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New shows feature animation, influencers, and actual plays
This summer, a new free streaming channel will be launched by eOne, the entertainment company owned by Hasbro. It will be ad-supported and available on multiple (as yet unspecified) platforms and feature a mix of animation, third party influencers, and actual play shows.
The old 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon will be available, along with shows like:
Encounter Party is based on an existing podcast and set in the Forgotten Realms.
Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is a comedy game stream in each episode of which a party of 1st level characters march to their deaths against deadly monsters.
I’m sure they have new stuff being generated and old stuff banked. Plus licensing things that fit the genre like old cartoons that Hasbro May now own the rights to that are relevant.
They aren’t ’coming after’ them. It is a potential area of growth. It was inevitable when Crtiical Role indicated they were moving into streaming their own games.
I didn’t see you indicate Critical Role was coming after D&D when they jumped into publishing.
Very cool that the cartoon is going to be made more available. Weirdly excited Arbour the Heroic Feast dhow, because thst cookbook was actually super legit.
I don't know how much more available the cartoon could be, its available on youtube (not sure of legality, but WotC doesn't bother with having it pulled and its extremely blatant, so easy to have it pulled down if they wanted to) and WotC put it out on twitch.
Anyways I'mm curious what other animation the channel will have.
Also I suspect this is a by product of their deal with G4TV dying after well G4TV ended for the second time.
Don't over spend on each live stream programming, that is partly why G4TV 2.0 failed, they spent more money then they have viewership to justify. Super expensive sets and stuff in a market that was already dominated by the competition on youtube and twitch.
I also wonder if this will be one of those Roka free tv things.
I think the animation stuff is more likely to suceed honestly, I don't think CR success is so easily replicated.
I mean, they sponsored a metric ton of shows over the past decade, from Force Grey to the Black Dice Society. I wouldn't actually bet against them having rights to that amount of material, though obviously they are putting out new stuff, too.
Granted this is all speculation and just how it looks to me after about 6 months of WotC's regular missteps with the community.
The leaked early draft of the OGL sought to forbid D&D content on video - including "pantomimes" (aka TikTok). This is their opportunity to enforce that.
Where did the fanbase organize against the OGL (and also criticism about Spelljammer and other products) - on social media platforms such as YouTube. WotC would've LOVED to shut that down. If all video creators are on their WotC's channel, that's easy.
When they sent Kyle Brink on his goodwill tour, they put him on YouTube. Imagine having all the viewers of D&D content only watching on a D&D Channel - they can frame the message however they want.
They recently sent private security to intimidate a YouTuber who was showing off Magic cards because they specifically wanted to control what was shown.
Critical Role (the biggest D&D live streamers) are breaking away. If they were tied into a D&D channel, their success would be heavily monetized by Hasbro and they'd be locked into that ecosystem.
And granted, they aren't always as antagonistic as GW, but when GW did this, they went after battle reports, painting tutorials, lore videos, and more to boost their faltering subscription channel. I would be very surprised if they're not looking at GW as a model of what to do. As a community, we need to make sure WotC knows this isn't acceptable to our community.
They aren’t ’coming after’ them. It is a potential area of growth. It was inevitable when Crtiical Role indicated they were moving into streaming their own games.
I didn’t see you indicate Critical Role was coming after D&D when they jumped into publishing.
I don't know if I've clearly stated on here what I think of Critical Role's announcement regarding their new game releases, but I've certainly told my group and friends what I think. (I've not posted it here previously because I know many of you are big 5e fans, and I don't want to upset anybody. I'll put it in spoilers if you're curious.)
I think CR just made OneD&D "DOA." I think it's dead, at least compared to what D&D has been for the past 8 years or so. It's going to be a failure of a magnitude we haven't seen in decades. It's going to drop off to levels like we saw in the TSR late 2e era.
I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that Warhammer + has been struggling a bit for quality content so it will be interesting to see how this strategy plays out.
While I'm not impressed with a Twitch-like experience, I see parallels to ESPEN. It may be less polished but when people want something familiar yammering in the background as they do chores in the house, this might fit the bill.
Hasbro has wanted to control cartoons forever, because they sell toys (Top Left Quadrant). That expanded to movies, and Hasbro's investor calls are usually dominated by whether or not a Transformers movie is out to bolster toy sales.
If the quadrant is indicative of what they're planning, the channel will also be the home of "Music/Artists" and "Esports". The documentary will likely be released there too.
Granted this is all speculation and just how it looks to me after about 6 months of WotC's regular missteps with the community.
The leaked early draft of the OGL sought to forbid D&D content on video - including "pantomimes" (aka TikTok). This is their opportunity to enforce that.
Where did the fanbase organize against the OGL (and also criticism about Spelljammer and other products) - on social media platforms such as YouTube. WotC would've LOVED to shut that down. If all video creators are on their WotC's channel, that's easy.
When they sent Kyle Brink on his goodwill tour, they put him on YouTube. Imagine having all the viewers of D&D content only watching on a D&D Channel - they can frame the message however they want.
They recently sent private security to intimidate a YouTuber who was showing off Magic cards because they specifically wanted to control what was shown.
Critical Role (the biggest D&D live streamers) are breaking away. If they were tied into a D&D channel, their success would be heavily monetized by Hasbro and they'd be locked into that ecosystem.
And granted, they aren't always as antagonistic as GW, but when GW did this, they went after battle reports, painting tutorials, lore videos, and more to boost their faltering subscription channel. I would be very surprised if they're not looking at GW as a model of what to do. As a community, we need to make sure WotC knows this isn't acceptable to our community.
I don't know if I've clearly stated on here what I think of Critical Role's announcement regarding their new game releases, but I've certainly told my group and friends what I think. (I've not posted it here previously because I know many of you are big 5e fans, and I don't want to upset anybody. I'll put it in spoilers if you're curious.) I think CR just made OneD&D "DOA."
I think it's dead, at least compared to what D&D has been for the past 8 years or so. It's going to be a failure of a magnitude we haven't seen in decades. It's going to drop off to levels like we saw in the TSR late 2e era.
First, the arguments about the proposed changes are water under the bridge. Some people wanted to do something, they were slapped down. I don't see how that matters to what's happening now.
As far as CR, CR is not D&D. Maybe campaign 4 of CR will switch to the new system, maybe it won't. They produce content now using a variety of systems, I haven't heard anything official about what they're thinking about for season 4 of their main campaign. But even if they do switch systems I think the main thing they've shown is that TTRPGs can be fun, at this point I don't think anyone knows what CR switching to a different system would do.
Maybe the 2024 edition will succeed, maybe it won't. I get that you hate WOTC, but nobody knows what the future brings.
