Hasbro CEO: "D&D is Really on a Tear"

Sorry, that laugh was a result of clumsy fingers on my phone.

 

[BrockBallingdark]

Every quarter, Hasbro holds an earnings call, which is a publicly available discussion of the company's status for that period. Dungeons & Dragons is far too small an item to ever get a mention in that call, which namechecks enormous brands owned by the toy company. However, this time around, D&D did get mentioned - Brian Goldner, President and Chief Operating Officer of Hasbro, noted that D&D "is really on a tear". While that's not a phrase I'm familiar with, it sounds positive!

You can read the full transcript of the earnings call here.

[lq]In fact, a raft of games including Dungeons & Dragons, which is really on a tear, Risk, Scrabble, Trouble, Life, Candy Land, CLUE and OUIJA were all up in the quarter. And we're seeing great sell-through of our games.[/lq]

Games as a whole were up by 7% for the quarter (which includes Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly, etc.) - generally up in the US, but down outside it.

(Post promoted to news article and edited by Morrus)

 

[Mistwell]

Impossible.

People were saying 5e is vaporware. That 5e might not even see the light of day, and if it did it would probably be in a close out sell for the brand. That it would be the 'Duke Nuke'em' of PnP RPGs, and even if it ever did come out, by the time it did no one would care. That the D&D brand was dead. That all the Wizard's horses and all the Wizard's men aren't going to be able to put the brand back together again no matter what they say or do. That what's done is done. That WOTC would sell a few copies to people who _want_ it, but that no one is going to open up a 5E book and say, "Yeah, I _need_ this. This is what my table is missing." That the potential demand just didn't exist. That the game will go on without WOTC, but it's not likely to be called 'D&D'.

How can this news be true, given what people were saying?

 

[Jester David]

Here's the actual document:
http://investor.hasbro.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=907255
With the transcript:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/308...-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

D&D is mentioned on page 5 where he says:

Games was flattish. It was up in the U.S., down a little bit internationally, but we have a number of games that grew within the quarter. In fact, a raft of games including Dungeons & Dragons, which is really on a tear, Risk, Scrabble, Trouble, Life, Candy Land, CLUE and OUIJA were all up in the quarter. And we're seeing great sell-through of our games. Our Games POS was up in the first quarter in the U.S., and up in many markets around the world. And so down a little bit internationally, but we view a lot of that as just timing on some of our new games initiatives.

D&D is not mentioned in the actual report (while MtG is), and D&D is just name-dropped the lengthy presentation. It's just part of a list of games that did better in Q1 2015 than in Q1 2014. While it's cool that he singled out D&D for an adjective ("on a tear"), D&D sales in Q1 2014 were likely... non-existent. And it's uncertain if he knows a new edition was released (he doesn't call out 5e). So he might just be comparing the numbers and seeing the *huge* spike in revenue without context.

Still... that might work in favour of D&D as it's getting attention. They might give it some extra publicity or latitude. Or it could work out badly when the growth doesn't continue in 2016.
We'll see.

 

[GX.Sigma]

It wouldn't surprise me if this is the best-selling edition by far.

Edit: In terms of launch, I mean.

 

[delericho]

It wouldn't surprise me if this is the best-selling edition by far.

Edit: In terms of launch, I mean.

WotC have said as much, so unless you believe they're lying I suspect you're in for a not-surprise.

And it's no wonder it's doing well: it's a new edition, they've managed to produce an excellent game, and they're also getting the benefits of the end of their 4e mis-step (much as Coke did when they brought back Coke Classic). What remains to be seen, of course, is just how long it continues "on a tear".

 

[transtemporal]

What does "on a tear" mean? Aren't tears bad?

 

[LordWeh]

According to a quick google search, it means being on a winning streak, or having a sudden burst of energy. I'd not heard the expression before, either.

Still, good news for 5th =)

 

[pemerton]

This is why all the doom and gloom threads are (in my view) ridiculous. So many posters seem unable to distinguish what they want to play their games from the commercial context that WotC/Hasbro cares about.

 

[DongMaster]

This is why all the doom and gloom threads are (in my view) ridiculous. So many posters seem unable to distinguish what they want to play their games from the commercial context that WotC/Hasbro cares about.

Unless I am mistaken, such threads were one of the main reasons internet came into fruition...