D&D 5E D&D Digital Plans To Be Revealed On February 21st

Brian D. Goldner, Chairman of the Board and CEO at Hasbro took part in the company's Quarter 4 2019 earnings call. This included several references to D&D.

• D&D grew again for the sixth year in a row.
• Streaming D&D content was up nearly 50% on last year.
• Substantial new (digital) gaming plans for D&D will be revealed on February 21st at Hasbro's Analyst Day
• Total games category grew by 6%, as D&D, MtG, and Monopoly bolstered declines elsewhere.
• Profit declined due to digital D&D and M:tG digital games investment.

"Well, good morning, and we did see very strong growth for Magic: The Gathering and increased growth for Dungeons & Dragons. "

"Magic: The Gathering revenues increased more than 30% in the year, behind double-digit growth in tabletop play and a strong first year for Magic: The Gathering Arena. Dungeons & Dragons revenues grew for the sixth straight year, and we are meaningfully investing in both brands to drive engaging storytelling, while developing new digital games with high margin profitable growth longer term. We look forward to sharing our 2020 new gaming plans for Magic and D&D on February 21. MONOPOLY had double-digit revenue growth and grew in each region with new themes and relevant entertainment tie-ins. We advanced our consumer products licensing business growing revenues double digits and expanding operating profit margin. We've broadened our licensed brand portfolio and expanded our reach with original live events that drive consumer engagement."

"In addition, for D&D, we did see our sixth straight year of growth. We are seeing about 150 million hours of content viewed on Twitch and YouTube, which is up nearly 50% year-on-year. In the first half of 2020, we are seeing a lot of new initiatives coming for the brand, but again I'm going to let Chris walk us through at at our Analyst Day, our plans for digital gaming, which are again substantial for D&D that begins in 2020."

"You'll also see great digital game development for D&D. And we will see you on February 21 to outline that."

"Our total games category grew 6% for the year, fueled by growth in Magic: The Gathering and MONOPOLY. Higher revenues from Dungeons & Dragons and several classic games titles did not offset declines in our Hasbro Gaming portfolio"

"Adjusted operating profit and profit margin declined as we invest in digital gaming initiatives including Magic: The Gathering Arena and future Magic and Dungeons & Dragons digital games."

"We delivered compelling gaming experiences, led by the work of our teams at Wizards of the Coast. Our positive results to date have us on plan to double Wizards of the Coast coast revenues over five years from 2018 to 2023."

You can read the full transcript at The Motley Fool.

• WotC acquired Tuque, a video games company last year which is working on a brand new D&D video game called D&D: Dark Alliance.
• There is also, of course, Baldur's Gate 3 coming soon.
• Archetype Entertainment is WotC own new video game studio headed by ex-Bioware staff.

 

[vecna00]

I've got a bad feeling about this....

"Today Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are excited to announce the latest official D&D setting is…..Monopoly! Yes, now your adventurers can finally explore iconic locations like Park Place and Boardwalk! Loot legendary treasure from the mythical Community Chest! New playable races include Top Hat, Race Car, and other favorites. Also includes rules for new downtime activities like real estate management and going to jail. Pre-order your copy today!"

As someone who grew up in South Jersey, I'm not sure anyone should adventure in Atlantic City...

 

[Todd Roybark]

It's... no more expensive, and often cheaper, than buying the books elsewhere?

I apologize for being unclear.. rushed post. D&D Beyond pricing is much more reasonable if one is not also purchasing physical books.

I like physical books, sometimes I play RPGs while camping, and for one group we have a no-electronics policy, so I’m back to a pile of books in front of me instead of a tablet for that game.

PDF pricing in general has substantially increased, and part of me thinks it is not solely due to inflation, but rent seeking behavior.

The recent PDF release of Warhammer Fantasy was $45 if memory serves correctly. Now it is a large product, and beautiful, but $50 for a PDF is very expensive. Monte Cook Games PDFs are typically under $20.

Mongoose Traveller 2 PDFs also seem very expensive given the page count and how much of the items seem to be modifications of prior products from one of the multitudinous multiverse of Traveller RPG systems.

Spending $80 to have a physical and digital copy is way too high, for my taste.
Especially as Fair Use doctrine (for now) allows replication for personal use.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

It's easy to put up big growth numbers when you have no competition...

Are you suggesting they have a ...

 

[Esker]

Are you suggesting they have a ...

corner on the market?

 

[Undrave]

I'm a teacher with a cabinet full of board games for my students to play during downtime.

Nobody wants to play the cool hobby or party games I stock, like D&D Dungeon Mayhem, Exploding Kittens, or Cobra Paw. They all gravitate to the classic "family" games like Sorry, Jenga, Connect Four, and Clue. I hate Monopoly, so don't have a copy, but the kids are constantly asking me why I don't. I should probably pick one up, either the classic version on the cheap, or some sort of themed version to help me stomach it.

There’s a ‘Monopoly Speed’ that’s meant to end in ten minutes, includes a clock. You also have the Monopoly Gamers games where tokens have unique powers. There’s also a Monopoly Socialism, not sure how that works. There’s also Monopoly Deal the card game that might be a good stepping stone. Maybe you could get them to try out Bang! or Smash Up afterward?

What about some of more ´entry level’ type of board game: Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, I would consider King of Tokyo among those... Castle Panic has a whole set up that looks cool... I think Zombie Dice is approachable...

Gotta agree though, there’s nothing more depressing than people prefering to play Sorry or Monopoly instead of a GOOD game...

Ah! Maybe you should track down one of the old Pokémon Master board game, I hear they’re brutal

 

[ArwensDaughter]

I guess it's out as DnDReader

'Dungeons & Dragons' now has a Kindle-like app to ease the book burdens

No more carrying around 50 pounds worth of hardcover books!

mashable.com

D&D Reader was never released. There were a few articles—like this one—touting it. The one I saw back in the day didn’t tie it directly to WOTC, and given what I knew about D&D Beyond development at the time, I found it hard to believe the Reader project was real. Apparently there was never an explanation for what happened, or even clarity about who exactly was developing it.

 

[Reynard]

First of all, Monopoly is the worst game ever made.

Second, I would really like WotC to lead the way in multi platform sales. I dont want to have to buy every book 3 times -- print, digital and VTT -- to get full use out of it. So if WotC decided to do something like Beyond and Fantasy Grounds in house, that would be a boon to me.

 

[ART!]

Pitch: D&D Monopoly, where you're moving your piece around the board (which looks like a dungeon), buying and trading valuable magic items, and occasionally slaying monsters.

I literally just came up with this off the top of my head.

 

[CleverNickName]

Ok, what I want to know is how the heck did Monopoly have double-digit growth? Seriously???

Simple: board position. They prioritized the railroads early, and traded relentlessly to get the Oriental Avenue set by turn 6.

First of all, Monopoly is the worst game ever made.

False.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

First of all, Monopoly is the worst game ever made.

Second, I would really like WotC to lead the way in multi platform sales. I dont want to have to buy every book 3 times -- print, digital and VTT -- to get full use out of it. So if WotC decided to do something like Beyond and Fantasy Grounds in house, that would be a boon to me.

The worst game ever made was fighting lions in the Roman Colosseum.

Well, it was the worst to play at least. Might be fun to watch on Twitch.

I would disagree.

Make crap games, in-house or licensed out, and your brand will develop a reputation for crap games. If every time I download a Warhammer video game and it's crap, then I'm not likely to think, "Hey that was not fun, but I bet the super-expensive tabletop version is a lot of fun to play!"

Conversely, if I download a really fun Warhammer video game, then when glancing at that spendy box of miniatures in Barnes & Noble, I just might pick it up to check out the plastic version of the hobby.

I actually disagree with your disagreement! These videos help explain how GW's plan actually sort-of worked.


Anyway, the larger point is that Warhammer takes a shotgun approach to licensing, and while the bad games fade into obscurity, the good ones get a lot of glory. Either way, the brand gets a lot more light shone on it, giving greater visibility into the world, and translating to greater value for its IP.