WotC Hasbro Bets Big on D&D

During today's 'Hasbro Fireside Chat', Hasbro's Chris Cocks, chief executive officer, and Cynthia Williams, president of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming mentioned D&D, and about betting big on its name. This was in addition to the Magic: The Gathering discussion they held on the same call.

The following are rough notes on what they said.

D&D Beyond

• Leaning heavily on D&D Beyond
• 13 million registered users
• Give them more ways to express their fandom
• Hired 350 people last year
• Low attrition

What’s next for D&D

• Never been more popular
• Brand under-monetized
• Excited about D&D Beyond possibilities
• Empower accessibility and development of the user base.
• Data driven insight
• Window into how players are playing
• Companion app on their phone
• Start future monetization starting with D&D Beyond
• DMs are 20% of the audience but lions share of purchases
• Digital game recurrent spending for post sale revenue.
• Speed of digital can expand, yearly book model to include current digital style models.
• Reach highly engaged multigenerational fans.
• Dungeons and Dragons has recognition, 10 out of 10
• Cultural phenomenon right now.
• DND strategy is a broad four quadrant strategy
• Like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Marvel
• New books and accessories, licensed game stuff, and D&D Beyond
• Huge hopes for D&D

What is success for the D&D Movie

• First big light up oppourtunity for 4th quadrant
• Significant marketing
• They think it’ll have significant box office
• It has second most viewed trailer at Paramount, only eclipsed by Transformers
• Will be licensed video games, some on movies
• Then follow up other media, TV, other movies, etc.
• Bullish on D&D.

 

[Dausuul]

To be clear, I think the more the better, too. I just think you're only going to be able to buy integrated rules, campaigns, adventures, and other products on one of them. If you're willing to do all the manual work yourself, you'll be able to play wherever. I'm not a lawyer, but I can't see how Wizards could do anything about that.

Wizards could address that by creating an API usable by third parties. A DDB subscriber comes to the third party app, the app confirms their identity with DDB, and then DDB serves up the data to which that subscriber has access. The third-party app then presents that data in whatever way fits their design.

However, while Wizards could do this, there isn't a chance in hell that they will. It would have been a great idea back at the start of 5E, when the D&D team had been cut down almost to nothing; put out the API and let a thousand character builders bloom. Today, though, they are clearly aiming to dominate this space, and there's no reason for them to help out the competition.

 

[Greg Benage]

New for November 2026: The Mace and Morningstar Pack ($1.99)

Equip your virtuamini(tm) with an exciting array of new weapon options.

Includes
Mace w/solid head
Mace w/decorative head (Torm)
Morningstar wooden/crude spikes
Morningstar metal/curved
Weapon Color: Tormish Silver Glint*

* Only available with optional Faerun Diety Pack purchased

Note: Weapons are for medium sized virtuaminis only. For alternate sized versions please check out the Small Weapon Pack or Large Weapon Pack.

Also available with Season Pass 4 Premium or Eye Tyrant Subscription

Hasbro Executive: "We could leverage the blockchain to maximize monetization. Make them NFTs!"

 

[Mallus]

I was prepared to rail against 'subscribing to D&D'...

... until I remembered I upgraded my Roll20 account to the first paid tier, so I already do.

I'll be back as soon as I update my diatribe to railing against 'being forced to subscribe to D&D through WotC'.

(which is actually somewhat of a real concern for me)

 

[Dausuul]

Hasbro Executive: "We could leverage the blockchain to maximize monetization. Make them NFTs!"

I feel like the crypto craze is subsiding. After the latest plummet in crypto prices and the high-profile implosion of FTX, the word "blockchain" no longer makes VCs drool like Pavlov's dog.

That's not to say it won't be back -- it always comes back. (I doubt we will ever be rid of Bitcoin and its ilk, because it's a genuinely useful tool for criminals to move money around, and that sets a floor on demand which prevents it from going to zero where it belongs.) But with any luck we'll have a couple of years where the "industry" licks its wounds.

 

[Velderan]

My personal experience is that a lot more than 1 in 5 are DMs, but I realize that's anecdotal. In one group I play with 3 of the 6 people around the table are DMs, just one is DMing with that group at a time. In another group all 7 people are DMs. (I have another group, but it's heavy overlap with players in those two groups.) Heck, I run a game for my kids, niece and nephew, and my eldest and my nephew are both DMs running their own games so that's 3 DM with only 5 people around the table.

I'm trying to picture 1 DM for every 10 players, it's pretty far outside my experience.

If that was the norm, threads like this wouldn't exist. My guess is if you average out everything, the 20% number is probably about right based on groups that can't even find a DM and things like AL where you often have more people show up as players than the DM is willing or able to take on.

 

[Ancalagon]

WotC hired 350 people last year.

No idea how many are for DnDBeyond. Could be zero of them or all of them.

I'm just going on the OP:

 

[darjr]

I'm just going on the OP:

View attachment 269234

Yup, and I was clarifying. I should fix the post but it’s been edited and made a story and that can mess things up. I’ll update when I get a chance to clean that up.

Good point btw.

 

[Clint_L]

What Hasbro was primarily talking about is using D&D to make TV/streaming content, toys, video games, and movies. They are looking at what Marvel has and wanting it. Selling more stuff to players would be a nice bonus (DnDBeyond, etc.), but they have already done a good job of monetizing the conventional ways of reaching their main base (DMs) and are actually at risk of over-leveraging us.

"We're so vain we probably think that [fireside chat] was about us," but it really wasn't. They don't see us as the big money they are talking about; there just aren't enough of us and there are only so many adventure books they can sell. What they want is for the next Stranger Things or Vox Machina to be done either by them or under licence to them.

 

[Bedrockgames]

And if each user spends an average of $100 on D&D Beyond (subscription fee + additional products)?

You do the math.

Based on the comment after this about being undermonetized, you can bet they are looking at ways to get as much money from that registered userbase. Even an increase of $10 per user would be huge. Sadly, I see a bunch of microtransactions coming.

I'm already getting nickled and dimed on silly things like word programs on my computer. The good thing about RPGs was you bought them, and that was the transaction. Hopefully this doesn't signal a shift to making it a purely subscription service or something.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm already getting nickled and dimed on silly things like word programs on my computer. The good thing about RPGs was you bought them, and that was the transaction. Hopefully this doesn't signal a shift to making it a purely subscription service or something.

I think that's just the way of the business world now, much to my chagrin. We're seeing subscription type services everywhere, replacing things that were previously purchased one-time.