WotC Hasbro gains big time from D&D, Magic, Monopoly, and Baldur's Gate 3

[darjr]

And yet the opening post of this thread is talking about how fantastic WotC is doing right now. Which does tend to make it a bit difficult to see how the OGL debacle has had any sort of lasting effect.

So that means no one heard about it and it wasn’t a big deal. OK. Forget about it everybody.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

People do all kinds of things that don't make sense to other people, the only person that needs to be convinced is the person doing the thing.

That's kind of my point, yeah. But if it's being used as an argument as to why they're a "good person" then that's when you need to convince others lol.

 

[Velderan]

That's kind of my point, yeah. But if it's being used as an argument as to why they're a "good person" then that's when you need to convince others lol.

I'm not even sure how to respond to that because I feel like you're twisting what I've said to be about something I've never said. I don't recall saying he was a good person, I merely explained hypothetically why he might not be in complete alignment with the direction WotC as a company seems to be going and still feel like he's getting something out of a continued association with them. That doesn't make him good or bad, it makes him a human being with motivation to do the things he does in life. He sure as heck doesn't need to justify anything in the court of public opinion. lol

Not sure what else to say on that line of conversation, but I'm done discussing it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm not even sure how to respond to that because I feel like you're twisting what I've said to be about something I've never said. I don't recall saying he was a good person, I merely explained hypothetically why he might not be in complete alignment with the direction WotC as a company seems to be going and still feel like he's getting something out of a continued association with them. That doesn't make him good or bad, it makes him a human being with motivation to do the things he does in life. He sure as heck doesn't need to justify anything in the court of public opinion. lol

Not sure what else to say on that line of conversation, but I'm done discussing it.

You might want to look back further in the conversation, to the post I was responding to. I'm not suggesting he is a good or bad person, but the reason this was being discussed was a rather mild critique of his total failure to say a single word on the subject being described as "character assassination".

 

[Velderan]

I would love Lego terrain myself. I like painting minis so that's not a problem but terrain pieces I've purchased have always been a pretty hit or miss, mostly miss.

Selfishly I just want more castle themed Lego stuff and a D&D license seems like a natural fit to me. Guess we'll see how the anniversary set sells next year, I know I'll be buying it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder how could be a solo mass-battle mode within D&D Beyond. The monsters have been designed for a 1v4, but a mass battle is too different. One hero could defeat complete squads as if it was a musou videogame, or a squad of archers or a giant crossbow could kill too soon an enemy like an elephant or a giant.

If now they were creating a videogame of Dragonlance, the characters could be redesigned after the release of the action-live production. They have said nothing about the projects they are working, not even the name of the videogame studios.

A D&D LEGO animated production could be perfect to promote the brand among the smaller children, a comedy for all the family with strange monsters.

Other suggestion is more game-live shows using the VTT, but I would advice subtitles for no-English speakers. Also other option could be using IA for automatic translations. A virtual avatars, expersing emotions with "emojis" o "poses".

* Hasbro has got a lot of old and forgotten franchises. Maybe these need a reimagination because it may be easier than starting totally from zero. The reboot of My Little Pony worked even better than the original cartoon.

* Could Hasbro to sell "Endless Quest" gamebooks as a digital product? But cheaper.

* Even if Hasbro wanted to bet more for the videogame industry, today the global economy doesn't allow serious risks. Even the next year some companies could be cheaper for an acquisition.

 

[Hussar]

So that means no one heard about it and it wasn’t a big deal. OK. Forget about it everybody.

Well... kinda? I mean, if it did have this huge impact and whatnot, wouldn't we actually see it? Continued healthy growth, books are selling spectacularly well (and I know that you know that because it's you that's tracking Amazon sales). By what metric was it a big deal?

 

[mamba]

Well... kinda? I mean, if it did have this huge impact and whatnot, wouldn't we actually see it?

so let’s start with the obvious, how huge does it have to be for you to exist?

If say 2% of customers left D&D over it, how would you be able to tell?

Are you expecting something like 20%? Do you think you even could tell that? Because I very much doubt that. 50% they could not hide, 20% is probably still doable but hard (I am not saying that many did leave…)

You not seeing it doesn’t mean that no one left, WotC is notoriously bad at giving meaningful numbers anyway, and this is one they definitely would want to sweep under the rug, even if they otherwise gave useful numbers.

Things like DDB cancellations aren’t immediate, you still have paid for future months, so those get spread out over time. You will not see a drop in January. Not that they even give you those numbers directly in the first place.

By what metric was it a big deal?

why are the only options ‘big deal’ and ‘no one’?

Since WotC did the opposite of what they intended to do, chances are that many that would have left did not, so the impact is not as big as it could have become, but that still does not mean that there is none whatsoever

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

"Character assassination" seems like hyperbole for that rather mild post by @Reynard lol.

I guess. How about: "Don't speak ill of someone if you don't know they have done ill."... Golden Rule, etc., etc.

Also, you're failing to understand that it doesn't really matter what his "level of involvement" was with the the OGL issue - the point is he neither said anything at the time, nor has said anything since, to indicate he considered it a "bad idea".

True. But...

At best we can probably say he values his job and income enough that he doesn't want to rock the boat - that's fine, that's true for many of us, but when a company is being naughty, that does tend to put one on the wrong side of things.

There you go.

I suspect pretty much none of WotC's actual D&D designers had much influence on the OGL decision-making.

I suspect that as well.

 

[bedir than]

Weird thought going back to the topic of the thread rather than the topic of last winter...

Last week the D&D movie ranked higher than it did the week previously. Is Baldur's Gate 3 helping the movie's long tail?