WotC Forbes’ Brett Knight visits Wizards of the Coast.

Brett Knight sits down with Cynthia Williams and talks about the future of the company with Dungeons and Dragons.

As Cynthia Williams settles into her chair atop a bearskin rug, three dragons stand watchful guard over her shoulder—each no more than a foot or so tall but no less fearsome, with plastic flames pouring from one’s mouth. The glass cases lining the room are filled with more horrible creatures, shrunken down in plastic miniature: ogres and devils and hobgoblins. Drawers pull out to reveal hundreds of polyhedral dice, with 10, 12 or 20 sides. Where a jumble of letters adorns the wall outside, the push of a button illuminates a hidden message: “Those granted entry shall be rewarded.”

Brett Knight mentions several things we already know, that D&D sales are growing rapidly among a younger audience.

Arpiné Kocharyan, a UBS analyst, estimates that D&D is now responsible for $100 million to $150 million in annual revenue ... around 40% of D&D players are now female ... 24% of D&D players are between 20 and 24 years old ... revenue up a reported 35% in 2020 from 2019 and more introductory D&D products sold in 2021 than when they were released in 2014 ...

They discuss the opportunity to grow via the VTT and DnDBeyond and marketing and selling digital things, about doing movies and TV, etc. Brett includes some history and quotes from the D&D historian Petersen, from Tim Kask, and the Hasbro CEO, Chris Cox.

I'm not sure how much is new in it, it does seem rather light for folks that have been reading about D&D and Wizards, but it's nice to see Cynthia Williams get some press. Here's hoping to hearing more from her.

Could Dungeons & Dragons Be The Next Harry Potter? Stranger Things Have Happened

As it nears 50 years old, the role-playing game is more popular than ever—and Hasbro is looking to cash in by moving its wizards and warriors to TV, movies, game consoles and even virtual tabletops.

www.forbes.com

 

[taosecurity]

I'm thrilled to see mainstream coverage of this topic. D&D seems like UFOs -- some people are really into it, and most others have only a basic idea, and that usually involves making fun of it. I was surprised that in 2022 the author needed to explain what D&D was, and that in the replies to his Twitter post people said they had no idea how D&D worked until the article.

 

[Pax Drowana]

if I see this and suddenly have become concerned about commercialisation. Did I just turn into a grognard?

Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies. Dry, tasteless cookies that take a lot of effort to eat but are completely worth it, dangnabbit!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

@TerraDave

That was the articles author not WotC, as far as I can tell.

correct it is the Forbes writer

 

[Ancalagon]

Yes, the whole D&D ecosystem exists to this day because people (The original WoTC management) were able to commercialise D&D.

This is 100% a valid point yet...

it's a bit binary.

Between commercial failure and corporate pablum, there is a middle. I should have said that I am concerned about over commercialization.

 

[Von Ether]

I'm thrilled to see mainstream coverage of this topic. D&D seems like UFOs -- some people are really into it, and most others have only a basic idea, and that usually involves making fun of it. I was surprised that in 2022 the author needed to explain what D&D was, and that in the replies to his Twitter post people said they had no idea how D&D worked until the article.

My girlfriend didn't know about D&D until she started dating me 3 years. Now she sees it everywhere. LOL! It's not her thing, but she respects it's my thing.

 

[Undrave]

D&D should totally replace Harry Potter. Maybe Universal Studio could just retheme their Harry Potter section to D&D less TERF support and just as much fantasy. Strixhaven movies when?

if I see this and suddenly have become concerned about commercialisation. Did I just turn into a grognard?

I don’t think you should worry about commercialism, but, having lived through the explosion of popularity of Transformers following the Michael Bay movies, and seeing Dinosaurs and ‘Go Go Power Rangers!’ theme songs being the automatic fall back for Power Rangers, I would worry about any ‘everygreenification’ of the brand by Hasbro.

5e has been relatively conservative but still managed to introduce some new stuff into the broader D&D zeitgeist (the MTG settings, some of the subclasses, Critical Role synergy, some of the crossover type products etc). I hope the future of the brand still has some experimentation.

Luckily, with Earthspark on the horizon, it feels like Hasbro is FINALLY moving out of its 'Evergreen' era for Transformers, with a new kid centric production that features new ideas, new characters, and new designs not adhering as ridigly based to the evergreen designs as Cyberverse. And the next season of Power Rangers is pulling a MMPR season 2 where they not only keep their current cast, but also only use the mecha footage from Japan and going in for a new space-bound adventure!

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Yup, they explicitly said that after the Beyond purchase that owning Beyond makes that possible, and they are actively selling a physical/digital bundle for Dragonlanxe.

The key there, though, is that it's a direct sale by Wizards. The real question is whether they're going to find a way to do that for FLGS and bigger retailers...

 

[UngainlyTitan]

This is 100% a valid point yet...

it's a bit binary.

Between commercial failure and corporate pablum, there is a middle. I should have said that I am concerned about over commercialization.

What does corporate pablum or over commercialism even mean? is this like when Dylan went electric? Who gets to decide?
WoTC exists to be commercial to turn a profit to sell games. TSR was founded for a similar reason. They are very definitely going to sell a version of D&D that is commercial. They are no longer leaving that one to chance. Hence the playtests. IF you want innovative and daring design in an RPG than D&D is never again going to be it.
They tried big and bold in 4e and are not going back there anytime soon. At least not while anyone that was there for 4e still works at the company.

Or are you afraid they will make a game you will not like?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Stryxhaven may be the net Harry Potter, but the stories based in IPs suffer the handicap the main characters can change that world. A famous franchise is a powerful brand, but it is not enough. Let's remember the number of superheroes movies what have worked in the box-office better or worse, or videogames from a saga.

I suspect Raveloft was redesigned for a easier cinematographic animation. The audence doesn't need to know the lore to enjoy a good horror story.

And I suspect there is a transition in the videogame industry. It is not only players wanted different things, but any players aren't happy with certain marketing strategy. And here a lot of players have discovered the TTRPG as a tool to can create and telling their own stories in their own way.

Maybe Paramount has found a "gold mine" with D&D, but the other cinema studios could try to imitate the same recipe (mixing comedy and epic fantasy), but this can cause an indirect advertising.

And Games Workshop should start to worry if WotC wants to sell its own D&D wargame.

 

[Von Ether]

D&D should totally replace Harry Potter. Maybe Universal Studio could just retheme their Harry Potter section to D&D less TERF support and just as much fantasy. Strixhaven movies when?


I don’t think you should worry about commercialism, but, having lived through the explosion of popularity of Transformers following the Michael Bay movies, and seeing Dinosaurs and ‘Go Go Power Rangers!’ theme songs being the automatic fall back for Power Rangers, I would worry about any ‘everygreenification’ of the brand by Hasbro.

5e has been relatively conservative but still managed to introduce some new stuff into the broader D&D zeitgeist (the MTG settings, some of the subclasses, Critical Role synergy, some of the crossover type products etc). I hope the future of the brand still has some experimentation.

Luckily, with Earthspark on the horizon, it feels like Hasbro is FINALLY moving out of its 'Evergreen' era for Transformers, with a new kid centric production that features new ideas, new characters, and new designs not adhering as ridigly based to the evergreen designs as Cyberverse. And the next season of Power Rangers is pulling a MMPR season 2 where they not only keep their current cast, but also only use the mecha footage from Japan and going in for a new space-bound adventure!

"Evergreen" has been Hasbro's holy grail for D&D for decades (e.g. getting rid of labor costs (R&D/game development and just printing a product like a board game or toy.) 5e's slow roll of books seems to be the closest they've gotten to that compared to the original plans for the Chainmail skirmish game.