D&D Beyond Accounts for Over Half of 2024 Core Rulebook Pre-Orders

D&D Beyond is becoming an increasingly important part of Hasbro’s plans for Dungeons & Dragons. During a recent investor’s call, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks noted that D&D Beyond currently accounts for over half of the pre-orders for Dungeons & Dragons’ 2024 Core Rules books, the upcoming revised ruleset for the game’s Fifth Edition. Cocks noted that the strong digital pre-orders were one of the ways that Hasbro was “increasing digitalization” across its portfolio. Another new digital product is the upcoming VTT built using Unreal Engine 5, which will likely be released in beta at some point this year. Interestingly, the new “3D roleplaying sandbox” wasn’t mentioned as being for Dungeons & Dragons specifically, but rather for “players’ favorite franchises,” so it’s possible that Hasbro is looking to use that service for more than just its core roleplaying game.   

Hasbro has been open about its shift towards digital, with the purchase of D&D Beyond and the acquisition and opening of several video game studios. While Wizards of the Coast’s two biggest franchises are tabletop games – Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering – both have digital components in the form of D&D Beyond and MTG: Arena. Hasbro’s stated goal is to produce hits on par with Baldur’s Gate 3 (which was a licensed game made by Larian Studios) every two to three years.

The shift towards digital is likely to continue under new Wizards of the Coast CEO John Hight, who joined the company earlier this month. Hight is best known as for his time as the franchise manager of Warcraft, with a lengthy stint as executive producer of World of Warcraft. 

It’s unclear how Wizards is tracking pre-orders for its new Core Rulebooks and whether it includes pre-orders from online retailers from Amazon or also orders from local game stores. We’ll also note that sites like Amazon currently does not have pre-orders for the new Dungeon Master’s Guide or Monster Manual, while both those books are being sold in digital bundles on D&D Beyond.