WotC Hasbro's CEO Reports OGL-Related D&D Beyond Cancellations Had Minimal Impact

Hasbro held a quarterly earnings call recently in which CEO Chris Cocks (who formerly ran WotC before being promoted) indicated that the OGL controversy had a "comparatively minor" impact on D&D's revenue due to D&D Beyond subscription cancellations. He also noted that D&D grew by 20% in 2022 (Magic: the Gathering revenues grew by an astonishing 40% in Quarter 4!)

WotC as a whole was up 22% in Q4 2022.

Lastly, on D&D, we misfired on updating our Open Gaming License, a key vehicle for creators to share or commercialize their D&D inspired content. Our best practice is to work collaboratively with our community, gather feedback, and build experiences that inspire players and creators alike - it's how we make our games among the best in the industry. We have since course corrected and are delivering a strong outcome for the community and game.

 

[wingsandsword]

None of this means they were attempting a hostile takeover of the entire hobby. First, they could only affect one segment of TTRPGs.

Let's not kid ourselves, D&D is by far the largest tabletop RPG, it's practically synonymous with tabletop RPG in many circles. The entire rest of the industry, especially when you move beyond products that are supporting, compatible with, or closely derived from D&D, is dwarfed by D&D. The tabletop RPG industry that is outside of WotC's purview as being completely unrelated to D&D is too small for Hasbro to even care about.

The only other RPGs to ever sell on the same scale as D&D and seriously threaten its dominance have been Pathfinder (in the late 2000's) and World of Darkness (in the late 1990's). Pathfinder was D&D-derived and its entire existence was rooted in WotC abandoning 3.x D&D for an intentionally incompatible game to force people to buy new books. . .and it failed. World of Darkness was pretty much a 90's trend that slowly died out in the early 2000's and was never even remotely close to its old prominence after the New World of Darkness reboot in 2004.

 

[wingsandsword]

Instead, I think they got pushback in a way they simply didn't expect. For many companies, they can just sort of do this sort of thing and expect their customer base to eventually come back.

In fact, WotC explicitly used to think they could do whatever and the D&D fans would indeed eventually come back.

I remember that was one of the things said during the 4e marketing, one of the things that very much offended me during those Edition Wars, was when one WotC executive likened the 3.5e/4e switchover as being like a band releasing a new album. . .that even if the fans didn't like the sound of the album, they'd probably still buy it eventually because they're fans, so they just expected D&D fans to buy 4e even if they didn't like it because they're D&D fans.

I think it took Pathfinder and the poor performance of 4e to break them of that mindset.

Of course, that would meant they wouldn't want a new Pathfinder-equivalent for 5e, hence the attack on the OGL, meaning to head off anyone from providing support for the 5e fanbase if they moved to a different and incompatible 6e.

 

[billd91]

One of the leaders said 40,000 or 50,000 had cancelled as part of the boycott. Which is a big chunk of change, per month. But even just here and on Reddit, I saw many people who were part of that number saying they were resubscriibg since the CC drop (I am not and will not subscribe, because I'm an analog crank). Given that he said it on an investor call, it seems very plausible that their data showed that many of the people who dropped came back onboard already, and more may do so. And of there is a Beyond commercial before the movie this Quarter, and they'll sell a bunch of Starter and Essential Sets...might be net positive by Q1 end.

"Comparatively minor" is a great phrase to use with investors. It sounds like you're saying something is "minor" when in fact you're kind of saying the opposite. Being minor when compared to something else usually means it's major within its own context. Like having a twisted ankle is a comparatively minor injury when you've fallen out of a window and have also broken your leg.

Yeah, there's a narrative being constructed here. None of it's likely to be anything close to an outright lie since, in relative terms, it's not a huge revenue hit and many of the cancellations will be resolved with re-subscriptions because WotC backed off the OGL replacement scheme - thus reducing the damage that might have otherwise been felt down the line. They're setting an expectation and spinning a negative situation that will be more likely to show up in the next quarterly report in an effort to assuage the concerns of shareholders now who are looking at the bad PR and wondering whether they should sell now or suffer more loss later with lower stock values.
But I do suspect that 5-digits worth of subscription cancellations caused some concern because it showed that people were actually putting effort into their outrage - including some very prominent D&D boosters like Ginny Di - rather than just being social media slacktivists. When outrage doesn't translate into action, you can pretty much ignore the outrage. But when it becomes action, that risks it snowballing into a major headache.

 

[LordEntrails]

And it's pretty easy to say a year of financial that ends Dec 26, 2022 would not include actions that primarily took place in January 2023. That's not "personal experience and views", that's just how time works for us mere mortals.

Others have replied to this better. But you are not understanding my point or are just so set in your view you haven't considered what I'm trying to say. But I'll leave it there.

As far as I am aware, no-one in the "c-suite" has acknowledged or apologised. In fact, I think it should have been Cynthia Williams to do so, and the fact that she hasn't, is to me, very telling of just how non-seriously she/they take the community.

That would, imo, be stupid of them to do so. Look at all the flak Kyle has gotten and the time he is spending. He is someone the community can relate to, he is someone who can be dedicated to this. The company would quickly have functional issues if a C level person took the time and vulnerability that Kyle has.

since anyone who makes a VTT would want it to be able to run with the current DND

Want and need are different. Their are lots of VTTs today who run without a license and with minimal impact/use of the OGL 1.0a.

Yes, but that doesn't really matter when Wizards is releasing a policy where they say you can't show off animations in a D&D game and putting down a marker that they might get litigious in the matter.

Doesn't matter what they release. Lots of lawyers made it clear that their statement on that would not be enforceable unless the VTT voluntarily entered into a contract with WotC to be restricted by that policy.

Isn't there a free tier?

Yes, and I only log in to claim the various free things they give out from time to time. I don't even read them. I just feel like since it's free I should claim it. And I haven't even created a character since 2017. So, I'm sure I'm a very valuable customer to them.

 

[ThorinTeague]

Doesn't matter what they release. Lots of lawyers made it clear that their statement on that would not be enforceable unless the VTT voluntarily entered into a contract with WotC to be restricted by that policy.

When most commentators bring up the part of the policy that says others aren't allowed to use animations, I don't think said commentators are really concerned about whether it is or is not legal or enforceable. I think such commentators are expressing disgust at the audacity and the arrogance that underlies the attitude that comes with those words.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

It was their mistake because they didn't understand rightly the true psychology of the roleplayer.

But D&D opened a lot of doors, and thanks these giving the first steps other publishers could follow the same paths. You can't forget the no-English market and how to hook the new generations. For example if the comingsoon action-live movie makes enough money, then other studios will dare to use IPs by other publishers to producer their own adaptations. Cyberpunk RPG has recovered popularity and fame thanks the videogame. Maybe Hasbro is worried if Paizo's Starfinder is adapted to cinema..(and also Disney because there is a new rival to Star Wars).

I haven't got the data, but somebody has said WotC is the main income source for Hasbro. Without this the compay may not survived. And now the IPs/brand are the new gold mines. We can't blame them because they wanted D&D to become a multimedia franchise, with different types of products. It could be good if children used to D&D toys could start to be interested into the TTRPG when they reached adolescence. The TTRPGs are the perfect game for fandom who love to create their own fanfiction, or they are tired with hack'&'slacke CRPGs about killing waves of enemies to become stronger only to face a harder enemies later.

Even if they were saying the truth and the impact was minial, they had to realise they had to stopped, because that was the wrong way. It is not only the money, but the prestige of the brand. They need the "loyalty" of the fandom, and they shouldn't test our patience. We are not so stalwart.

 

[Iosue]

Fine, I’ll be the one to say it.

Brinks is a home security provider.

Brink’s is an armored truck manufacturer.

Kyle Brink is the Executive Producer of the D&D Studio at Wizards of the Coast.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Am I wrong? I'm sure it's not a 1 to 1, but Wizards is part of Hasbro as Blizz is part of Activision.

No. Lol. Sorry, I thought this was one of those eyerolling T$R or Micro$oft type portmanteaus. My bad.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Fine, I’ll be the one to say it.

Brinks is a home security provider.

Brink’s is an armored truck manufacturer.

Kyle Brink is the Executive Producer of the D&D Studio at Wizards of the Coast.

I'm always happy to let someone else jump on the pedant grenade.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yes, and I only log in to claim the various free things they give out from time to time. I don't even read them. I just feel like since it's free I should claim it. And I haven't even created a character since 2017. So, I'm sure I'm a very valuable customer to them.

If we all take enough free content from them, eventually they will run out of 1’s and 0’s. Then they will know the true power of the Community! Mwuhahahaha!