WotC Hasbro Earnings Call: WotC/BG3 carrying Hasbro

[darjr]

I'm going by articles like this: Baldur's Gate 3's Gigantic Success was a Complete Surprise to Larian Studios Head - FandomWire.

“This was not in the books at all. This was way, way beyond what we expected. There’s also no precedent for it, for our type of game to have that many people playing concurrently … everybody here is very happy. You see a lot of smiling faces. At the same time, a lot of focus. We have reports coming in from people having issues, so we’re focused on fixing those issues, that’s very much on everyone’s minds.”

-Swen Vincke

Seems like a theme with D&D.

Leave the creators alone. Let them work in the open with fans. And then marvel at the “surprise”!

How many times does this lesson need to be learned by corporates?

 

[Parmandur]

Seems like a theme with D&D.

Leave the creators alone. Let them work in the open with fans. And then marvel at the “surprise”!

How many times does this lesson need to be learned by corporates?

Might get somewhat better over time: the VP of D&D actually plays the game, now. That's a first, and likely to be easier to come by in the future as D&D has gone mainstream.

 

[billd91]

Seems like a theme with D&D.

Leave the creators alone. Let them work in the open with fans. And then marvel at the “surprise”!

How many times does this lesson need to be learned by corporates?

I'm sure they hate surprises in general. Something coming by surprise is probably more likely to be a failure or at least an under-performer. But even a good surprise probably just indicates to them that they should have known this was coming to tie in more other products/marketing and make the profitability even higher.

 

[Vaalingrade]

What if you are wrong and the whole reason they have been doing well is because of corporate decisions?

Then we shall all dine on flying pigs.

 

[darjr]

I'm sure they hate surprises in general. Something coming by surprise is probably more likely to be a failure or at least an under-performer. But even a good surprise probably just indicates to them that they should have known this was coming to tie in more other products/marketing and make the profitability even higher.

That’s their problem though. The best plan may just be for them to let go and bet in good people passionate about the thing they are doing.

Their hubris can’t let that be and absolutely can’t stand the possible “loser” that will happen.

And in both cases, the creation of D&D 5e and BG3, it doesn’t take much, just loosen the grip a bit more.

 

[Deset Gled]

The thing is, when the Business Vultures see one thing experiencing growth, that thing gets their Attention.

And when they start paying attention, they start making suggestions and demanding the changes they want to it, completely ignorant of how that thing works.

That's exactly how we act. Holy moly, have you read some of the threads around here over the last few months?

 

[mamba]

Swen was not certain that they would get many more than 2 million: theybwere somewhat worries that the BG3 market was tapped out by early access.

Partly because those early access numbers already made it one of the best selling turn based CRPGs ever made already. They blew the top off the genre, and they did not expect that.

I have never seen an early access game not have a sales spike once it leaves early access, so to me doubling the EA numbers is kinda the lower limit, but then I am not following most early access games at all

 

[delericho]

That's exactly how we act. Holy moly, have you read some of the threads around here over the last few months?

The difference being that they can ignore random posters on venerable message boards. Much harder to simply ignore the Business Vultures.

 

[bedir than]

Might get somewhat better over time: the VP of D&D actually plays the game, now. That's a first, and likely to be easier to come by in the future as D&D has gone mainstream.

That's been rather typical during the WotC era.
The CEO of Hasbro itself is a D&D player

 

[Vaalingrade]

That's exactly how we act. Holy moly, have you read some of the threads around here over the last few months?

Now imagine if we had money, power and the only interaction we had with the game was watching a line representing our money going up. And a track record for ruining hundreds of companies and entire industries that once provided quality products.