WotC Some Takeaways From Hasbro's Latest Reports

Hasbro's latest quarterly conference call included a number of interesting details regarding Wizards of the Coast and Dungeon & Dragons.

CEO Chris Cocks reported a successful quarter, with the 2024 Player's Handbook selling 50% more copies than anticipated.

He also talked about D&D Beyond, the official D&D online platform. With 19 million registered users, he reported that a massive 60% of D&D's revenue was direct to consumer sales--as recently as 2022 when Hasbro purchased D&D Beyond from Fandom, that figure was 0%.

However, WotC's revenue was down 5% from the same period last year--and this despite Magic: the Gathering reporting a 3% increase. Tabletop sales overall were up 2%, but digital sales have dropped by a whopping 19%. Cocks attributed WotC's drop to the high peak caused by Baldur's Gate 3 last year.

• WotC down 5%
• Magic: the Gathering up 3%
• Tabletop up 2%
• Digital sales down 19%
• Total Hasbro gaming down 6%
• Toys down 10%
• Entertainment down 17% (not counting the eOne sale)

Hasbro's profit for this quarter was $223.2 million; the same period last year saw a $171.1 million loss.

 

[Parmandur]

I believe digital sales include bg3 and they was a h*ck if a windfall.

Yeah, hard to replicate that. Though WotC specifically building their own software studios is specifically to bring thst more within their ability to plan for and predict.

 

[cranberry]

Spawning a mega-hit like BG3 is, optimistically, a once-a-decade occurrence. That revenue is always going to be a weird outlier.

If 60% of D&D's revenue is now from D&D Beyond, I'd say their pivot to digital has been broadly successful.

Yep, like I said, it will be interesting to see the results without BG3 being a factor.

 

[Stalker0]

Considering that almost all sales were down but they went from a big loss last year to a profit this quarter…suggests that wotcs cost cutting measures (whether you agree with them or not) has definately helped the bottom line

 

[mamba]

Considering that almost all sales were down but they went from a big loss last year to a profit this quarter…suggests that wotcs cost cutting measures (whether you agree with them or not) has definately helped the bottom line

Hasbro, not WotC, and that loss could be something like selling eOne at a loss rather than an operating loss, I very much doubt firing the people resulted in more than a fraction of that change

 

[Parmandur]

Hasbro, not WotC, and that loss could be something like selling eOne at a loss rather than an operating loss, I very much doubt firing the people resulted in more than a fraction of that change

Haabro cut ~1100 positions last year. That probably means savings of between $50-100 million per year. Based on the swing in loss to profit...that's a fair chunk.

 

[Zardnaar]

Hasbro, not WotC, and that loss could be something like selling eOne at a loss rather than an operating loss, I very much doubt firing the people resulted in more than a fraction of that change

This they wrote off eOne.

They also push numbers they want people to care about. 60% digital sales might look good but it's not great if sales overall are down a lot. They're not in this case just pointing out cherry picked data can cause problems.

 

[dave2008]

When they say digital sales are down, does that mean DNDBeyond sales are down? If so, could that have anything to do with the decision to remove a la carte sales?

They specifically cited that digital sales last year were inflated by BG3 sales. Those sales are much, much lower now - so less digital sales overall

 

[Scribe]

They specifically cited that digital sales last year were inflated by BG3 sales. Those sales are much, much lower now - so less digital sales overall

Seems slightly weird to put BG3 in 'Digital Sales' anyway. Its a third party licensing line item, not a 'Digital Sale' of the RPG.

 

[dave2008]

Seems slightly weird to put BG3 in 'Digital Sales' anyway. Its a third party licensing line item, not a 'Digital Sale' of the RPG.

Maybe, but that is what they did. I can only report what they said!

 

[Scribe]

Maybe, but that is what they did. I can only report what they said!

Yeah, and considering their manipulation of things to influence the numbers (by Hasbro, not you), I'm not shocked. Its always as much of a shell game as people can get away with.