Jeremy Crawford adressed the One D&D survey criticism... kinda...

[@gloryrod86]

I don't think they believe that the survey results are representative of the entire player base. Its a single data point. Its useful to know what the most dedicated fans think, and thats what the surveys do, but i haven't seen an indication that its the only thing they are lookin at.

[@calvanoni5443]

Kyle's into alternative survey facts, the kind they make up.

[@chaddeshaw5068]

WotC cannot afford to keep insulting their fan base with this stupidity. Are they trying to loose all credibility!

[@billharm6006]

I really do not care what kind of survey WOTC uses to justify their product decisions. First: It is their product. The customer base has neither the responsibility nor the authority to dictate WOTC's actions. A world-wide massive survey of all actual and potential customers is a nonsensical pipe dream that can only foster discord if attempted. Second: The customers will vote with their wallets. Now that is meaningful control. Product sales are a much better measure of customer satisfaction, and the results are much easier to analyze. If WOTC makes a bad call (and they made a doozy with the OGL renege) it will hit their bottom line. There are many good alternatives to WOTC's products. Fantasy RPG players will not suffer. Conversely, a good product call will leave the executives smiling at their bonus checks. WOTC's management is duly incentivized. So as long as a company behaves legally, forego attempting to dictate how any private company makes its decisions. Intelligent publicized product reviews will dampen the damage of poor producer decisions. Players, active and potential, are doing all that is needful when they make informed purchases.

[@TheFirstArcadianDnD]

High revenue does not equate to high quality, nor to high customer satisfaction.

[@billharm6006]

@@TheFirstArcadianDnD Note the last two sentences in my original comment. If people buy indiscriminately, they have nobody but themselves to blame if their expectations are not met. Even false advertising is readily exposed thanks to posts by trusted reviewers. "Early adopter" enthusiasm, left un-tempered, can lead to disappointment. Design my committee, or by survey, or by "popular opinion" (however that might be measured) is a certain prescription for, at best, mediocrity. Thus, group think dictation of product creation can never produce either high quality or high customer satisfaction. (Here I limit "quality" and "satisfaction" to the overall creative content. Customers might indeed be satisfied with the quality of the paper, typography and binding of a book, but those types of quality and satisfaction are achievable by "crank turning" and do not require significant imagination).