WotC Hasbro selling D&D IP?

[jgsugden]

I call shenanigans. I mean maybe? But if Candela Obscura sales shows us anything it shows that the Critical Role brand doesn’t guarantee D&D scale sales for an RPG. I’m not sure it’s even in the top 10 after D&D.

I kinda love the game but I dint see gigantic sales.

Candela Obscura is not popular on Critical Role or in game sales. It is, essentially, steampunk and that is not a popular genre. They don't have their primary cast, and every show that failed to have their primary cast has had faint following compared to the mothership.

Time will tell. If we see Daggerheart start to get rave reviews and third party support - as well as substantial VTT support - and they use it for Campaign 4 ... We'll see what happens.

Of course, if they release the rules and they don't work well, it will likely be a flash in the pan.

 

[mamba]

If Critical Role goes to Campaign 4 and runs it on Daggerheart - when it releases - it will be a big swing.

guess we will see, are they even switching to it or are they afraid to lose too many viewers, this can go either way…

You're underestimating the potential here.

I don’t think so, Daggerheart will be lucky to hit PF2 levels, that makes little difference to D&D. Guess we know more in a year or two, but I won’t hold my breath

 

[dwelwell]

I find the whole thing pretty suspect. Selling off one of your best money makers seems like a pretty bad idea... of course shareholders don't tend to think past the next quarter's earnings, so I guess it's possible.

I'm sure there are some who would welcome the idea of anyone other than Hasbro having D&D, but I'd say be careful what you wish for; I'm not so sure the Chinese conglomerate that the article names (or any company with the money to buy D&D) would be a better steward of the brand.

well it's not like they haven't done other boneheaded things, but yeah, doesn't really make sense....

 

[doctorbadwolf]

To voluntarily waste time by replying to the absent: I'm certainly no fan of Hasbro's, but the evidence just isn't there to support the idea that D&D is in financial trouble, that angry right-wing grognards are the only paying customers for it, or that representation drives anyone away from the game. Baldur's Gate 3 was a runaway commercial success and has a fair bit of representation in it. Limitless Heroics, which literally is just a massive doorstop of a book solely designed to simulate disabilities in the 5e ruleset (niche if anything ever was) made 85 grand on Kickstarter, too. Finally, going full anti-woke doesn't seem to be such a great business model, either. One only needs to look at the ... saga that was (is?) NuTSR to see that in action.

As far as the OGL scandal went, what that really did was incense publishers and creators and those ripples will continue to move outward slowly over time; even though the OGL fiasco was a year ago (almost to the day; WotC put the 5e rules in Creative Commons on January 27th, 2023), I'm only looking at being able to switch away from the OGL (I'll be moving to the ORC, which I can in turn only do because EN Publishing is nice enough to let you pick your license for A5E) in the next couple of months because I've finally gotten the stuff that needs to reference prior OGL content finished up.

I think the release of Tales of the Valiant in its final form will be an interesting bellwether. Once you can license freely from both that and A5E with the ORC, we may start seeing more kickstarters for 5e-based products that dodge WotC entirely. Even then, I fully expect D&D to remain the 800-lb gorilla for a really long time. It's the Coca-Cola of RPGs. There are lots of other options, and many are better, but none are as widely known or popular.

Yeah I doubt D&D will ever not be the windex of TTRPGs.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They are licensing it though.

Right. My point is that, contrary to the panic du jour, WotC isn't letting go even properties that probably aren't doing terribly much for their bottom line. Holding on to GI Joe but letting go of D&D would be extremely hard to picture. In fact, it seems like the kind of thing that leads to successful shareholder revolts, which the Hasbro board has no desire to be the target of.

 

[Morrus]

Right. My point is that, contrary to the panic du jour, WotC isn't letting go even properties that probably aren't doing terribly much for their bottom line. Holding on to GI Joe but letting go of D&D would be extremely hard to picture. In fact, it seems like the kind of thing that leads to successful shareholder revolts, which the Hasbro board has no desire to be the target of.

I agree with you.

 

[Stonesnake]

It is interesting that you say this. If you do a search on "tencent buying dnd" you're starting to see articles from a bunch of sites on the topic. Maybe they're all fruits from the same poisonous vine, but do we have any actual evidence that this is all based on Roll for Combat article? I'm trying not to ask to prove a negative but I've heard nothing that links the sources to Roll for Combat.

I'll say again that maybe this will turn out to be a big nothing burger but to dismiss it out of hand when the source is saying this is coming from inside Tencent is not a good idea either (of course, in my opinion).

Actually, this article mentions my video as the potential source:
Tencent Reportedly Seeking to Purchase Dungeons & Dragons Video Game Rights From Hasbro

However, there appears to be some ambiguity to what exactly Tencent is seeking, given the report's focus on video game rights. Tencent's typical course of business is to purchase ownership in a game studio as opposed to purchasing IPs outright. A purchase of the Dungeons & Dragons IP would be a first for Tencent, although the company has come under scrutiny from the Chinese government and saw its valuation plummet after a Chinese crackdown on online gaming. We'll also note that the report is almost a point for point re-telling of a Roll for Combat video posted earlier this month, which also adds some suspicion to the report.

 

[Retreater]

It is interesting that you say this. If you do a search on "tencent buying dnd" you're starting to see articles from a bunch of sites on the topic. Maybe they're all fruits from the same poisonous vine, but do we have any actual evidence that this is all based on Roll for Combat article? I'm trying not to ask to prove a negative but I've heard nothing that links the sources to Roll for Combat.

I'll say again that maybe this will turn out to be a big nothing burger but to dismiss it out of hand when the source is saying this is coming from inside Tencent is not a good idea either (of course, in my opinion).

Oh yeah. I've seen several YouTubers creating videos about this. It's spreading like wildfire.

 

[payn]

This would explain why Hasbro gutted Wizards of the Coast during the last round of layoffs.

They don’t NEED them anymore if they’re getting sold.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Right. My point is that, contrary to the panic du jour, WotC isn't letting go even properties that probably aren't doing terribly much for their bottom line. Holding on to GI Joe but letting go of D&D would be extremely hard to picture. In fact, it seems like the kind of thing that leads to successful shareholder revolts, which the Hasbro board has no desire to be the target of.

But who would buy GI Joe? If a business is bleeding money and needs to sell assets to raise cash fast, they're going to have to sell something that's actually valuable.