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Matt Mercer is aware of (and humbled by) Critical Role's place in D&D history

Critical Role didn't set out to have such an impact on tabletop gaming, but it undeniably has

PAX East 2026 Matt Mercer Critical Role — Image credit: Critical Role / Popverse

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Wed Apr 01 2026

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We’re lucky to be living in a time when tabletop gaming, and D&D in particular, is becoming bigger and more popular than ever. There are many contributing factors to this, but one can’t overlook the part that actual play series like Critical Role have played in this D&D renaissance. According to Matt Mercer, it is something he’s still getting his head around.

“It’s interesting,” he admitted when we spoke to him at PAX East 2026. “We’ve done a lot of our internal studies, because even we were like, ‘What have we done?’” That data seems to point to Critical Role having a bigger impact than fans might realize. “A lot more than I think we even anticipated, and that comes from internal metrics at partner companies and even big rigs.”

Obviously, Matt Mercer and Critical Role didn’t set out to do any of that. His goal for those nerdy-ass voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons was simple: showcase how great tabletop gaming could be.

“What I wanted to do with Critical Role initially, before any of this happened, was to be an example I could point to people on how you can play these games. How often I wanted people to engage, but they didn’t know how it worked,” he explained. “And there were a lot of misnomers and misunderstandings culturally about what tabletop gaming was. Especially D&D was much maligned as the basement, you know, Cheetos-stained experience. And so, I think what tabletop has done has been that it’s been a very digestible way for people to wrap their head around, not only that it’s fun, but it’s empowering and it's inviting in a way that not a lot of other hobby spaces enable, you know?”

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

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