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.

 

[Zardnaar]

I do agree with that. Maybe I was not looking outside my bubble. Sometimes I have a hard time doing that.

Edit:
But maybe we should try being mad about people in charge of education instead of companies who make money in this system and mainly use it to bring fun to people.

I'm somewhere in the middle I don't mind reasonable monetization but against the worst practices of it. Those being loot boxes, excessive microtransactions, poor quality and incomplete products they sell you the rest later.

As to education it's basically free/cheap here. Only 25% of the population goes to university.

I would be shocked if ENworld didn't have 50%+ university educated posters and wouldn't be surprised if it's 75-90%.

I've got thousands of dollars if product but even I'm not willing to drop even more on terrain and custom minis and I don't have rent or mortgage to pay.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Same company using similar language in a chat about MtG where they basically said "F the players full steam ahead".

In a vacumn you're kinda right but context and what's going on with MtG and what the chat was actually about.

They have different managers. The senior manager in the next county over in my company is a bad manager, but that doesn't mean my manager is.

 

[Zardnaar]

The thread that you linked has lots of counter-examples that there isn't a DM shortage. The OP talks about non D&D GMs desperately looking for players, the second post questions the source as looking for eyeballs, the third post is about OSR not having a DM shortage, the fourth that every player in his game is also a DM and the sixth says the same. The seventh talks about problems finding players. The eight is 3 DMs in the group. It just keeps going on. The thread doesn't seem to support there being a widespread DM shortage at all, rather the opposite.

And things like AL with more players then DM really says nothing about the ratio of DMs to players when you are talking about the larger picture of "DMs purchase more". Everyone single one of those players could also be a DM - just not the DM for this particular AL game.

ENworlds a bubble and not even remotely representative of the rest of the D&D players.

If you're posting here by default you're more or less a hard core player.

 

[R_J_K75]

Ahem.

Dragonlance - Free Monstrous Compendium Volume II Includes Dragon Highlord Verminaard

Over on D&D Beyond you can grab a copy of Dragonlance Creatures, the second digital official Monstrous Compendium volume. This volume includes entries from the original Dragonlance Chronicles storyline of the 1980s, such as Dragon Highlord Verminaard (at CR 17!) and his dragon, Ember, along with...

www.enworld.org

Remove the word free from that title and that might be what D&D/D&DB looks like 2025 forward?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It does effect other gamers though. People here don't really get it.

For example I suspect most ENworld posters are university educated aged 30-40 on middle class or better incomes.

In my Facebook group there's some DMs who have dropped big money on stuff like terrain, custom minis etc. Thousands of dollars if one had to guess.

It raises expectations kind of like CR's Mercer Effect or even what porn is doing to say young women.

I remember when I had to turn a spare bedroom into a full medieval-themed game room, because my players had watched Critical Role. Signing up for the voice lessons was the easy part, but man, all the work with the contractors was a bear.

 

[Zardnaar]

I remember when I had to turn a spare bedroom into a full medieval-themed game room, because my players had watched Critical Role. Signing up for the voice lessons was the easy part, but man, all the work with the contractors was a bear.

I said it changes expectations not that you have to do it.

New campaign I switched to TotM it got commented on.

It's not because I think TotM is better I was cutting down on crap I have to carry.

Last three years they got used to using minis.

Not the best example perhaps but more making a point.

Some of the DMs in said group are paid DMs, others are looking for paid DMs. One if the really good ones (by accounts idk the person) uses elaborate terrain and minis as part of the offered experience.

So another DM who wants to charge in a similar blication in effect has to compete with that. May not have the cash.

As for elaborate minis, ships, villages, lakes etc.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Remove the word free from that title and that might be what D&D/D&DB looks like 2025 forward?

Or remove the word "monstrous" and maybe WotC will just go into the encyclopedia business.

This thread is like someone's spouse being mad at them because they got cheated on in a dream.

Be upset about things that actually happen, not about nightmare scenarios you invent.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I'm somewhere in the middle I don't mind reasonable monetization but against the worst practices of it. Those being loot boxes, excessive microtransactions, poor quality and incomplete products they sell you the rest later.

I have been playing some games with loot boxes and currently play a game that in 2 days gets rid of them.

1. I'd rather have loot boxes and battle passes, and pay a few bucks for a game instead of watching ads, as long as there are fair offers.

2. I hate the mentality of thinking, that everything needs to be free. I think you should spend a few bucks on games you like to appreciate the efford of the creators to present a good game. If the free to play mentality was not that present, loot boxes and microtransactions would be unnecessary.

3. I am still baffled, that there are offers in the game which are clearly so heavily overpriced, that elementary school math would be enough to avoid them. Easily. Without efford.

4. I think pay to progress is not that bad. Some people have more money than time and some have more time than money. And some people just come a bit late to the party and can speed progression up a bit. The question is, if we need progression at all? Obviously most of us love a game where progression is everything, so it seems to sell better than a game without progression.
Again: as long as you don't need too much money (5 to 25 dollars) to have fun in a game, I call it fair game.

 

[Clint_L]

I don't think we have much to worry about as far as MtG shenanigans goes because WotC doesn't really have much to do with the collectibles end of D&D. Wizkids does that with their D&D/Pathfinder licensed miniatures for sure, but I don't see many current opportunities for that to happen within the game itself.

Now, the VTT might create some opportunities of that nature...

 

[Incenjucar]

There are definitely scummy business models out there that prey on people with impulse control issues. It's just not worth fretting about when it's not happening.