WotC Forbes’ Brett Knight visits Wizards of the Coast.

Brett Knight sits down with Cynthia Williams and talks about the future of the company with Dungeons and Dragons.

As Cynthia Williams settles into her chair atop a bearskin rug, three dragons stand watchful guard over her shoulder—each no more than a foot or so tall but no less fearsome, with plastic flames pouring from one’s mouth. The glass cases lining the room are filled with more horrible creatures, shrunken down in plastic miniature: ogres and devils and hobgoblins. Drawers pull out to reveal hundreds of polyhedral dice, with 10, 12 or 20 sides. Where a jumble of letters adorns the wall outside, the push of a button illuminates a hidden message: “Those granted entry shall be rewarded.”

Brett Knight mentions several things we already know, that D&D sales are growing rapidly among a younger audience.

Arpiné Kocharyan, a UBS analyst, estimates that D&D is now responsible for $100 million to $150 million in annual revenue ... around 40% of D&D players are now female ... 24% of D&D players are between 20 and 24 years old ... revenue up a reported 35% in 2020 from 2019 and more introductory D&D products sold in 2021 than when they were released in 2014 ...

They discuss the opportunity to grow via the VTT and DnDBeyond and marketing and selling digital things, about doing movies and TV, etc. Brett includes some history and quotes from the D&D historian Petersen, from Tim Kask, and the Hasbro CEO, Chris Cox.

I'm not sure how much is new in it, it does seem rather light for folks that have been reading about D&D and Wizards, but it's nice to see Cynthia Williams get some press. Here's hoping to hearing more from her.

Could Dungeons & Dragons Be The Next Harry Potter? Stranger Things Have Happened

As it nears 50 years old, the role-playing game is more popular than ever—and Hasbro is looking to cash in by moving its wizards and warriors to TV, movies, game consoles and even virtual tabletops.

www.forbes.com

 

[GMforPowergamers]

"Evergreen" has been Hasbro's holy grail for D&D for decades

the fact that playtesting for 1D&D was launched 8 years after 5e debuted shows how this isn't going to work. D&D needs to be a growing expanding and changing game, so it can't be evergreen.

 

[Undrave]

"Evergreen" has been Hasbro's holy grail for D&D for decades (e.g. getting rid of labor costs (R&D/game development and just printing a product like a board game or toy.) 5e's slow roll of books seems to be the closest they've gotten to that compared to the original plans for the Chainmail skirmish game.

I bet they would love to turn D&D into the next Monopoly where they can just shove out a bajillion themed version for every fandom out there while not having to redesign anything.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Let's remember the next step will be the d20 system being totally compatible the fantasy and the modern tech settings, being D&D the Fortnite (king of collabs or intercompany crossovers) of the TTRPGs, with the same system to can play Street Fighters, Overwatch, Doom or Mortal Kombat.

Other point is the VTT with a sole mode where you can play wargames against an AI.

And WotC's VTT should offer a mode to can play with Avalon Hill Hero-Quest (remake or 2nd Ed).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The most interesting tidbit to me is the revelation that the market data WotC published in those charts a couple years back was produced by the research firm Newzoo. Good to know where they went to get actual data on the fanbase.

In terms of the brand strategy...everyone wants to do another MCU these days, and I think D&D is ideally suited to be a viable candidate in pop culture.

I've said before I think Superhero movies are slowly going to go the way of the Western, there will be some that do very well, and there are still a lot of Superhero movies and TV shows to come, increasingly it's popularity will wane,leaving the door open to the next big thing, like the fall of the transformers Bayverse made space for Superheroes.

I think folks are hungry for something different, something that in some ways is a purer form of escapism not set on modern day earth, and not just D&D settings like the Forgotten Realms, but simular fantasy fair like the upcoming Red Sonya movie, I'm hearing that behind the scenes deals are being made for movie & TV adaptions for a lot of Table Top RPGs. I know of Warhammer & Scion, but it sounded like a lot more was in the works.

So D&D, Warhammer, Scion, World of Darkness, and possibly D&D offshoots like Golorian, Midguard, etc... Could end up having success movie and TV adaptions. Its going to be the next big thing.

 

[Von Ether]

I bet they would love to turn D&D into the next Monopoly where they can just shove out a bajillion themed version for every fandom out there while not having to redesign anything.

When Hasbro first acquired D&D, you betcha.

But now it's being stewarded by a crew that grew up as gamers, we can hope for a more balanced approach.

As far as Superhero films go, I agree but don't count Marvel out of the game. Comic books are a medium and they have other stories in their library.

 

[bedir than]

I've said before I think Superhero movies are slowly going to go the way of the Western, there will be some that do very well, and there are still a lot of Superhero movies and TV shows to come, increasingly it's popularity will wane,leaving the door open to the next big thing, like the fall of the transformers Bayverse made space for Superheroes.

I think folks are hungry for something different, something that in some ways is a purer form of escapism not set on modern day earth, and not just D&D settings like the Forgotten Realms, but simular fantasy fair like the upcoming Red Sonya movie, I'm hearing that behind the scenes deals are being made for movie & TV adaptions for a lot of Table Top RPGs. I know of Warhammer & Scion, but it sounded like a lot more was in the works.

So D&D, Warhammer, Scion, World of Darkness, and possibly D&D offshoots like Golorian, Midguard, etc... Could end up having success movie and TV adaptions. Its going to be the next big thing.

We may be entering the era of Fantasy. The series that are out now dominate viewership, beating superhero and sci-fi.

 

[Undrave]

When Hasbro first acquired D&D, you betcha.

But now it's being stewarded by a crew that grew up as gamers, we can hope for a more balanced approach.

Hard to argue with the numbers right now that the 5e method is working. Of course, there's probably still executive types who don't understand that you can Monopoly-fy D&D and still succeed.

They could probably pull it off with something like Hero Quest though.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

We may be entering the era of Fantasy. The series that are out now dominate viewership, beating superhero and sci-fi.

I honestly think a lot of people burning out on Superheroes, and to make matters worse a lot of comic companies doing poorly, word is major cuts are coming the DC, and it's already started with Superman!

So that is a bad sign because that's the ideas factory marvel studios and it's DC version feed on to make movies.

The House the Dragon is just the first taste, Honor Among Thieves is only roughly 5 months away, the tie in novels 4, and more D&D (and related) stuff is coming to TV & Movies. Oh and the MtG cartoon I think is coming.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

the fact that playtesting for 1D&D was launched 8 years after 5e debuted shows how this isn't going to work. D&D needs to be a growing expanding and changing game, so it can't be evergreen.

‘24 D&D is evergreen ‘14 D&D. Evergreen doesn’t mean no change. Trees still grow after all.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

‘24 D&D is evergreen ‘14 D&D. Evergreen doesn’t mean no change. Trees still grow after all.

yes trees grow but evergreen means the product stays in print (more or less) as is, not whole sale changes like we are seeing for 1D&D