WotC Who should own Wizards of the Coast if/when it is sold?

[Luminous]

Hopefully a businessman who also has a family?

 

[MarkB]

The Mandalorian would like a word.

The Mandalorian doesn't feature future technologies. All its technology was invented long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

 

[Wolfram stout]

Very silly thread.

But with Government funding I think we could make it a lot more silly.

 

[Morrus]

Ok, ICv2 is doubling down on it. I guess the first article got lot of clicks?

Rolling For Initiative -- Who Could Buy WotC?

Column by Scott Thorne

icv2.com

 

[Luminous]

This would be my preference, if it were to be sold at all. Since Hasbro is infamous for not letting go of IP once they acquire it, I doubt it ever will be.

_
glass.

Amen to that, look how that effected the Paizo run of Dungeon and Dragon Magazine.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

None of the above. If it must be sold, let it be spun off into its own freestanding game company.

Exactly what I can to say.

Unless the guys at Curse who run DDB buy their way out of Fandom (or take it over) and then recombine in a buyout/merger with wotc.

But also honestly...I suspect that part of why their goal is an evergreen edition, why they have the playtest methodology of this edition, and thus why it’s such a good edition, is that they have someone they have to justify their existence to, and because none of the designers are auteur types who are up their bung with their own personal “vision”.

A more independent D&D: The Independent Private Company would probably become something that caters to one guy’s nostalgia more than it does the broader D&D community.

 

[grimslade]

Who cares who would buy WotC? D&D and M:tG are part of Hasbro now. They will not sell those IPs. At worst, they will fold them into the evergreen catalog with Monopoly and Clue. Hasbro is not cash strapped. There is no reason to sell off two brands that are very recognizable and not losing money. The IP is all they care about. They don't need to ever develop another edition of D&D. There is no one who would pay the money Hasbro would charge because D&D could only payout after decades. There is no bigger fish to gobble them up. This is the end of the road for D&D, Hasbro or dust.

 

[nevin]

Someone who plays the game and cares about it being fun. Never going happen as big as it is but that's what it needs. That and it needs to be a privately owned company that can make decisions long term instead of quarter to quarter.

 

[glass]

Regarding the 50 million figure, it is notable that that is what 4e failed to hit despite a comparative fire hose of product relasease and DDi (well, "50 million with a clear growth path to 100 million"). 5e seems to be going for lower costs and higher returns on each product, but probably has lower annual revenues overall than 4e at it height (albeit much more sustainable over the medium term).

Which means 50 million seem rather optimistic. Maybe if/when successful movie/Netflix/etc deals actually come to fruition, but nothing much has actually happened yet on that front.

_
glass.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The first thing I'll do after I buy WotC is open the DMs Guild to all D&D settings, past and present. Lots of stuff I'd like to see in 5th that fiscally unlikely to see the light of day in an official product.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Unless the guys at Curse who run DDB buy their way out of Fandom (or take it over) and then recombine in a buyout/merger with wotc.

I was going to say that Fandom would buy WotC (as far as I can tell, Fandom Inc is privately held). They purchased Cortex Prime and transitioning it online. So, purchase WotC, further integrate it with DDB, and create a VTT to completely capture that space.