Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
RPG Evolution: The Dragons Come Home to Roost
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 8853962" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p>D&D has long striven to be more than a game, but a brand. Thanks to the game's surge in popularity, those plans are coming to fruition.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]269269[/ATTACH]</p><h3>Hasbro’s Strategy</h3><p>Hasbro’s association with the movie industry has long been a mutually beneficial relationship, in which toy sales surge with each new movie. <strong><em>Star Wars </em></strong>and <strong><em>Transformers</em></strong> are both examples of how <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/is-tabletop-gaming-d-ds-sideshow.664425/" target="_blank">Hasbro’s bottom line is impacted by the release of the latest film</a>. Unfortunately, this strategy means Hasbro is reliant on third party schedules to produce revenue, and the pandemic highlighted just how much can go wrong with the complicated process of releasing a movie. No wonder the company wants its own intellectual property that it can monetize for movies and streaming.</p><p></p><p>This is why Hasbro's strategy has moved well beyond just producing toys and games. Hasbro divides their new approach into four quadrants: Toys & Games, Digital Gaming, Licensed Consumer Products, and Media (TV, Film, Digital Shorts, Emerging Media). Hasbro previously announced plans to execute on this four quadrant strategy with all of its licenses, including <strong><em>My Little Pony, Transformers, Magic: The Gathering</em></strong>, and <strong><em>Dungeons & Dragons.</em></strong> Some of those Media plans have been easier to execute than others, with <strong><em>Transformer</em></strong> movies running out of steam, the <strong><em>My Little Pony</em></strong> series winding down, and a <strong><em>Magic: The Gathering</em></strong> series yet to launch on streaming. That leaves D&D.</p><h3>WOTC’s Strategy</h3><p>Wizards of the Coast has always struggled to justify its revenue goals for <strong><em>Dungeons & Dragons</em></strong> amidst high revenue brands like <strong><em>Magic: The Gathering. </em></strong>At one point, each division was given a goal of $100 million in annual sales, a number that was not reachable through tabletop gaming channels.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-does-digital-part-i-muds-mmorpgs.663380/" target="_blank">The solution was digital gaming</a>. D&D tried several times to mimic the Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) space, which it inadvertently spawned dating all the way back to Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and Interactive Fiction (IF). The idea was that if the company could own a slice of that digital engagement dedicated to off-brand D&D, they could reach at least $50 million.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/beyond-the-digital-curse.664178/" target="_blank">It didn’t work</a>. WOTC never had enough resources, the right partners, or the technical know-how to effectively launch a digital ecosystem that would last longer than a few years. Then something surprising happened: D&D became more popular than all the other Hasbro brands combined.</p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]269270[/ATTACH]</p><h3>The Dragons Take Over</h3><p>The passing of the previous Hasbro CEO created a power vacuum quickly filled by the staff shepherding D&D into the new age. The twin factors of the pandemic and streaming made D&D uniquely suited to a much wider audience, and it didn’t take long before <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-child-becomes-the-parent.686254/" target="_blank">WOTC was responsible for 72% of Hasbro’s total operating profit.</a> In a very short period of time, WOTC went from a barely-mentioned division on Hasbro investor calls to the darling of the company, with CEO Chris Cocks taking the reins as Hasbro’s CEO in February 2022.</p><p></p><p>So what’s next? Sure enough, WOTC is executing on Hasbro's four quadrant plan for D&D. Let’s break it down:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Media: </strong>The juggernaut most likely to influence the other three quadrants is the upcoming D&D movie. There have been many attempts at making D&D movies that have all been commercial failures. This time around feels different, if only because there was a legal battle waged through proxies on behalf of movie-making behemoths (<a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/3080857" target="_blank">Universal Studios vs. Warner Bros.</a>) for D&D’s film rights. It’s clear they think there’s a lot of money to be made with a D&D movie. Unlike other movie launches, Hasbro is supporting the movie with the full force of its license. For an example of what this might look like, see the above picture of the D&D Advent Calendar. Speaking of which...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Licensed Consumer Products: </strong>Advent calendars are interesting products because they can contain just about anything, but that thing has to be small. They also require a lot of creativity to produce, as 25 different items is a lot to put into one package. If the D&D advent calendar is any indication, we’re going to see a lot more of beholders, displacer beasts, mimics, owlbears, and gelatinous cubes. There are stylized, iconic images of each monster repeated across everything that’s in the calendar, including stickers, gift tags, pencils, and ornaments.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Toys & Games: </strong>D&D is a game first and foremost, so the release of the next edition (an edition that requires playtesting but holds out the promise for backwards compatibility) is the obvious prime mover in this space. In addition to the aforementioned licenses, D&D toys are starting to show up in the wild. Egg Embry wrote an overview of just <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/holiday-gift-guide-rpg-action-figures-part-2-dungeons-dragons-and-vox-machina.693221/" target="_blank">some of the D&D action figures available</a>. We can expect a slew of monster toys too.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Digital Gaming:</strong> The big news here is One D&D, <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/one-d-d-takes-5e-to-new-digital-places.690754/" target="_blank">which uses D&D Beyond as its base</a>. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/one-d-d-takes-5e-to-new-digital-places.690754/" target="_blank">With 13 million registered users</a>, WOTC is banking on D&D Beyond as a base for propagating One D&D to the masses. For better or worse, this includes <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/wotc-announces-ogl-1-1-revised-terms-royalties-and-annual-revenue-reporting.693973/" target="_blank">changes to the OGL</a> with the likely plan to defragment any digital content that currently resides on third-party platforms. There has been <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-does-digital-part-iv-online-communities.663422/" target="_blank">several failed attempts at establishing a digital home base for D&D</a>, so it’s really important they get this right.</li> </ul><p>Cocks has never hidden his digital ambitions for D&D, and now with the company’s full resources at his disposal, we’re about to see a four quadrant D&D plan in action. Hasbro and WOTC are all in on this plan, with the future edition of D&D, the D&D movie, and its reinvigorated digital platform all unified in an attempt to make D&D not just a game, but a brand expression.</p><p></p><p><strong>Will it work? Perhaps the more relevant question for current D&D fans is ... what if it does?</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 8853962, member: 3285"] D&D has long striven to be more than a game, but a brand. Thanks to the game's surge in popularity, those plans are coming to fruition. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="hasbrobrand.jpg"]269269[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]Hasbro’s Strategy[/HEADING] Hasbro’s association with the movie industry has long been a mutually beneficial relationship, in which toy sales surge with each new movie. [B][I]Star Wars [/I][/B]and [B][I]Transformers[/I][/B] are both examples of how [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/is-tabletop-gaming-d-ds-sideshow.664425/']Hasbro’s bottom line is impacted by the release of the latest film[/URL]. Unfortunately, this strategy means Hasbro is reliant on third party schedules to produce revenue, and the pandemic highlighted just how much can go wrong with the complicated process of releasing a movie. No wonder the company wants its own intellectual property that it can monetize for movies and streaming. This is why Hasbro's strategy has moved well beyond just producing toys and games. Hasbro divides their new approach into four quadrants: Toys & Games, Digital Gaming, Licensed Consumer Products, and Media (TV, Film, Digital Shorts, Emerging Media). Hasbro previously announced plans to execute on this four quadrant strategy with all of its licenses, including [B][I]My Little Pony, Transformers, Magic: The Gathering[/I][/B], and [B][I]Dungeons & Dragons.[/I][/B] Some of those Media plans have been easier to execute than others, with [B][I]Transformer[/I][/B] movies running out of steam, the [B][I]My Little Pony[/I][/B] series winding down, and a [B][I]Magic: The Gathering[/I][/B] series yet to launch on streaming. That leaves D&D. [HEADING=2]WOTC’s Strategy[/HEADING] Wizards of the Coast has always struggled to justify its revenue goals for [B][I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I][/B] amidst high revenue brands like [B][I]Magic: The Gathering. [/I][/B]At one point, each division was given a goal of $100 million in annual sales, a number that was not reachable through tabletop gaming channels. [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-does-digital-part-i-muds-mmorpgs.663380/']The solution was digital gaming[/URL]. D&D tried several times to mimic the Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) space, which it inadvertently spawned dating all the way back to Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) and Interactive Fiction (IF). The idea was that if the company could own a slice of that digital engagement dedicated to off-brand D&D, they could reach at least $50 million. [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/beyond-the-digital-curse.664178/']It didn’t work[/URL]. WOTC never had enough resources, the right partners, or the technical know-how to effectively launch a digital ecosystem that would last longer than a few years. Then something surprising happened: D&D became more popular than all the other Hasbro brands combined. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="81j7gbG7kNL.jpg"]269270[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]The Dragons Take Over[/HEADING] The passing of the previous Hasbro CEO created a power vacuum quickly filled by the staff shepherding D&D into the new age. The twin factors of the pandemic and streaming made D&D uniquely suited to a much wider audience, and it didn’t take long before [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-child-becomes-the-parent.686254/']WOTC was responsible for 72% of Hasbro’s total operating profit.[/URL] In a very short period of time, WOTC went from a barely-mentioned division on Hasbro investor calls to the darling of the company, with CEO Chris Cocks taking the reins as Hasbro’s CEO in February 2022. So what’s next? Sure enough, WOTC is executing on Hasbro's four quadrant plan for D&D. Let’s break it down: [LIST] [*][B]Media: [/B]The juggernaut most likely to influence the other three quadrants is the upcoming D&D movie. There have been many attempts at making D&D movies that have all been commercial failures. This time around feels different, if only because there was a legal battle waged through proxies on behalf of movie-making behemoths ([URL='https://www.patreon.com/posts/3080857']Universal Studios vs. Warner Bros.[/URL]) for D&D’s film rights. It’s clear they think there’s a lot of money to be made with a D&D movie. Unlike other movie launches, Hasbro is supporting the movie with the full force of its license. For an example of what this might look like, see the above picture of the D&D Advent Calendar. Speaking of which... [*][B]Licensed Consumer Products: [/B]Advent calendars are interesting products because they can contain just about anything, but that thing has to be small. They also require a lot of creativity to produce, as 25 different items is a lot to put into one package. If the D&D advent calendar is any indication, we’re going to see a lot more of beholders, displacer beasts, mimics, owlbears, and gelatinous cubes. There are stylized, iconic images of each monster repeated across everything that’s in the calendar, including stickers, gift tags, pencils, and ornaments. [*][B]Toys & Games: [/B]D&D is a game first and foremost, so the release of the next edition (an edition that requires playtesting but holds out the promise for backwards compatibility) is the obvious prime mover in this space. In addition to the aforementioned licenses, D&D toys are starting to show up in the wild. Egg Embry wrote an overview of just [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/holiday-gift-guide-rpg-action-figures-part-2-dungeons-dragons-and-vox-machina.693221/']some of the D&D action figures available[/URL]. We can expect a slew of monster toys too. [*][B]Digital Gaming:[/B] The big news here is One D&D, [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/one-d-d-takes-5e-to-new-digital-places.690754/']which uses D&D Beyond as its base[/URL]. [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/one-d-d-takes-5e-to-new-digital-places.690754/']With 13 million registered users[/URL], WOTC is banking on D&D Beyond as a base for propagating One D&D to the masses. For better or worse, this includes [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/wotc-announces-ogl-1-1-revised-terms-royalties-and-annual-revenue-reporting.693973/']changes to the OGL[/URL] with the likely plan to defragment any digital content that currently resides on third-party platforms. There has been [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-does-digital-part-iv-online-communities.663422/']several failed attempts at establishing a digital home base for D&D[/URL], so it’s really important they get this right. [/LIST] Cocks has never hidden his digital ambitions for D&D, and now with the company’s full resources at his disposal, we’re about to see a four quadrant D&D plan in action. Hasbro and WOTC are all in on this plan, with the future edition of D&D, the D&D movie, and its reinvigorated digital platform all unified in an attempt to make D&D not just a game, but a brand expression. [B]Will it work? Perhaps the more relevant question for current D&D fans is ... what if it does?[/B] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
RPG Evolution: The Dragons Come Home to Roost
Top