WotC Hasbro selling D&D IP?

[Stonesnake]

On Twitter (where search is basically dead) the manager of one of the studios supposedly cancelled continued to list openings for months. The Bronze Girl (iirc)

You mentioned "studios". What other studios are still hiring? I have a ton of friends in the video game industry who lost their jobs in the last few months, and I would like to point them to these listings as I haven't heard about this at all.

 

[jgsugden]

Hi, Nostradamus! You are speculating about an unspecified future. That's easy, because if you don't put a date to it, you can always say that it is still in the future. It becomes non-falsifiable, and thus not terribly interesting, I'm afraid.

I'm not one to write off looking ahead to prepare for the future. If more people found preparation interesting we'd have less problems sneak up on us.

The OP is talking about rumors of currently impending events, in the near term, not unspecified years from now.

Do you sell a stock when it is high or low? High, right? The people that sell high and buy low successfully do very well in the stock market.

D&D is at a critical point. For the first time it has serious competition on three fronts as it releases a new edition. They have to worry about the largest existing competitor, Pathfinder, but also new entrants Tales of the Valiant and Daggerheart. Daggerheart is of particular concern as it will likely be well displayed on Critical Role and should be intriguing to D&D's current largest growth sector - people that came to the game via streaming like Critical Role. The key target audience for Daggerheart is entirely encompassed within the D&D target audience - and many people in that group relate more to Critical Role than to WotC. Is it a real threat, or just a flash in the pan?

If WotC sees this as a real threat, and believes the sale of new One D&D might underperform in 2024 and the future, they might be better off selling the IP at a higher value and putting their efforts into less vulnerable options. There are companies that would love to gamble that they can fix the issues behind D&D if they're not being flummoxed by the Hasbro executives who are more interested in getting their bonus than fixing the game. These companies might offer enough to make it worthwhile to sell.

I don't expect it. However, it would not be surprising to see discussions going on given the uncertainty.

 

[Alzrius]

About ten paragraphs into the pandaily story they mention that their sources say that this "selling off" is only about a perpetual or time-limited license for digital games that would not require a share of revenue.

You mean this part?

A Tencent IEG (Interactive Entertainment Group) insider revealed that Tencent, represented by its overseas business department IEG Global, is in negotiations with the aim of acquiring a series of rights including the adaptation rights for electronic games such as DND.

Because that's followed up with this:

According to the aforementioned IEG insiders, Tencent currently holds the game adaptation rights for many top-tier IPs. However, due to the licensing model mostly not being a one-time buyout, Tencent not only needs to bear high copyright fees and long-term revenue sharing but also frequently faces restrictions from its partners in terms of development and operation. Previously, the mobile game adaptation of “NieR” developed by Tencent TiMi Studio was unable to be launched even until the project was cancelled.

If this acquisition is successful, it will enable Tencent to gain dominant control over the IP of Dungeons & Dragons, which will largely avoid the aforementioned issues.

 

[Umbran]

Actually, I have spoken with "topo D&D people" hundreds of times over the years.

Yeah, but "over the years" is not substantive on this topic.

I think we are starting to see a bit of a pushback on some habits of content presentation - there's a big gap between "educated speculation" and "news". Ultimately the former is not terribly useful, but it frequently causes a lot of churn that isn't great for the community overall.

 

[bedir than]

You mentioned "studios". What other studios are still hiring? I have a ton of friends in the video game industry who lost their jobs in the last few months, and I would like to point them to these listings as I haven't heard about this at all.

Well, that story was just over a year ago and my mention of hiring went into the summer. It's likely not relevant to the present day.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not one to write off looking ahead to prepare for the future. If more people found preparation interesting we'd have less problems sneak up on us.

To be valuable, preparation needs to be based on real data, not speculation and qualitative statements.

 

[Timespike]

Eight pages to establish that nobody actually knows anything and people like to argue. I'd like those minutes back, please.

 

[Retreater]

Eight pages to establish that nobody actually knows anything and people like to argue. I'd like those minutes back, please.

I demand to know what proof you have that we like to argue!

 

[land.admiral]

So Hasbro has financial troubles and decides that the best way to deal with them is by selling one of the cash cows? On the fifties anniversary of that property no less? I highly doubt that. That makes sense in the very short term only, but in the long run

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Eight pages to establish that nobody actually knows anything and people like to argue. I'd like those minutes back, please.

Welcome to the Internet.