Dungeons & Dragons Shifts to Franchise Model, Dan Ayoub Named as Head

Wizards of the Coast has shifted Dungeons & Dragons to a "franchise model," with former Senior VP of Digital Games Dan Ayoub named as the new VP of Franchise for the game. Ayoub made the announcement on LinkedIn late yesterday, announcing the shift in franchise. In Ayoub's words, the new model means that everything related to Dungeons & Dragons - books, video games, film, and TV - will now live under one roof. Ayoub stated that this model will allow for a "strong, coordinated, and well-funded approach for the franchise.

Ayoub comes from the video game industry, having worked at Microsoft for 11 years prior to jumping over to Wizards of the Coast. He notably worked on the Halo video game franchise for years, working as a Studio Head and Executive Producer of 343 Industries. He also worked as an executive producer for Ubisoft and a Game Director for The Walt Disney Company.

When first announcing his move to Wizards of the Coast back in 2022, Ayoub stated that he was a fan of both D&D and Magic: The Gathering, having played both as a child.

 

[bedir than]

Rawson left D&D for Hasbro DtC btw.

He talked about 60% growth in DnD Beyond and other DtC revenue for the game

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As Spaceballs once put, "Dnd the video game, dnd the toilet paper."

Somewhere, @philreed is pondering dungeon geomorphs on a toilet paper-style roll of paper.

 

[bedir than]

It's not a big deal until there's bologna

cc @Alphastream

 

[mearls]

As another example - the annual events like Tomb of Annihilation are 100% a byproduct of a franchise model. If you liked that era, this might be a signal that they want to go back to something like that.

 

[SteveC]

So it looks like WotC had someone do the Marvel presentation for them, back when Marvel was having troubles and they told them the value of the company wasn't in comic books, but in the comic book character IP. And so we have D&D where there are owlbears and beholders and dragons ... and that's something we can market.

The thing that Marvel did at the start was get a lot of smart people together and create a road map where everything built on the last project. I am hoping, but also not very confident, that WotC will be able to do that. People who understand franchising and marketing, that's one thing. People who know what's cool about D&D and what D&D fans like, that's something else. And, unfortunately, the venn diagram for those two groups doesn't overlap that much.

 

[ART!]

Think of how Marvel and DC make sure their comic book status quos line up with the movies before they come out.

My impression is the opposite - the lack of synergy there frustrates me, or at least leaves me scratching my head. They might change some costumes, change a team line-up for a bit, feature a villain in a storyline, miniseries, or crossover, but that's about it. Maybe that's what you mean. It's just always surprised me that neither company has ever had a line of comics that's even vaguely in continuity with the films and tv.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I would lie if I said I am surprised. Hasbro's strategy has been enoughly obvious since a long time ago and I don't blame them.

The key is the coherence of the continuity. But Dragonlance and some other almost all D&D settings were designed to be the place of adventures of numerous different groups of heroes. The franchise is the setting, and it isn't too linked with a small number of main characters.

If Hasbro wanted, they are free to produce, for example, a Pokemon-style videogame about catching, training and collecting monsters but roleplayers would like to enjoy it in their own tabletop games. If Hasbro wanted we could see crossovers with other franchises, for example Ghostbuster and Ravenloft (but I doubt seriously crossovers with other titles where characters can use firearms or advanced technology). I wonder the reason because we don't see a D&D-Fortnite collab, or a "Dragon Quest"-D&D collab.

 

[Lidgar]

I was a huge fan of Halo when under Bungie. Then Micorsoft/347 took over, and it was a long, steady decline. That included introducing lore elements that many fans of the franchise were not crazy about.

Not saying that will be the case here, but the track record here is not great IMO.

 

[Nylanfs]

While true I didn't see anything either, at the end of the day the goal is to maximize utilization of the "brand".

As Spaceballs once put, "Dnd the video game, dnd the toilet paper."

I want a D&D Flamethrower...

 

[J-H]

If we have more kids I would totally go for a stuffed Owlbear instead of a stuffed bear as a toddler toy!

It's a corporate reorg, so the name is just that - a name. We'll see what changes about their actions.