Penguin Random House Ends Distribution of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast Titles

Penguin Random House will no longer distribute Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks after this year. Earlier this week, Penguin Random House informed hobby store retailers that it was ending distribution of Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks as of December 31st, 2023. The rulebooks will still be available to hobby stores through hobby distributors such as Diamond, GTS, Alliance, and PHD, but many were worried about the impact that the distribution change-up would have on Dungeons & Dragons' place at book and mass retailers. There was also some question about whether Penguin Random House would continue to work on licensed titles with Wizards of the Coast, such as the just released Lore & Legends. 

According to Wizards of the Coast, the change in distribution strategy is due to Wizards seeking to utilize its parent company Hasbro to sell D&D products directly to retailers. Per a statement provided by Wizards of the Coast to ComicBook.com, the change in distribution won't impact fans, as Dungeons & Dragons products will continue to be found at their preferred retailers. Additionally, Wizards of the Coast confirmed to ComicBook.com that it will continue to partner with Penguin Random House on licensed D&D titles in the future. 

The full statement from Wizards of the Coast is as follows: "Penguin Random House is a valued partner and publishing licensee of Wizards of the Coast. While we deeply appreciate the excellent service provided over the years by PRHPS, we are now shifting our distribution strategy to utilize the capabilities of Hasbro to sell and distribute D&D products to retailers, and we will continue to partner with PRH on licensed D&D titles like the recently released Lore & Legends and the upcoming Hero's Feast: Flavors of the Multiverse. This change to distribution of Wizards' D&D roleplaying game publications such as rulebooks and adventure content won't affect fans as they will continue to find Dungeons & Dragons products at their preferred retailers."

While looking into this story, several retailers (who declined to be named for this article) noted that Hasbro has existing accounts and relationships at big box retailers such as Target and Barnes & Noble and that this distribution shift could allow for more prominent placement of Dungeons & Dragons product at those stores. While some game stores used Penguin Random House to obtain Dungeons & Dragons product because of a better return policy or more generous wholesale price, others used their hobby game distributor accounts due to either ease of use or because of a better relationship with that distributor. 

When news of the distribution agreement ended first broke, some older Dungeons & Dragons fans recalled a previous break-up between original Dungeons & Dragons publisher TSR and Random House, which was under vastly different circumstances but is often pointed to as one of the major incidents leading to TSR's bankruptcy.