WotC D&D Gets A New Division At Hasbro

Hasbro is reorganizing and giving tabletop gaming -- Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering -- a higher priority.

According to the Wall Street Journal, WotC's revenue last year was $816 million (a 24% increase on 2019). Brian Goldner, Hasbro's Chief Executive, says WotC is predicted to double revenue from 2019 to 2023.

Hasbro is dividing into three 'units' -- Consumer Products (toys, classic board games); Entertainment (film, TV, licensing); and Wizards & Digital (WotC plus digital licensing).

Hasbro bought WotC in 1999 for about $325M.

WSJ News Exclusive | Dungeons & Dragons Gets a Bigger Role at Hasbro

Toy maker Hasbro is reorganizing to capitalize on a pandemic-fueled boom in old-school tabletop games, creating a separate division around the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

www.wsj.com

 

[Reynard]

Yeah that's definitely attitude that people high up in businesses succeed with. ROFL.

And yet they have.

They have acquired two AAA studios, and are staffing up both of them, they've even announced the projects they're working on. We're talking about them intending to employee 100-200 people per studio, full-time, paying North American salaries, for multiple years, and base salaries in that industry are above average for US salaries (though below-average for software development in general. I mean, even if they averaged at 40k per employee per year (unlikely to be that low), if they had 150 employees, that's $6m/year - and that's just salary - likely to be more like $7.2m including benefits and so on. And that's just to employ the people - now you have to factor in equipment, software, building rental, utilities, and so on, as well as stuff like startup costs. This is huge money. This is a big investment. You don't have to like it, but they're not putting that kind of money into developing TT RPGs, are they? We know they aren't, because if you spent $6m hiring TT RPG people (designers, artists, etc.) on full-time salaries, you'd have hired like half the industry! You'd have enough people to put out dozens of books a year.

And that's for one of the studios - they have two.

They're unarguably investing vastly more in these CRPGs than they are in D&D.

So you can say "that makes no sense" all you like, but you know what really makes no sense? Spending $40-100m to make an AAA CRPG to promote a TT RPG.

I think maybe I wasn't clear: I am not saying WotC's new sci-fi TTRPG is going to get a bigger investment than the CRPG, I am saying that the lore, visual design and other elements of the CRPG are going to be based on the work being done for the TTRPG, because that game is likely intended to have a longer life and deeper engagement than the CRPG even if it makes a lot less money. It is possible that WotC will do some quick one off tie-in cash grab RPG built on regurgitated concept art. It is what I would expect if BioWare was making a Mass Effect RPG to promote the remaster of that game. But WotC is a tabeltop game company with properties that have deep lore, long shelf lives and distinctive vidual identities.

But WotC has not produced a new RPG in a long time, so who knows? Maybe they don't care. But if that were the case, why would they spend any money on a TTRPG of the new game at all? Unless, of course, they thought that their millions of active D&D players would translate into customers.

 

[darjr]

WotC Makes More Money than Hasbro's Toy Business

And Other Fun Facts from Hasbro's Investor Day

icv2.com

WotC was more profitable than the entire of Hasbros toy and game division!!!!

by 112 Million!

I think Peter Adkinson may be right and wotc may take over Hasbro! His timing was just off. And to think they’ll do it with D&D!!!

 

[Azzy]

That's exactly what I meant to do.

Never forget your colon.

 

[ccs]

Yeah if anything this makes it look even more solidly on the way to me. Just likely it'll be highly mechanically compatible with 5E material in the 1E/2E way.

Yes, I've been predicting this for 2(?) years now.

Editions tend to get faster and wilder towards the end - we saw this with all previous editions.

Yep. When you start getting books full of niche stuff, misc, & all manner of optional tool kit rules.
Hmm, looks like what we've got going on full force atm.
And in 3 years our favorite game turns 50....

I'm betting I know exactly how far out the horizon is.

 

[OB1]

I strongly suspect that any revision to the PHB will be done to make it more appealing to new players, consolidating the Race/Class options from Tasha's with the addition of the more popular Race/Class/Sub-Class/Spell options from the other splat books that have come out. There will be no changes to the underlying rule system, making it 100% compatible with the entire 5e library.

It won't be a necessary purchase for existing players, and that's okay, because PHBs still sell like hot cakes with every AP and Setting release, as those stories entice new players into the game. They don't need to sell a revised PHB to all existing players, they need to keep selling it to new ones.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But probably in the works will be a collectible item (perhaps a collection of samples of editions or dice, or something else) that will cost several hundred dollars.

I don't have a sense on how well the collector's edition OD&D, 1E, 2E and 3E books sold. Maybe not well enough to be worth doing it again. I'll cross my fingers that they do something similar again.

But yeah, I think it's inconceivable that we aren't going to get bombarded with all sorts of collectibles that year, some of it lousy, some of it amazing, and some of it painfully expensive.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That was at/near the end of 4e.

Huh. That makes sense, but I guess it just shows how much I edited 4E out of my mind.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

When you start getting books full of niche stuff, misc, & all manner of optional tool kit rules.
Hmm, looks like what we've got going on full force atm.
And in 3 years our favorite game turns 50....

I'm betting I know exactly how far out the horizon is.

CCS is not a sock puppet account of mine, for the record. He just happens to be in tune with my genius.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Tons of news on this without a doubt. Retail is slowly becoming more of a niche, and may, in the end, just cater to higher end. That said, you never know. One big cultural shift and it might just revert back.

They say this, and it is true. But there are large investment firms that are stocking up on city real estate, specifically because they believe in five years it's going to skyrocket. And Zoom is the new normal until the company decides it isn't. There is no long term research on its effects on productivity, creativity, or cost difference. I imagine once vetted research (not the business guy that says I wrote a book) starts to originate, we may see CEOs begin a new paradigm or revert back to the old standard. What we see now, like some companies abandoning plans for their new headquarters, are knee-jerk reactions. The long term trend will come when they see profits and cost-analysis.

But this is about D&D, and that is a great question. Although, I would add, how many will drop D&D as a hobby to the list. I know a person that started the hobby due to the pandemic. I find it unlikely she will continue once the world goes back to normal. But that is two in a sea of millions, so who knows?

Whatever happens long-term, we're still looking at 5+ years to shake out. My company is looking at leaving us at home 90% anyways once they re-open the offices at all, but they also have a long-standing 'trust the employees' culture to build off of.

 

[jmartkdr2]

New rule at the game pub: All D&D parties have to be made up of all bards and/or satyrs.

I'm in an all-bards game with two changlings, and an eladrin (and a simic hybrid) - I think all of us can disguise self.

Getting drunk is considered important pre-battle preparation.