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

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

 

[Parmandur]

I'd prefer Michael Bay or latter day Peter Jackaon style D&D movies to no D&D movies, hands down.

 

[Celtavian]

Maybe it's just my cynical or pessimistic side showing through, but am I the only one who feels a little concerned that the Hasbro CEO is noticing D&D? It makes me start imagining things like a Michael Bay D&D movie -shudder-

Michael Bay might make a cool D&D movie.

 

[Grainger]

Can I just call attention to the civility of this thread?

I don't know if it's the Grand Unifying Force of Fifth Edition, the current subscriber make-up of ENWorld, or the simple fact that we're all getting older, but I feel like I'm noticing a trend. The sheer amount of "XP given to such-and-such poster" is crazy, and this thread isn't the only one.

So, thank you to everyone posting in this thread, and in the ENWorld forums, of late. Apologies for misunderstandings, recognition of alternative viewpoints, appreciation for others' ideas...

I've been a regular here for years, but I have to say... this is a pretty nice place to hang out again. So, thank you.

Shut up!

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, that's great for the brand, I guess. Too bad I'm not into 5e.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Can I just call attention to the civility of this thread?

Perhaps the civility is a matter of perspective. Having your own preferences slammed on the first page, and calls for anyone upset with a particular fact about 5e (low rate of new publications) to be sent to their own forum so they don't bother everyone else, don't really strike me as "civil." Or people saying that admitting you made an incorrect or unwise call in the past means that you should tell everyone to ignore what you say because if you're wrong once you're obviously tainted forever and can't see the right of things.

Still, it's nice to know D&D is pleasing its corporate overlords. I generally agree with the idea that this is, almost certainly, people merely looking at the sales differences between "essentially nothing produced for ages" and "suddenly almost all the books that they have any current plans of publishing for 5e." That kind of viewing, especially if viewed solely as a year-over-year or quarterly increase, rather than as absolute dollar values each quarter, can easily give the casual reader an impression that doesn't really hold.

Or, to put it another way, edition launches should always be "on a tear," and when production (effectively) ceases for ~2 years prior to that launch, it should be a dramatic change compared to the prior several quarters!

But, again, this is a good sign for D&D's future as a published game. I dislike several elements of 5e vehemently, but if it's selling, it's keeping the game alive.

 

[delericho]

Maybe it's just my cynical or pessimistic side showing through, but am I the only one who feels a little concerned that the Hasbro CEO is noticing D&D?

It's a little risky, because if what we're seeing is a sales spike and it suddenly collapses then it does so in full view of the Big Cheese, which isn't good.

But, on the other hand, if this isn't just a sales spike, then having that attention is a very good thing.

It makes me start imagining things like a Michael Bay D&D movie -shudder-

I'm inclined to think that the best hope for a good, or at least entertaining, D&D movie would be to cast Vin Diesel and the Rock and have them do whatever it is they've been doing with the last few "Fast & Furious" movies.

Everyone seems to try to do fantasy in the big epic, and dead serious, style of "Lord of the Rings", and almost nobody manages to make it work - why not go for unapologetically entertaining?

 

[pemerton]

Too bad I'm not into 5e.

I'm not really into 5e either, but I do like D&D, and I'm happy to see Mearls et al publish a successful game.

 

[Harry Dresden]

This looks to me like a classic PR move and it seems to be getting the results it was intended for.

This is a new edition edition that is coming off the back of a very controversial previous edition followed by a lengthy period of no products so of course it's going to sell well in the beginning. You can't dissect the whole game if you don't own the books. I wouldn't look at this as a "see their approach is working" because it is just the new edition surge.

We well see how it really pans out in about a year.

 

[pemerton]

I always wonder--how well does 5e have to do before all of the people who said it would go down because of this, that or the other reason come forward and go:

"I'm sorry, internet, I was talking out of my ass. I can't be trusted, ignore me from now on."

?

Apparently better than this!

 

[Iosue]

This looks to me like a classic PR move and it seems to be getting the results it was intended for.

Ah, yes. The old "get an investment firm representative to ask the CEO of the parent company specifically about non-Magic games' performance during an investors meeting conference call, so that the CEO of the parent company can, while mentioning a bunch of other games and describing the flattish growth in the Games division, can make a throwaway comment about how D&D is doing good, knowing that people will crawl through five pages of transcript, find the comment and report on it on a pro-am newsblog site."

It truly is a classic.