understand, and I am pretty sure the majority of those never have been in a FLGS

 

[Clint_L]

Assuming the person paying the fee has bought the digital books, right?

Well, I got most of them for free because DDB sponsors our school club. But yeah, you still have to buy the books. You pay a lot less than for physical copies, though, and they go on sale a lot.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, I got most of them for free because DDB sponsors our school club. But yeah, you still have to buy the books. You pay a lot less than for physical copies, though, and they go on sale a lot.

I don't use Beyond, or plan to in the future, but it frankly seems like a decent proposal for those who want it.

 

[Mistwell]

Not necessarily. Saying that they won't be breaking their books up for piecemeal purchases any longer doesn't preclude them from individually selling a race, class, magic item, etc. that didn't make the cut into a book. Microtransactions could still be a thing.

I hope so because I like them. But I fear all the spin of "Microtransactions bad!" is going to spook WOTC.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The point is that they are able to offer their consumers things for their games others can't BECAUSE they aren't barely scraping by.

What do they offer that Level Up doesn't?

 

[Zarithar]

Literally the worst thing that has happened to D&D Beyond since WotC acquired it. Terrible decision.

 

[Zarithar]

"À la carte purchases are no longer supported."

There go most of my future purchases on Beyond. I'm not sure what the last thing I bought that wasn't an individual spell, race, or archetype.

Same. In fact up until they did pushed this garbage through, I had several ala carte items in my cart at D&D Beyond ready to be purchased. I am not going to purchase a trash supplement like Hogwarts... excuse me Strixhaven... but I do want some of the creatures, magic items, etc. There's no way I would ever purchase that entire book, print or otherwise, however. Same goes for Tales From the Radiant Cooking Contest etc... but I do want the option to unlock some of the monsters/items. Really poor decision that benefits no one.

 

[Maxperson]

I don’t think there are 50M active players, wasn’t that the total number?

DDB is about half of players from what I understand, and I am pretty sure the majority of those never have been in a FLGS

I thought the same thing, but the article I saw today said currently 50m, so who knows.

Even if half are online, it's still ultimately going to hurt WotC's bottom line if they drive FLGS under.

 

[Maxperson]

I seriously doubt there are 38 million people shopping at hobbyist FLGS, nice as thst idea sounds. Casual customers are not usually going to be plugged into hobbyist venues, bit buying from Amazon, Target, WalMart, Barnes & Noble, or WotC directly.

I'm curious about that. @FitzTheRuke, how many casual D&D players come into your store to play/buy D&D?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm curious about that. @FitzTheRuke, how many casual D&D players come into your store to play/buy D&D?

Lots. I have no idea what the actual numbers would be, but I would only characterize about a third of my D&D sales coming from regulars. Much of my D&D "Core" long-tail sales are from people who I don't know and may or may not see again. We sell a lot of dice to irregular walk-ins too, who may get their books either on DDB or ordered on Amazon, etc.

D&D Beyond has something like over 12 million users, and I seriously doubt that most of them have any relationship with a FLGS at all.

I doubt that, actually. I expect that most of my customers use a mix of both.

I mean, I personally own all the books on DDB as well as in print. I like to sit and read "real" D&D books in bed, but I like to cut-and-paste my prep from DDB. I make my characters with Word, generally and print them out. I don't like DDB at the table in F2F games, but I play PBP here too, which I use DDB for. It's a mix.

Much like people who read Digital Comics and Print Comics (there's WAY more of a crossover between those two groups than people think).

Also, I have players in my store that make their characters on Beyond, but print them (too bad their printed sheets kind of suck). They still buy books. And like I said above, I suspect that a lot of people who buy dice, minis, and paints might get their books on DDB.