D&D 5E Hasbro Acquires D&D Beyond For $146M

D&D owner WotC and D&D Beyond have announced that the online tools platform is being acquired by WotC.

DDB’s (former) owner was Fandom, which acquired it in 2018, and which also acquired the Cortex Prime TTRPG system recently. Fandom is producing a range of licensed games using the Cortex Prime system starting with the recent Tales of Xadia: The Dragon Prince RPG. Several DDB core staff members and founders moved on to other projects last year.

D&D General - Adam Bradford, Lauren Urban, Todd Kenrick Leave D&D Beyond

They join lead writer James Haeck, who left a couple of weeks ago. Adam Bradford is the D&D Beyond co-founder, and VP of Tabletop Gaming at its owner, Fandom. Lauren Urban is DDB's Community Manager. Todd Kenrick is the company's Creative Manager. D&D Beyond, launched in 2017, is currently...

www.enworld.org

This move has been widely expected for some time. The purchase figure being circulated is $146 million. By comparison, when WotC purchased then-D&D owner TSR in 1997, it did so for $25M. Hasbro later purchased WotC for $325M.

D&D Beyond was created in 2017 by Curse LLC, a company owned by Twitch. Fandom purchased Curse in 2018. WotC will be the third owner of the platform.

In other news, back in November WotC applied for a trademark for 'Atomic Arcade' for a variety of electronic gaming applications, and earlier in the year, rumours spread regarding WotC’s plans for its own virtual tabletop platform (VTT) following a survey in which they gauged opinions and allegedly showed off graphically rich 3D screenshots.

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced that it is acquiring D&D Beyond, the leading digital toolset and game companion for the Company’s groundbreaking fantasy franchise, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, from Fandom. Fandom, the world’s largest fan platform, has owned and operated D&D Beyond since 2019 and has grown the direct-to-consumer business to be the leading role-playing game (RPG) digital toolset on the market with close to 10 million registered users. This strategic acquisition, for $146.3 million in cash, will further strengthen Hasbro’s capabilities in the fast-growing digital tabletop category while also adding veteran talents to the Wizards of the Coast team and accelerating efforts to deliver exceptional experiences for fans across all platforms.

Since 2017, D&D Beyond has helped to power DUNGEONS & DRAGONS tabletop play and deliver the brand's eighth consecutive year of growth in 2021. Over the last three years, the royalty paid to Hasbro by D&D Beyond has represented a significant contribution to the fastest growing source of revenue for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. The strategic acquisition of D&D Beyond will deliver a direct relationship with fans, providing valuable, data-driven insights to unlock opportunities for growth in new product development, live services and tools, and regional expansions. As part of Wizards, the brand’s leadership will soon be able to drive a unified, player-centric vision of the world’s greatest role-playing game on all platforms.

“The acquisition of D&D Beyond will accelerate our progress in both gaming and direct to consumer, two priority areas of growth for Hasbro, providing immediate access to a loyal, growing player base,” said Chris Cocks, Hasbro Chief Executive Officer. “Hasbro’s gaming portfolio is among the largest and most profitable in the industry, and we continue to make strategic investments to grow our brands, including in digital.”

“This is the perfect next step for the talented D&D Beyond team, who built a transformative digital product that engaged and delighted millions of D&D fans around the world,” said Perkins Miller, CEO of Fandom. “We can't wait to see what this team will do next as an integral part of the D&D franchise, and I look forward to investing in more brands and products to super serve Fandom’s 300 million+ global fans.”

“D&D Beyond has been one of our most valuable partners in the digital space for the past six years and we’re excited to bring their best-in-class talent onto our team,” said Cynthia Williams, President of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming. “The team at D&D Beyond has built an incredible digital platform, and together we will deliver the best-possible DUNGEONS & DRAGONS experience for players around the world.”

Hasbro’s continued investment in Wizards of the Coast’s digital growth for its two iconic franchises, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and MAGIC: THE GATHERING, is representative of the significant opportunity in PC and mobile gaming, an industry that represented over 3 billion players globally and $129 billion in revenue in 20211. With the launch of Magic: The Gathering Arena on PC in 2019 and on mobile in 2021, Wizards has built a unique ecosystem of best-in-class tabletop and digital play to create deeper player engagement and satisfaction and grow revenue across all expressions and regions. Similarly, with more than 80% of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS fans having already played the game virtually in 2021, aided by online digital platforms such as D&D Beyond, this acquisition accelerates the game’s ability to penetrate new markets, gather valuable consumer insights and provide players with the best DUNGEONS & DRAGONS experience on all platforms.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, and is expected to close during the second or third quarter of 2022. The transaction will be funded out of cash on hand and is expected to be immaterial to revenue and earnings per share in 2022 and accretive to earnings per share in fiscal year 2023 and beyond. The transaction has been approved by both Hasbro’s and Fandom’s Boards of Directors.

Welcome to the Party, D&D Beyond | Dungeons & Dragons

We are excited to welcome everyone at D&D Beyond, bringing together two teams dedicated to making Dungeons & Dragons easy to run and accessible to all!

dnd.wizards.com

 

[darjr]

Very interesting response, much more positive then one would expect.

Nothing from fantasy grounds.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Now that they're all under the same company, they'll probably offer some sort of discount on a physical/digital combo.

We would all love that, of course, but I'm curious how you think they would implement it. I don't see any way that Wizards acquiring D&D Beyond impacts the challenges that have prevented them from linking physical to digital thus far.

 

[Zaukrie]

I doubt they buy Roll20. Their tech is quite old. Given what we saw in that preview last year, they want a more 3d feel. Frankly, all they really need at this point is a map management tool. Like ARcana.

Dndbeyond has all the functions of a basic VTT, except maps and minis.

My biggest hesitation in using an official tool for my VTT in the future is easy support for house rules, like different initiative systems, or card decks....

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Nothing from fantasy grounds.

So perhaps fantasy grounds has more reason to be worried.

 

[darjr]

Also look at the timing on that Roll20 tweet. Isn’t that six minutes after the start of their work day?

yes I realize I’m being a bit o the conspiracist.

 

[Umbran]

Well, what does that say about WotC being bought by Hasbro then?

It says that general statements are not to be taken as absolute statements.

It also should be noted that WotC's business model was by no means guaranteed solid - card games had done well by them, but at the time of that purchase, nobody really thought they'd last forever.

I mean, I'd disagree, because virtually every extremely successful software or website-based business in the last decade or two got sold to a super-big-boy business for tens or hundreds of millions or even billions. There's a hierarchy of success.

With respect, that "virtually every" is highly questionable. I will accept that all the ones you have personally heard about may have gone that way, but your sampling error is not better than anyone else's. Do you even know how many successful software shops exist, such that you could make such a statement?

What you never see with something truly successful is multiple re-sales unless the people in charge of them keep going bust and are doing it out of desperation (and I can only think of one example of that).

I think D&D Beyond isn't an average case, in that "successful business model" in its space historically hasn't been "successful" in a more broad sense, because of the niche, end-user-focused market.

As someone who works with a lot of third-party software and talks to a lot of developers...

So, first, please chuck your appeal to authority, as it doesn't hold a lot of water when you're talking to people who also have a ton of software development experience. We don't need the tech-sizing argument, hm? Cites to statements from the developers and management are actual support, while your personal experience is not.

And no, there's no universal setup, but the ultimate responsibility and call on strategy isn't generally with developers. The CEO can't stand in front of the Board of Directors, point to developers and say, "Well, they thought it'd be better..." and get away with it. Ultimately, it isn't a developer's responsibility to decide what gets developed.

 

[Ancalagon]

I think that any VTT that relies on integration with D&D Beyond for free may become increasingly at risk. Fandom may have been willing to look the other way as it meant more sales for them, but WoTC does not have a similar track record.

hmmm

DnDBeyond's value is in part due to how well you can make it work on a VTT. Reducing that would reduce the utility of DnDBeyond to players and GMs. It may not be a wise move to make.

 

[darjr]

I didn’t even consider a wider integration with DMsGuild content.

 

[darjr]

And now seeing these is cool! I can’t help it but I’m smiling!

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

2. This will mean better synergy between physical & digital products. It's now far more likely that there will be ways to unlock the digital version of products if you purchase the physical one (like with the Essentials Kit). Packaging is still an issue (how to stop people from opening the hardcover books on store shelves and stealing the codes). Maybe that will be addressed by the "new print formats" Winninger has discussed.

This right here. This acquisition by itself addresses none of the challenges that have been in place. Even without an acquisition, a "new print format" that would protect against someone just opening a book to find a code would have made the synergy between physical and digital products easier.

3. An official D&D VTT through DNDBeyond is likely for 2024. Which could be devastating for current 3rd party VTTs like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.

Assuming that D&D Beyond does a good job at implementing such a platform. I mean, I have a pretty low bar myself so I'd likely be fine with whatever they put out. But there are tons of people who love, love, love them their Fantasy Grounds or whatever other fancy VTT they use, and I'd be really surprised if Wizards just cut all those off.

4. Possibly very good news for Onebookshelf (the owners of Dungeon Master's Guild) as well as DMsGuild creators, as it's now far more likely that there will now be DNDBeyond "versions" of DMsGuild products (probably starting with a small range of select DMsGuild best-sellers).

I'd be surprised if the platform was opened up to DM's Guild and the like. They would have to really shore up a lot of things in the platform to even begin to consider opening up their tools for content creators to work with on a professional level. Heck, DM's Guild itself has so many rules and restrictions in place that sorta go against the notion of an open homebrew environment that this would be.

I think at best we look at very specific, deliberate partnerships... the bigger, more well known content creators being invited to the party so to speak in one-off projects as opposed to just any old person on DM's Guild being able to put their stuff up for sale on D&D Beyond.

5. Probably bad news for pro DMs, as WotC's Yawning Portal/pro DM system will likely migrate to DNDBeyond and set unsustainably low industry rates for pro DMs by becoming a pro DM McDonald's.

Is Yawning Portal the go-to place for pro-DM's? I feel like I hear a lot more about other platforms for pro-GM's.