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

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Actually the said they were “pretty sure” you were no being serious. Which I took to be what they earnestly believed, not an indictment on your viewpoint

we were asked by mod to drop this

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder if they are going to use their VTT for games Birthright style where players have to rule kings or guilds.

Other idea is if you buy a pack for the VTT, for example warriors and characters for Dark Sun, the gift will be DLCs for another game, for example skins for Fornite, or furnitures+clothing+tatoos for the Sims.

Hasbro has to sell books to avoid the market was eaten by the rivals. Simplely they are putting eggs in different eggs.

With the VTT could playtest new ideas, for example high-tech and superpowers, because here the risk is lower when to be fixed you only need to await to the next patch update.

 

[MNblockhead]

With the VTT could playtest new ideas, for example high-tech and superpowers, because here the risk is lower when to be fixed you only need to await to the next patch update.

Yeah, it would be great to have playtest material baked in as options in DDB and a WotC VTT for players to test. When using the play test material you would have a (hopefully not overly intrusive) request to easily click over to a survey. It would allow WotC to more easily collect data on adoption of and satisfaction with the new rules.

 

[Mark Craddock]

Looking I see the current eOne ceo is stepping down and they are closing the VR division. Also looking to sell off aspects of eOne, maybe, or just restructure.

The just announced Hasbro documentary is an eOne project.

Yeah, its possible after the next Transformers and the D&D movie eOne won't exist anymore and this is par for the course with Hasbro. I deal with them & WotC as both a game store owner and a toy fan and the WotC profits are hiding a lot of other divisions within the company's sins.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My opinion is Hasbro would rather to have got their own movie producer, and they are more focused into the multimedia franchises, thoses used to sell different merchandising products. Today Marvel makes more money with toys and other products than the paper comics themself.

 

[Malmuria]

 

[Parmandur]

Yeqj, Winninger hasn't touched Twotter in a month now, if he never responds to this seems fair to assume he is out.

 

[Mark Craddock]

My opinion is Hasbro would rather to have got their own movie producer, and they are more focused into the multimedia franchises, thoses used to sell different merchandising products. Today Marvel makes more money with toys and other products than the paper comics themself.

But they have that and it appears they are phasing it out, I'm assuming, due to a cost benefit analysis and that is what I find so confusing. I spend time on Transformer boards and the word on there is that Hasbro is moving away from eOne because they couldn't achieve a MCU like universe for its properties. Bumblebee had better reviews than early Transformers films but didn't make a ton of money, Snake-Eyes was a flop, and I'm assuming the final decision will depend on Rise of the Beasts and the D&D Movie's performance.

 

[darjr]

Ray's linked in still has Wizards as his workplace. Other than that I know nothing.

 

[Stormonu]

I would be surprised if they ever officially call it 6e. I could care less either way as long as it's good and the basics stay roughly the same as 5e.

While the playtest is still in flux as they throw out a bunch of contradicting ideas, it's clear the end result will be there's going to be changes. At the very least, we're more likely to see the Tasha's Ranger in the PHB than the original, for example - if not another variation they're brewing up. It's still up in the air about the level of compatability - it'd be nice if I could still buy adventures post the rerelease and use them without having to modify, but I really doubt that's going to happen. I think that's even less likely with player-side content.

You're right that WotC won't call it 6E, but if it's different enough, the community will - and that is what matters.