WotC Buys DnDBeyond

 DnDBeyond, the digital toolset for D&D, has now been purchased by Wizards of the Coast.

For those of you who have not used DnDBeyond, it's an app/website that serves as a database for all things D&D 5th Edition, and on top of that, its most popular feature is its digital character sheets, which make rolling up a new character very easy to do, and tracking things like spell slots, inventory, class features, taking rests, etc., pretty quick and easy.

But there's one problem I've always had with the service: in order to use it, you need to buy digital versions of the D&D books from which you are using materials. For example, if I want to play a Gem Dragonborn Warlock with a Fathomless patron, I'd need to buy the DnDBeyond versions of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (for the Gem Dragonborn), Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (or the Fathomless patron) and the Player's Handbook (for the Warlock class!) While I own those books already in their physical forms, I'd have to pay 30 bucks each (90 total) if I wanted to get all of those on DnDBeyond.

And, like, I understand why: DnDBeyond is its own company with its own license to distribute D&D books in their digital form. But now that it's been acquired by Wizards of the Coast, in theory that would mean that there could be some kind of digital integration.

The question is: will there be?

Here's how I imagine it looking from a fan's perspective - essentially the way that I hope it will work.

When you buy a D&D book, you should get a digital code stamped in the back of it that will unlock that content on your DnDBeyond account. Essentially, the physical book should include a digital copy, similar to how a lot of Blu-Ray DVDs these days also include a code to access the movie through streaming.

I could imagine that even with this, you'd still need a monthly subscription to the service, but you should only have to buy the content once.

Now, unfortunately, I've grew up in the era of late capitalism in which every single move by pretty much any corporation has been one to maximize profits at the expense of their workers and customers. There are further announcements yet to be made regarding DnDBeyond - at this point the only thing they've really confirmed is that there's no plan to shut the thing down (which is sadly so often the case when a big company acquires a smaller company,) which is welcome news. In other words, I'm not terribly worried that what we're getting is going to be any worse than the system as it exists now - and that's great, because apart from that big problem of having to buy the books twice, the DnDBeyond is a great service (and thanks to the way they let people with the higher tier of subscriptions share the content they have unlocked within their campaigns, I have been able to make characters with stuff beyond the basic rules - though it also means I have like 60 characters in my friend's "campaign").

A lot of people are celebrating this as a guaranteed positive, and I'm hoping they're right to celebrate, but I'm going to hold off until we get actual confirmation that things are going to work the way I hope they do.