Hasbro CEO: "D&D is Really on a Tear"

Sorry, that laugh was a result of clumsy fingers on my phone.

 

[neobolts]

Sure. Just not Michael Bay. Giant explosions with American flags waving in the background doesn't scream fantasy to me.

I'm picturing a terrible Bay remake based on the old cartoon rather than a campaign setting. But with really attractive people on a roller coaster and lots of misplaced humor about genitals and body functions. Also racially insensitive jive talking quasits.

 

[Agamon]

I'm picturing a terrible Bay remake based on the old cartoon rather than a campaign setting. But with really attractive people on a roller coaster and lots of misplaced humor about genitals and body functions. Also racially insensitive jive talking quasits.

Great. Thanks for that image. You're as bad as Bay, stop ruining my childhood!

 

[Harry Dresden]

I don't know how information flows upwards at your company, but every place I've worked, information is collated by worker bees below who put the best possible face on it and send it up. Where manager worker bees reorganize it and put the best possible face on it and send it up. Where VP worker bees, etc. By the time information gets to the CEO, it's no longer the original data. It's been massaged and sanitized by at least one layer of other people.

I'm not sure your assumption here is necessarily accurate. It might be, but it might not. Obviously, the CEO knows some information about a minor product line in his company, but for us, D&D is a big dot deal. For Hasbro (revenue $4 billion), it's a tiny line item (maybe revenue in the ballpark of 1% or 2%, maybe someone here knows).

I do know that most companies try to have product go out to the marketplace constantly. There might be some heavier sales times (like Christmas for a gaming company) and there are obvious surges like when new product is released, but even if you look at WotC, they released product basically every single month of last year. It just wasn't all D&D and even D&D wasn't just 5E (novels, miniatures, boardgames, etc.).

Exactly!

Most CEO's and upper management are given reports that have been passed along. D&D could have just been one of the products that were put on the list without the CEO knowing just how well it's actually doing.

I say D&D is doing good but I don't think it's doing as good as some of you seem to believe. New editions always sell so that's nothing new nor is it any kind of evidence that it's going to last until it's expected expiration date.

 

[ExploderWizard]

It can also mean going on a drunken bender!

Which would have been VERY appropriate for 5E if the intoxicated condition from the first playtest packet made it into the final rules. Drunk fighters RULE!!

 

[AriochQ]

Just my personal opinion, but I think Hasbro is missing the boat on D&D. The game is 'on a tear' yet staffing still seems inadaquate, the release schedule is abysmal, no open game license, and very few third party contracts. I am not a CEO, but if I was I would be irrate that we weren't making more money off a product that is 'on a tear'. They are literally leaving money on the table at this point.

 

[Halivar]

Just my personal opinion, but I think Hasbro is missing the boat on D&D. The game is 'on a tear' yet staffing still seems inadaquate, the release schedule is abysmal, no open game license, and very few third party contracts. I am not a CEO, but if I was I would be irrate that we weren't making more money off a product that is 'on a tear'. They are literally leaving money on the table at this point.

Two things:
1) You're assuming that they are not happy with the amount of money (probably gobs) they are making. I bet their profit margins are huge, since they aren't printing fifteen bajillion splat books.
2) For the last couple editions, they pump n' dumped, and we now know, for certain, that this is an abysmal long-term growth strategy. This time they want to grow the fatted calf instead of killing it with premature market saturation.

 

[AriochQ]

Two things:
1) You're assuming that they are not happy with the amount of money (probably gobs) they are making. I bet their profit margins are huge, since they aren't printing fifteen bajillion splat books.
2) For the last couple editions, they pump n' dumped, and we now know, for certain, that this is an abysmal long-term growth strategy. This time they want to grow the fatted calf instead of killing it with premature market saturation.

There is a happy medium between the current scarcity of product and the saturation of prior editions. I am willing to bet there are many who, like me, would be willing to spend some disposible income on a decent product related to their gaming hobby. I run a home brewed campaign (set in Greyhawk since I am old school lol) so the adventures they have published are not relevent to me. I know it sounds somewhat silly that I am complaining they won't take my money, but I would love to see some supplements specific to 5th edition.

For example, I would love a 5th ed. Rogues Gallery (like I said, I am old school). Sure I can go online and pull sheets for 5th ed NPC's, but having them all in one book is sort of nice when you need one on the fly. There are a ton of other things they could put out that people would be willing to purchase. That would be nowhere near market saturation.

 

[Halivar]

For example, I would love a 5th ed. Rogues Gallery (like I said, I am old school). Sure I can go online and pull sheets for 5th ed NPC's, but having them all in one book is sort of nice when you need one on the fly. There are a ton of other things they could put out that people would be willing to purchase. That would be nowhere near market saturation.

TBF, there's hasn't been a need for a Rogue's Gallery since the advent of the internet, and its attendant cornucopia of NPC generators (shameless plug: my sig has the very bestest OSRIC henchmen generator on the planet Earth). I visit each one (for variety), randomly pump out ten or so characters, and print them out to keep in a folder.

 

[AriochQ]

TBF, there's hasn't been a need for a Rogue's Gallery since the advent of the internet, and its attendant cornucopia of NPC generators (shameless plug: my sig has the very bestest OSRIC henchmen generator on the planet Earth). I visit each one (for variety), randomly pump out ten or so characters, and print them out to keep in a folder.

Except nearly all the generators are 'generic'. Since they are so tight fisted with OGL, there are no 5th ed. specific. Could I go through and bring them up to 5th ed standards? Sure, but I am no longer 17 years old. I have a job, wife, family, etc. I would rather spend $20 to open a book and have a 5th ed. ready NPC with a decently fleshed out personality and background ready to go.

That being said, not of that really relates to the larger point. Hasbro is missing up on a chance to make money on a successful product and the CEO probably doesn't realize it. If I owned stock in such a company, I would be very unhappy.

 

[Halivar]

Hasbro is missing up on a chance to make money on a successful product and the CEO probably doesn't realize it. If I owned stock in such a company, I would be very unhappy.

Part of what I'm saying is that the community can do a lot of these things WotC could be selling for free, and better than WotC can or will do (going by historical precedence). Now, this is an excellent argument for a near-future public license, which, having been obtained, will free WotC to focus on things that will grow the hobby and bring in new players. IMHO, these are official adventures (which I do not run, but are vital to grow the hobby) and organized play (which, from all reports, they are excelling at).

One of the nice things about being owned by a conglomerate owned by another conglomerate is that the D&D team is not answerable to shareholders who have zero interest in growing the hobby. True, a shareholder would like a pump n' dump, with the promise of a new edition to yield another profit spike. I am thankful the game is helmed by people who love the game, want it to grow, and are, for the moment, without high expectations from their owners' owners' owners.