Matt Mercer says Critical Role's future isn't about Critical Role

Critical Role's founder looks forward to sharing the platform with other creatives

A little over 10 years after a group of voice actors started broadcasting their first Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Critical Role has almost 400 episodes under its belt, two animated TV adaptations, its own tabletop RPG, and several spin-off novels and comics. With the much-awaited Campaign 4 underway, featuring a much larger cast of talent than ever before, streamed on the company’s very own media app, Beacon, the question many are asking is: What's next for Critical Role?

For starters, an interview with Variety, where Critical Role co-founder Matthew Mercer speaks alongside Campaign 4's Dungeon Master, where Mercer addresses that question with a rather wholesome answer.

“I got nothing,” he says. “Maybe I’m just not ambitious enough, and I’m okay with that. But I did it all, man. I’ve already far exceeded anything I thought I would ever be able to accomplish in my life, so everything else is gravy.”

This may sound like a needless shot of humility from a man who built a multimedia empire out of what was once a niche game for nerds. However, while Mercer seems content with his current achievements and sees no real need to chase “the next big thing,” he clarifies that his stance on the future of Critical Role is far from complacent.

“Now, the responsibility of this platform, to me, is how best can I enable it to show off other people’s passions and other people’s stuff,” Mercer says.

Mercer has previously talked about one day “passing the torch on” to new faces after he wraps up Campaign 4. This answer isn’t all too surprising. From this perspective, the decision to step away from his usual role as DM and join the rest of the group as a player sounds motivated by more than just “DM burnout.”

Furthermore, recent moves by Critical Role have shown they are willing to share the spotlight they’ve created. Mercer previously appeared as a player on Acquisitions Incorporated‘s first Daggerheart show, unveiled at PAX Unplugged 2025, and later uploaded to Beacon. Acquisitions Incorporated is one of the oldest and most famous actual play shows, credited, along with Critical Role, for popularizing this way of playing D&D and sharing it with a wide audience. It’s no coincidence that Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, Acquisitions Incorporated’s long-time DMs, now work full-time for Darrington Press, Critical Role’s publishing arm, after leaving Wizards of the Coast last year.

And that’s not all. Critical Role’s latest collaboration brought Viva La Dirt League to the Beacon platform, with the sketch-comedy troupe from New Zealand showcasing their new Daggerheart actual-play adventure show: Daggerheart: Azerim. It appears that, while Critical Role decided to stick with D&D for its main campaign in a somewhat controversial move, they’re trying to showcase Daggerheart in any possible way. If they can’t play Daggerheart (for whatever reason), they’re going to let everyone else play it and bring it all together on their platform.

It isn’t just Daggerheart productions, however; Critical Role is also happy to show off other tabletop actual-play shows, like the Re-Slayer’s Take (playing D&D) and Candela Obscura (playing the Darrington Press game of the same name) to its viewers via Beacon.

While there may be expectations for Critical Role to always chase the numbers and grow bigger than it already is, Mercer’s desire to share his success is admirable. Mulligan sums up the move best in the Variety video: “It is a rare thing to both be as gifted and prolific as you are,” he said, “and to truly embody and exemplify celebrating everybody around you.”

There’s more than blind generosity behind Mercer’s words and Critical Role’s recent moves. They’re aware that, in a predominantly digital industry like theirs, competition is not to be feared, but embraced. Sharing the spotlight — or rather, the platform — only increases visibility for everyone, bringing new eyes to each show and product.

“It’s very dangerous to put all your stakes on a platform you don’t control,” Mercer says, referring to Twitch and YouTube.

Critical Role's Beacon is a platform that gives creatives an opportunity to support themselves, and now Critical Role wants to share that opportunity with other parties. Rather than passing the torch, they’re lighting new ones.