A Dungeons & Dragons live-action show will sell out Madison Square Garden

What do Taylor Swift and a bunch of improv comedians pretending to be wizards have in common? They could both sell out Madison Square Garden (…and, their fans kind of hate Ticketmaster right now).

Just hours after tickets went on sale to the public for Dropout’s Dungeons & Dragons reality show Dimension 20, the 19,000-seat venue was nearly sold out. To the uninitiated, going to a large stadium to watch people play D&D may seem ridiculous. As a Reddit user commented“It confuses me. When I was playing D&D in the early ’80s, I never believed that in the future there would be people watching live D&D at Madison Square Garden. It’s incomprehensible to me.”

It’s really weird, but also fun. But in this landmark moment for the actual gaming genre, the victory is overshadowed by the biggest frustration that connects sports, music, and now D&D fans: Ticketmaster. As FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said amid the Taylor Swift-Ticketmaster scandal, the company’s failure “ended up turning more Gen Z into antitrust overnight This is more important than anything else.” [she] It could have been done. “

In the case of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, fans were upset because demand was so high that Ticketmaster’s systems couldn’t handle the traffic. For Dimension 20, the culprit is Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing. As more people try to purchase tickets, the price of the tickets will increase. About an hour after Madison Square Garden tickets went on sale, the dozens of remaining bowl tickets were selling for $800. Three hours later, those tickets were priced at about $330, still very expensive.

“Going into pre-sale, the worst tickets were $500+, we’re assuming they were scalpers, and today’s actual sales will be regular priced tickets…lower bowl tickets at $2000!? I know this isn’t a dropout The price is set by the author, but wow, that’s a lot of cash,” one Reddit user posted. As one commenter astutely pointed out, Ticketmaster itself is effectively a scalper due to dynamic pricing. Of course, Dimension 20 fans are frustrated, not least because the show’s content is blatantly anti-capitalist.

Despite the pricing collapse, demand for the show is a great sign for both actual theatrical programming and the creator economy as a whole.

Shows like Dimension 20 and Critical Role recently sold out the 12,500-seat Wembley Arena, but not every creator can face that reality. But a decade ago, this kind of pop star-level work would have been unthinkable for online creators. In 2013, YouTubers John Green and Hank Green created a sensation worthy of The New York Times coverage with a performance at Carnegie Hall, which accommodates 3,000 people. Now more than ever, the lines between internet people and “real” celebrities are blurred.

Even the story behind Dimension 20’s production company, Dropout, reflects these changing trends. When comedy site CollegeHumor collapsed, one of its executives, Sam Reich, bought the company, which later evolved into Dropout. Now, Dropout produces a variety of comedy shows (in addition to “Dimension 20”) that capture the lightning in a bottle that traditional shows like “Saturday Night Live” don’t. Like SNL’s best moments, Dropout’s cast is as compelling as the actual show – if you thought Lou Wilson was funny in Dimension 20, you might want to watch his Game Changer episodes, etc. . Dropout is a beast that fends for itself. Meanwhile, the four cast members from Dimension 20 launched the creator-owned live-action gaming podcast Worlds Beyond Number last year, which now has more than 30,000 paid subscribers on Patreon who pledge $5 a month to the project.

This Dimension 20 milestone is yet more proof that Silicon Valley’s relationship with the hype cycle of the creator economy has absolutely nothing to do with the actual careers of creators. Sure, venture capital funding for creator companies has come down from its peak, but who cares? Creators can sell Madison Square Garden.