Too Big to Fail?

D&D YouTube is going on and on about people arguing that "5E is D&D" because it is too big compared to the alternatives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_retailers_of_the_United_States

AOL and MySpace would like to have some of that optimism back, along with the American Mall. Many online news and gaming sites would also love to hear that said about them today. Circuit City, Comp USA, Toys R Us, and many other stores would love to be in that "too big to fail" bucket today. Some of these, like Sears, were thousands of times bigger than Wizards in their golden ages.

I could go on and on with this, but typically, the bigger you are, the more danger you are in of failing and disappearing overnight - because you didn't live up to Wall Street's outrageous expectations. This is not the same as a garage operation; if investors don't see you growing "fast enough," they will shut the company down and liquidate everything.

One or two competitors slowing growth by 10% could doom Wizards. We have already seen competition with games like Shadowdark, Pathfinder 2, MCDM RPG, and Tales of the Valiant. We are likely in the "matter of time" phase as the new options become viable and supported.

A competitor does not have to equal Wizards to threaten it.

Just prove the company is on a downward path with declining interest and slowing growth.

Wizards live in the "Crazyville" of NYC finance and do not have the same mental operating space as a Paizo or Kobold Press. Yes, Wizards could be sold and continue operations, but their world is very different from any of their competitors. A smaller company can weather a few bad years and keep going without drastic changes. A Wall Street company typically can't.

The ship hitting the iceberg always happens in slow motion. Some don't even realize it is happening. Some will deny the impossible.

Many of these companies these days are in a symbiotic toxic relationship with gaming and culture YouTube creators. They rely on outrage and bad news to keep them being talked about and thus are seen as a market leader. The company will use these creators as "anti-marketing" and try to appear as a victim, doing or saying something dumb to get in the news again, and this cycle never ends. We are also entering the age of the paid influencer positive symbiotes that will support the dumb thing versus the negative symbiotes.

Don't fall into that trap or feed the insanity.

Find things you enjoy and insulate yourself from the negativity around them.

And for me, size does not matter, but the heart does. Being a good company that supports its workers and the gaming community matters. No matter what size, we can have principles and stand up for our beliefs. Otherwise, positive social change will never happen.

My version of Open 5E is a fun, happy place where my ideas and game worlds matter more than the junk 5E YouTube spits out for clicks and views. It is a decolonized space immune to the "latest outrage" and Wall Street monetization schemes.