WotC Hasbro's CEO Reports OGL-Related D&D Beyond Cancellations Had Minimal Impact

Hasbro held a quarterly earnings call recently in which CEO Chris Cocks (who formerly ran WotC before being promoted) indicated that the OGL controversy had a "comparatively minor" impact on D&D's revenue due to D&D Beyond subscription cancellations. He also noted that D&D grew by 20% in 2022 (Magic: the Gathering revenues grew by an astonishing 40% in Quarter 4!)

WotC as a whole was up 22% in Q4 2022.

Lastly, on D&D, we misfired on updating our Open Gaming License, a key vehicle for creators to share or commercialize their D&D inspired content. Our best practice is to work collaboratively with our community, gather feedback, and build experiences that inspire players and creators alike - it's how we make our games among the best in the industry. We have since course corrected and are delivering a strong outcome for the community and game.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In the corporate world, everyone is a customer. Member sof other teams are customers, members of your own team are customers, the executives are customers, everyone. ABC, Always Be Selling.

That's "Always Be Celling," thank you.

It makes a lot more sense if you work for T*Mobile.

 

[BlueFin]

Does that mean the company as a whole, and the products that you buy, somehow tainted by that pantomime? No, not really.

That's your personal opinion, and I respect it as such. For myself, I think it is tainted, and I prefer to give my money to companies that deal honestly (or at least 'largely honestly' - I accept there will almost always be some amount of BS-ing, but in my view wotc/hasbro aren't being in any way honest, and it is continuing with Kyle Brinks).

That means there are a lot of companies I won't deal with and I choose to live without their product even though it's something I might actually like to have (eg. wotc is now in that group ) ... but it's also true that sometimes I have to suck it up and give money to a company I dislike (eg. mobile phone providers here in Australia - they all suck, but I can't really live without a mobile phone unfortunately) - thankfully though, there are a wealth of other (better) RPGs out there such that I never need spend another dime with wotc. Phew

 

[jerryrice4949]

Eh people will remember, this “no one will remember in a year” refrain comes up with every co teoversy and is almost always false.

It not being front page news doesn’t mean people don’t remember. It just isn’t news.

I kind of disagree. Yeah most people will remember but most won’t care unless new things bring it to the forefront. A year or two ago Paizo was accused of a hostile working conditions and now they are the poster boys for people discontented with WoTC.

 

[Clint_L]

Eh people will remember, this “no one will remember in a year” refrain comes up with every co teoversy and is almost always false.

It not being front page news doesn’t mean people don’t remember. It just isn’t news.

Eh, last year at this time we were all mad at Paizo for mistreating its employees, but by the time of the OGL crisis they were our heroes, leading the charge against Hasbro. Who knows what a year will bring? Maybe Disney tries to buy out Hasbro and we rally behind them in the battle against corporate homogenization or something. Or ChatGPT rewrites D&D according to its nonviolent protocols.

 

[Gammadoodler]

So how does the boycott which happened at the end of Jan and into Feb count for q4 2022 or year end 2022?

There is a lag between the end of the fiscal period and when they report on the results. For US public companies at year end this is usually a month and a half to 2 months as accountants and auditors need tine to finalize and test the reporting.

But things can happen in this lag time. News stories about lawsuits, natural disasters, government investigations, etc.

Companies are required to evaluate the impact of these 'subsequent events' in order to determine whether they should have impacted the financial statements they are presenting for the fiscal period. For example, if they are being sued, when did the event they're being sued over occur.

Sometimes they would need to adjust the books and disclose the impact. Other times, as in this case, they'd report the event and their assessment that no material impact occurred.

 

[Bill Zebub]

You literally quoted it. If Q1 of FY 2022 ended in late December 2021, their fiscal calendar must start in October, since October through December is 3 months (one quarter of a year).

I hate it when informed explanation spoils a perfectly good conspiracy theory.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I kind of disagree. Yeah most people will remember but most won’t care unless new things bring it to the forefront. A year or two ago Paizo was accused of a hostile working conditions and now they are the poster boys for people discontented with WoTC.

Every place I saw discussion of Paizo, multiple people brought that up as a reminder that they are no heroes, they just benefit from wotc’s failings. Every single time.

And I still see #fireMikeMearls in the comments of tweets about D&D , videos from DDB about the game, etc.

Eh, last year at this time we were all mad at Paizo for mistreating its employees, but by the time of the OGL crisis they were our heroes, leading the charge against Hasbro.

Hardly. See above.

Who knows what a year will bring? Maybe Disney tries to buy out Hasbro and we rally behind them in the battle against corporate homogenization or something. Or ChatGPT rewrites D&D according to its nonviolent protocols.

And people will, in every forums discussing that situation, talk about the time wotc tried to kill their competition and turn D&D into a walled garden, or whatever people think almost happened.

 

[nyvinter]

Eh, last year at this time we were all mad at Paizo for mistreating its employees, but by the time of the OGL crisis they were our heroes, leading the charge against Hasbro.

Not only what @doctorbadwolf said above, but also since then Paizo's workers unionized and the company didn't fight it. That goes quite a bit more than simply going "sorry" and continue as usual.

 

[Velderan]

Something like 2-3% theoretically canceled if my math is correct. That's a drop in the bucket. Depending on how many resubscibed (I would guess over 90%), it's probably a fraction of a percent drop.

There is no more widespread bad publicity, except for the typical clickbait that targets D&D because it's big. Within a few months only a few diehards (as a percentage of players) will even remember what happened. The success or failure of the movie will have far more impact.

How do you figure 2-3%? Have we ever seen actual numbers for DDB subscriptions?

 

[Iosue]

Not only what @doctorbadwolf said above, but also since then Paizo's workers unionized and the company didn't fight it. That goes quite a bit more than simply going "sorry" and continue as usual.

WotC canceled the entirety of their plans for a new OGL and put the whole 5.1 SRD in Creative Commons. That’s hardly saying “sorry,” and continuing as usual.