Starting January 1 , 2024 , Penguin Random House will no longer be distributingWizards of the Coast’sseminal TTRPG product , Dungeons & Dragons . The announcement was made via electronic mail to various retailers . io9 obtained a transcript of this email for confirmation . There iscurrentlyadistributor portal liveon Wizards ’ land site .
With no explanation whatsoever , the electronic mail read . “ efficient December 31 , 2023 , Penguin Random House LLC will cease distributing titles forWizards of the CoastLLC . ” It also includes a couple support short letter and a connexion to the distributor portal on the Wizards of the Coast website . There will now be six company handling dispersion ; Alliance , Diamond , GTS , Magazine Exchange , PHD , and Southern Hobby .
Wizards of the Coast wield a quarterly publishing agenda , often publishing anywhere between two to six different books ( if we weigh variant covers as fresh ledger ) every three to four months . PRH is a massive publication and distribution companionship and it ’s indecipherable how change this structure will benefit the booksellers and gamestores who stock its products , specially as it mean to publish a Modern edition next yr .
Image: Wizards of the Coast
“ As the owner of a intercrossed book and game store , it ’s frustrating , since the book publisher ’ damage , bonus , and requirement are generally a lot good than the handsome game distributors , ” Ross E. Lockhart of Petaluma , CA ’s Word Horde Emporium of the Weird & Fantastic told io9 . “ Penguin is very easy to carry on with as a bookseller , peculiarly when it comes to things like replacing damage product or returning superannuated items . Less so with game distributors who have higher minimum and less favourable margins .
Wizards of the Coast send io9 a statement about this development : “ Penguin Random House is a valued married person and publishing licensee of Wizards of the Coast . While we deeply appreciate the first-class 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 product to retailers … This change to distribution of Wizards ’ D&D roleplaying biz issue such as rulebooks and adventure content wo n’t involve fans as they will continue to find Dungeons & Dragons production at their preferred retailers . ”
Update , October 4 , 6:18 p.m. : This post was updated to admit Lockhart ’s quotation mark .
Update , October 6 , 10:02 a.m. : This post was update to include the argument from star of the Coast .
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