Edit 02/07/23: We’ve been receiving lots of traffic after the big problems surrounding WotC. Keep in mind the perspective of this article was written even before WotC’s OGL stand and losing everyone’s trust. With that in mind, welcome and enjoy!

I Made A Facebook Post

As any true savant would do, I stormed to my Facebook page and made some lengthy posts about Microsoft purchasing Activision. I spoke about how it’s bad for the industry as a whole, even though the immediate effects will certainly feel great for the consumer.

I then saw how Dungeons & Dragons now has a Monopoly gaming set and reflected on (once again) how Dungeons & Dragons not only has such a huge market share, but it’s damaging the health of the industry.

But There’s Competition!

You’ll hear naysayers say, “it can’t be a monopoly because there’s competitors.” This is a very basic understanding of the problem and what monopolies are and what people even mean when using the term “monopoly.” So, hear me out.

I think D&D started off in a great place and has done wonders for the tabletop industry, but I think it's a hollow shell of its former glory, being used for its name to beat and batter its competition in the modern age.

Let’s Look At It

There’s no denying that D&D has been on the rise. What was once counter culture now has cemented itself firmly within our culture, while smartly maintaining its “counter culture” nostalgia alive for the people that would otherwise turn to something else.

D&D went up by 41% in 2017 and 52% in 2018.

According to Polygon in 2019, they were reported to own over 50% of the market share (which who would argue that D&D isn't at least half?).

Every year since then, Hasbro has stated they've seen even more success in sales, which I can't find the latest percentage increases, but if it's four years after a 52% increase and they already had over half the market share in 2019, then what percentage would you think it’d be around?

According to freelegaladvice.com a company is considered to have a monopoly if they own 75% of the market share, which can be read here.

So at what percentage is D&D at now and when will they reach 75% if they keep growing for their share holders every year?

Now that we’ve established D&D HAS to have more than 50% market share, which is only increasing every year, so it’s at least close to 75% if it’s not there already, let’s move to the second part.

The other part of being a monopoly (according to freelegaladvice.com is the following:

"The second part of the test is whether the company engaged in some type of unfair or anti-competitive conduct. This second prong is not defined by a statute, but rather is evaluated on a case-by-case basis; and it usually requires some type of showing that the monopoly power was going to or used to abuse their monopoly."

I'd say there's quite a lot of evidence to make for that as well (just Google lawsuits involving the company if you don't already know a single story).

To salt the wounds further, Monopoly was created Lizzie Magie who isn't credited by Hasbro. Hasbro even released a "feminist" edition that's supposed to support woman, but it's all hollow, given their complete avoidance of credited Lizzie.

Anyways, just wanted to share this. Already spent the time writing it up for a Facebook post, so why not make it so you could see it as well?

What do you think about Dungeons and Dragons gobbling up the tabletop RPG space? What made you stop playing Dungeons and Dragons and what sentence had you agreeing with us at 210%?

Let us know in the comments below!

Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk!

p.s. if you’re rad and would like to join our gaming and anime Discord server, you can do so here! We’d love to gush about non D&D with you!