D&D 5E Mike Mearls explaining his view of D&D and how it should be merchandize

[bmfrosty]

I'm sure there would be some degree of positive feedback if this worked out. Big if, of course.

But even then, based on how they are talking, the focus of the feedback would be the sequel.
They would see ignoring the game and making a "blockbuster" a far better place for their energy.

Of course most of the energy goes into the sequel, but let's say that one effect of a successful movie would be $1,000,000 per year of additional funding for the TTG and $50,000,000 per year spent on making more movies.

A small amount of money would go a long way for the TTG.

Of course I'm forgetting the inevitable Saturday morning cartoon, breakfast cereal, and full line of Halloween costumes.

The hardest part would probably be keeping it from running out of control.

 

[BryonD]

Of course most of the energy goes into the sequel, but let's say that one effect of a successful movie would be $1,000,000 per year of additional funding for the TTG and $50,000,000 per year spent on making more movies.

A small amount of money would go a long way for the TTG.

Once a D&D movie puts $51,000,000 in Hasbro's pocket I will concede that my opinion was completely based on flawed assumptions.

 

[bmfrosty]

Once a D&D movie puts $51,000,000 in Hasbro's pocket I will concede that my opinion was completely based on flawed assumptions.

I'll be sure to necrobump the thread.

 

[Athinar]

WotC will be either shutdown or split from Hasbro and either way the Lay Offs will continue and or more Out Sourcing to India to save money

 

[Staffan]

WotC will be either shutdown or split from Hasbro and either way the Lay Offs will continue and or more Out Sourcing to India to save money

That sounds highly unlikely. Wizards is making oodles of money from Magic: the Gathering. It's D&D that's a tiny blip on Hasbro's radar.

 

[delericho]

WotC will be either shutdown or split from Hasbro and either way the Lay Offs will continue and or more Out Sourcing to India to save money

Nah. As Staffan says, WotC makes good money for Hasbro due to Magic; it's D&D that might be at risk.

And, sadly, Hasbro a hugely unlikely to part with D&D - not only to they very rarely sell IP anyway, but the D&D brand is perceived as being extremely valuable, quite apart from the RPG. So I don't see that leaving Hasbro's hands, barring an eccentric billionaire willing to pay silly money for it.

It is, of course, entirely possible that the D&D RPG may be cancelled (or, perhaps more likely still, simply fizzle with no new products announced...). The other possibility is that someone (with FFG being the most likely candidate IMO) might approach WotC about licensing the rights to take over the RPG for a limited period. YMMV on whether that would be a good thing or not.

As for outsourcing to India: unlikely. Storytelling tends not to cross cultural barriers terribly well, at least if you want something beyond a "Fast & Furious" or "Transformers".

 

[Sailor Moon]

Nah. As Staffan says, WotC makes good money for Hasbro due to Magic; it's D&D that might be at risk.

And, sadly, Hasbro a hugely unlikely to part with D&D - not only to they very rarely sell IP anyway, but the D&D brand is perceived as being extremely valuable, quite apart from the RPG. So I don't see that leaving Hasbro's hands, barring an eccentric billionaire willing to pay silly money for it.

It is, of course, entirely possible that the D&D RPG may be cancelled (or, perhaps more likely still, simply fizzle with no new products announced...). The other possibility is that someone (with FFG being the most likely candidate IMO) might approach WotC about licensing the rights to take over the RPG for a limited period. YMMV on whether that would be a good thing or not.

As for outsourcing to India: unlikely. Storytelling tends not to cross cultural barriers terribly well, at least if you want something beyond a "Fast & Furious" or "Transformers".

What they could do is cancel the RPG and continue Dungeons and Dragons in the form of a card game, boardgame, and video games.

 

[aramis erak]

If the employees are getting paid, fans are getting books, and the company is in the black then why does it need to make millions? If they net a 100 dollars it's still a profit.

If they are for-profit corporations, even privately held ones, their legal obligation is to make profits for the ownership (shareholders/owners).
If the board doesn't attempt to maximize profits within the marketspace, as a corporation, it would be grounds for the ownership to fire and/or sue the board of directors, CEO and/or CFO for malfeasance/misfeasance.

Given that there is an expectation of (roughly) a return per annum to the investors of at least $0.01 per dollar of share price (and usually higher)... because anything less is pretty much worse than simply holding the money. (Inflation in the US was about 0.8%, or $0.008 per dollar of lost value in 2014.)

Note that bank savings are returning even less - around 0.5%. So they can be basically ignored.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I'm still very skeptical about the value of the D&D brand when marketing non-TTRPG products to the general public. It hasn't help a lot of value in the past, even during it's golden era.

One of the big problems with Morningstar is that the contracting company came in with very specific ideas about the type of product they made. Their focus didn't match that of WotC, and they had a falling out. I'm still a little flabbergasted that they got as far into the project as they did without realizing that they had incompatible ideas.

What WotC needs to do is build (or have someone else build) a character generator that is designed in a way that it can be used modularly with future products. If there is enough demand, they can build something else in the future that can easily connect to the generator. That sort of thing is easy to do, and avoids the risks involved in creating a big uber-product.