The Business: The Future Of The Hobby Is Not Commercial In Tabletop

I TOLD YOU SO!

The first #ttrpg gaming stores that remake themselves as clubs for men to come smoke cigars, have a few drinks, with high quality gaming tables in connected wood paneled dens; those stores will make bank! #brosr

— EsotericDubs (@Bdubs1776) June 12, 2024

BDubs is correct on how those stores should reinvent themselves as Clubhouses for men to play in private away from nags, scolds, entryists, etc. as it would be a great opportunity to revive the Social Club of the 18th and 19th centuries while fulfilling the hobbyist desire to actually play the game.

Those that want to continue pushing product have already pivoted out of Conventional Play, first to Big Two comics and now to Manga in addition to boardgames and cardgames (and, for some, a sizable Used Product section). Even that won't be enough if things go on due to how superior online storefronts are.

Which means that we are, like with Big Two comics, seeing an ongoing collapse that is being ignored and downplayed because of Muh Narrative.

"But VTTs!"

Yes, I see you in the back screetching your head off about online play.

If I'm already using a PC or tablet to play the game, why not go that one extra step and solve ALL of my Conventional Play gripes in one go BY PLAYING A REAL VIDEOGAME INSTEAD?

Fuck Roll20 and all the VTTs. I would rather fire up Dark & Darker, Path of Exile, or Guild Wars 2 among other many cheap-or-free-to-play options.

This is what all of those folks being smug about VTTs don't get; if you're already this close to playing a videogame then you can just take that last step- and both Divinity: Original Sin games as well as Baldur's Gate 3 are the Proofs of Concept that prove my position correct.

And if you want to be single-player? Have you seen XCom, Xenonaughts, the classic Jagged Alliance games, and similar titles? Plenty of the same things that Conventional Play offers without all of the shit you have to put up with AND IT'S CHEAPER!

Oh, and if you want your Muh Narrative and Muh Historical Fiction, start with the acclaimed Kingdom Come: Deliverance and skip using any PDF product online. You'll actually get to play the game.

Commercial action in Tabletop is in its twilight. Once the stores are gone, only online storefronts will remain and those will slowly consolidate outside of publisher-specific fronts. This will mirror a long-overdue decline in commercial action in production, meaning that more people will go the Basic Fantasy route of non-commercial publishing if they do anything at all.

You will go to Vidya, you will quit entirely, or you bend the knee to Jeffro and seek admittance to the Clubhouse. This definitely means you, store owners.