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.

 

[BlueFin]

But the fact that they course-corrected despite the cancellations not having a huge financial impact on them seems like an odd reason to me

The assumption you're making though is that Chris Cocks is telling the truth, which in the absence of hard numbers, I personally don't believe - simply because wotc/hasbro have done nothing, and continue to do nothing, that earns any belief in anything they say. What he says, particularly because there aren't actual numbers, sounds like just the sort of BS you would say to your investors so that they don't also jump ship.

wotc/hasbro are simply continuing the BS train. Sure, that's my opinion and YMMV

Edit: and yes I see what others are saying about this being an earnings call, and heavily regulated, and blah blah blah ... 'cause of course there's never been a company that's ever mislead investors

 

[Morrus]

The assumption you're making though is that Chris Cocks is telling the truth, which in the absence of hard numbers, I personally don't believe - simply because wotc/hasbro have done nothing, and continue to do nothing, that earns any belief in anything they say. What he says, particularly because there aren't actual numbers, sounds like just the sort of BS you would say to your investors so that they don't also jump ship.

wotc/hasbro are simply continuing the BS train. Sure, that's my opinion and YMMV

So you believe Hasbro is now directly lying to its investors during the quarterly earnings calls? With respect, that's quite the astonishing claim, and has deep-reaching legal ramifactions if it's true.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Well I cancelled my sub, but that obviously we'll make no difference to the bottom line until it comes time to renew in October. Three Danette will take a while to filter through

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Consider the topic of the thread you are in currently lol.

Sort of ignoring my point that you do this on EVERY thread.

 

[Scribe]

Sort of ignoring my point that you do this on EVERY thread.

I've intentionally cut back, but since this thread was quite literally about what I was discussing, and I was not in any way tangential as you said, to the topic at hand, I felt it fine to comment on since it was, quite literally, the topic of Hasbro financials, in question.

 

[BlueFin]

So you believe Hasbro is now directly lying to its investors during the quarterly earnings calls? With respect, that's quite the astonishing claim, and has deep-reaching legal ramifactions if it's true.

I edited my initial post to point out that corporations indeed do mislead investors. No, I haven't provided a specific example, and no, I shouldn't really need to, it's hardly a secret. But if that's what you want, I'll do 5 minutes of googling and pick a few examples.

But, to answer your question, do I think they are "directly lying to investors" ... in a legal sense, no, but they are carefully crafting a message to give a particular impression. But if this is true - "a comparatively minor impact on D&D's revenue" ... then why not release numbers? I posit that "comparatively minor" is sufficiently vague to avoid issues. They don't even define what they are comparing to, so there is sufficient room to make up anything they want about that.

But do I think they are lying in the sense of obscuring the fundamental truths of the circumstances? Yes.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I've intentionally cut back, but since this thread was quite literally about what I was discussing, and I was not in any way tangential as you said, to the topic at hand, I felt it fine to comment on since it was, quite literally, the topic of Hasbro financials, in question.

Well replied. Also, I couldn't help but notice that you edited your initial far snarkier comment Kudos for that as well!

 

[Scribe]

Well replied. Also, I couldn't help but notice that you edited your initial far snarkier comment Kudos for that as well!

My snark levels are too damn high.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

But, to answer your question, do I think they are "directly lying to investors" ... in a legal sense, no, but they are carefully crafting a message to give a particular impression.

So? It's a corporate world where they have to answer to corporate masters. It's a soul-sucking environment to be sure. Does it lessen a person who makes false pronouncements lesser in any way? Probably, yes. Does that mean the company as a whole, and the products that you buy, somehow tainted by that pantomime? No, not really.

 

[OB1]

Losing 50,000 or so subscribers in January is a drop in the bucket of the 2,000,000 subscribers they added since acquiring DDB, and it may not even be that much out of the normal range of user attrition. They reversed course before it could become a bigger issue, and explained that to the investors. If they thought there was a significant risk of continuing to lose subscribers in 2023 due to the OGL mistake, they would have noted it and addressed it. I'm just glad that they did reverse course and we didn't end up hearing a statement today that 'While it's true that our OGL changes have resulted in short term revenue losses, we are staying the course in order to protect the brand into 2024 and beyond.'