Chris Cocks says to expect more D&D crossover products

Chris Cocks says that more crossover products are coming from the D&D team. Speaking with GamesRadar this week, the Hasbro CEO confirmed that more D&D crossover products were in the works, citing the success of Magic: The Gathering. "I don't want to take away any headlines from the D&D team," Cocks said, "but I think you can definitely expect more crossovers inside of D&D. I mean, we've had such a fantastic experience with [crossovers] with Magic: The Gathering. D&D is a fantastic play system that I think is very open ended. You already have a fairly wide spectrum with things like Spelljammer to Curse of Strahd. So you already kind of have the DNA for it handled inside the system. So, yeah [...] You should expect more of those."

Wizards has dabbled with crossover products in the past, with multiple Magic: The Gathering campaign setting books, a Critical Role adventure campaign and setting book, and boxed sets featuring Stranger Things and Rick & Morty. While Magic: The Gathering has a more robust crossover lines called Universes Beyond, most of the IPs involved already have bespoke tabletop RPG games of some kind, so looking to that line might not be a firm indicator of what's coming for D&D. We'll note that Hasbro recently entered into a licensing deal with Harry Potter and has also dabbled with the ultra-popular Fourth Wing romantasy franchise, so those could be where D&D could be looking for future crossover products. However, that's pure speculation on our end.

 

[Parmandur]

There is but WotC wasn’t know for doing much with crossovers like that. If they were I’d bet a DCC conversation would have happened. Maybe.

25 years ago WotC did Star Wars and Wheel of Time. Honestly would make sense for them to do that sort of thing, as part of Hasbro with all those contacts and possibilities.

 

[diceexmachina]

WotC, don't do so many weird outside crossovers. Just give us the Magic worlds that scratch subgenre itches the official D&D worlds don't scratch, like Kamigawa, Bloomburrow, and Edge of Eternities!

 

[darjr]

25 years ago WotC did Star Wars and Wheel of Time. Honestly would make sense for them to do that sort of thing, as part of Hasbro with all those contacts and possibilities.

But not now. Not for 25 years. Did LitRPGs exist back then?

 

[darjr]

WotC, don't do so many weird outside crossovers. Just give us the Magic worlds that scratch subgenre itches the official D&D worlds don't scratch, like Kamigawa, Bloomburrow, and Edge of Eternities!

Those would be neat.

I think others would be too like Delicious in Dungeons.

 

[nyvinter]

A lot of Hasbro's licences are about things they get to make, not insert their own IP into it or do things that the license doesn't cover. So no, they can't take Star Wars and cross over with D&D, boardgames are not covered by the toy line license. And they could just make their own toy line anyway without having to muddy the IP ownerships.

So most likely this is about other people doing things with the D&D IP.

 

[Reynard]

So most likely this is about other people doing things with the D&D IP.

That is not at all how the given quote reads. it is very clearly about D&D doing things like what magic is doing -- little sets that adapt some other property to game. I expect these to be Beyond exclusives and/or boxed sets, not full books, and certainly not Magic setting for D&D.

 

[Nobleshield]

Can they, you know, actually focus on making GOOD D&D products again instead of this multiverse garbage? This isn't Marvel comic book bullcrap.

 

[Imaro]

Can they, you know, actually focus on making GOOD D&D products again instead of this multiverse garbage? This isn't Marvel comic book bullcrap.

Since at least AD&D 1e there has been a multiverse for D&D... it's not a new thing.

 

[Desdichado]

Wasnt it always D&D though? Didnt Elminster and by extension the Realms make their debut in Dragon Magazine articles called Pages by the Mages or something like that. I remember being excited by those articles and it's what prompted me to buy the first Realms grey box when it came out in 88-89 or thereabouts.

No, Forgotten Realms was created back in the late 60s. It wasn't D&D until the 80s. I still wonder sometimes how much "Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms" is even D&D at all, or how much it resembles the products that we know. I'm sure he's migrated in many ways towards the D&D paradigm, because why wouldn't he, but I suspect that it still has plenty of non-D&D idiosynchracies.

 

[Sossij]

I mean half the appeal to D&D 5E right now for some of us is alternate setting stuff like Humblewood, Obojima, [insert your favorite 3rd party setting here], and all the stuff we see in the print and crowdfuning news posts. I hear even these "EN Publishing" guys have a few!

I'm not sure anyone would mind seeing their favorite IP adapted to 5E.

EDIT: I need to remember to pick up the Phantasy Star RPG (which is 5E).