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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BrassDragon" data-source="post: 8911467" data-attributes="member: 7791">Alright, I've been trying to separate the new 'factual' (but unconfirmed) information in this video from the gossipy 'this is how people act and feel' stuff that seems be to the main focus of the conversation so far. Feels like there is more to the implication that Wizards is an unsafe work environment but that's not the thrust of the video and should probably be better investigated and sourced... if true, it would deserve its own thread.If we put that aside, what we learned is:Business vision:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Under a vision dubbed 'Hasbro 2.0' (EDIT: 'Blueprint 2.0'), the company wants to focus on fewer IPs but those individual IPs should be massive</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic: the Gathering already is such a brand, D&D is earmarked to be the another one, allegedly striving for $500 million USD revenue per annum by 2028 (currently estimated to be $100-150 million USD per annum)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">To get there, Wizards of the Coast leadership envisions a fully digital game in their walled garden where every bit of cosmetic and narrative content can be monetized to players and DMs, preferably on a recurring (=subscription) basis</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This would shift the focus from quarterly print releases to monthly content drops</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Printed books would be positioned as 'treasured collectibles' rather than core products</li> </ul>Business strategy:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The above vision is threatened by other digital initiatives, namely Foundry VTT, Roll 20, HeroForge and (at least until the take-over in April 2022) D&D Beyond and other third party online content (which they apparently call 'pirate sites') such as 5E.tools. These must be 'killed'.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The current OGL makes stopping these initiatives difficult if not impossible. Apparently this is the driving force behind the hard push for OGL revocation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The positioning of homebrew content in this new order is unclear but sources claim it was meant to be monetized despite denials on the D&D Beyond twitter feed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Most staff was not informed of the OGL changes until January 11, 2023 (for reference: Gizmodo article about leaked OGL 1.1 dropped January 5)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The walled garden being developed has the project name 'Sandcastle'</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">EDIT: Wizard's Digital game VP was apparently surprised by/against the acquisition of D&D Beyond, with his team already working on similar functionality and the resentment persists. Some of the more contradictory statements might be the result of this corporate factionalism.</li> </ul>Sandcastle: Unreal-powered 'digital experience'<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The $30 USD / month subscription fee was widely discussed internally, despite the denial of same through the D&D Beyond twitter feed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character attacks, spells, abilities, animations can all be bought as microtransactions</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Aims to let a group play without a DM and a solo player without a group</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tailor-made adventures will be designed for the new virtual tabletop with scenario- or encounter-based DM assistance (apparently the source of 'AI DMs' rumors, seems like the proposed feature is less ambitious than that)</li> </ul>There is more in the video, but it's mostly about personalities, hierachy, internal factions, workplace safety and how it feels to the insiders.</blockquote>

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