Dimension 20 is opting for controversial Ticketmaster pricing after ticket costs rose above $2,000

It seems like the perfect concept: Dimension 20’s Unsleeping citya real-life play Dungeons & Dragons campaign about the secret magical underbelly of New York City, played live in front of a paying audience in the hall of halls of the Big Apple, Madison Square Garden, for an epic evening of adventure – an event called ‘Gauntlet in the garden.”

But perhaps it’s just too perfect to exist in a world with Ticketmaster, as many potential showgoers discovered this week when the conglomerate’s dynamic pricing took effect, sending the cost of some single tickets skyrocketing above $2,000 . The Dimension 20 crew and parent company Dropout issued a statement on Sunday, writing that they had asked Ticketmaster to stop dynamic pricing for Gauntlet tickets and outlining measures to address fan frustration.

Ticketmaster, a company whose Wikipedia page has a “Criticism and Controversies” section with no fewer than 13 subsections at the time of writing and a “See Also” section that encompasses the concept of monopoly itself, has merged with event promoter Live Nation in 2010. The dynamic pricing system uses an algorithm to increase ticket prices for ‘official platinum seats’ in real time as demand for them increases (and decreases them as demand decreases) without a clear cap, resulting in ticket prices that are many times higher than prices set by the artist or performer.

In a statement shared about the Dimension 20 X And Instagram accounts, the Dimension 20 cast explained that dynamic pricing and platinum tickets were “not something that was explained to us, nor something that was presented as something we could opt out of. Once we had a better understanding of the situation as a group, we communicated to Live Nation that it was our desire to opt out of all dynamic pricing for this event and for all future events.”

In total, Dimension 20’s statement said, the average cost per ticket of the more than 15,000 “Gauntlet in the Garden” tickets sold to date was $119. “Gauntlet” will also be filmed and made available for streaming on Dropout.tv at a later date. You can read the full statement here.

Have dynamic pricing drew the ire of Ticketmaster customers since its implementation in 2022, especially around concert tours for Bink-182, among others, Bruce SpringsteenColdplay, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift – and has even drawn criticism from artists themselves, such as Robert Smith of The Cure. Ticketmaster claims that dynamic pricing is a deterrent to the behavior of ticket scalpers: it is difficult to buy tickets at the base price and resell them at a higher price when, when demand is high, tickets already cost much more than the base price. “Dynamic pricing is about creating more value for the artist,” says a spokesperson told the New Statesman in 2022.

But it’s no wonder that many ticket buyers feel that these Platinum Seats are simply integrating a mercenary practice into a mandatory system. This is made worse for customers and artists by the fact that it is difficult to avoid working with Ticketmaster completely. A 2023 survey from the American Economic Liberties Project showed that Live Nation “uses its promoter and artist management activities as a bargaining chip to secure exclusive contracts with venues.” Its position in the market is further strengthened by the fact that Ticketmaster/Live Nation handles ticket sales for “78% of the top-grossing arenas” in the United States, including Madison Square Garden.

In addition to forgoing dynamic prizes in the future, Dimension 20’s statement outlined an upcoming fan lottery system called “Dimensioneer Tickets,” “where select individuals will have the opportunity to purchase up to two tickets for $35/each (for seats placed anywhere in the event space, including the best seats in the house),” saying more information about the raffle will be released “soon.”

Fans should check Dimension 20 and Dropout’s socials for that information, and in the meantime, we’ll be watching to see exactly what’s happening in the live D&D scene now that a D&D live show has sold over 15,000 tickets for one of the most legendary American arena venues in less than a week.