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.

 

[Hussar]

I don't know how it will work, but that appears to be their primary monetizing strategy. It will largely depend on where the paywall begins and ends. But sure, if it's only cosmetics, it won't be a big deal, but how can you be sure it will end there?

So you don’t know how it will work. It doesn’t exist. And you have no evidence that it will exist.

But you’re convinced about it now?

You do see why it’s really hard to take some of this seriously right? People are very much up in arms about things that haven’t happened. There are no micro transactions right now. They never ended or changed the OGL. They have not instituted any of the changes that were in the DRAFT version of the new license.

And what they have done is provide a much safer harbour for 3pp than the OGL with the CC license.

Sure we can be pissed about what they tried to do. And we absolutely should be watching very carefully and closely for some time. But being really pissed about stuff that hasn’t happened seems like a waste of time.

 

[Hussar]

Thinking about it a bit more though, framing this as a moral issue I think is why I don’t get it.

To me, there is virtually no moral component at all. A company tried to renegotiate a contract and screwed up. It happens all the time. This was inevitable that WotC would challenge the OGL IMO. Of course they would.

If you, twenty years later, were tied to a contract you thought was bad for your company, wouldn’t you challenge it?

Granted it was handled unbelievably badly. Blindingly stupid. And they got very resoundingly spanked for it.

But moral issues? Really?

 

[cranberry]

So you don’t know how it will work. It doesn’t exist. And you have no evidence that it will exist.

But you’re convinced about it now?

You do see why it’s really hard to take some of this seriously right? People are very much up in arms about things that haven’t happened. There are no micro transactions right now. They never ended or changed the OGL. They have not instituted any of the changes that were in the DRAFT version of the new license.

And what they have done is provide a much safer harbour for 3pp than the OGL with the CC license.

Sure we can be pissed about what they tried to do. And we absolutely should be watching very carefully and closely for some time. But being really pissed about stuff that hasn’t happened seems like a waste of time.

I don't understand why you're associating the OGL with microtransactions.
Nether has to do with the other. They are two separate issues.

They can charge micro transactions regardless of the changes made (or not made) to the OGL.

 

[Amrûnril]

Thinking about it a bit more though, framing this as a moral issue I think is why I don’t get it.

To me, there is virtually no moral component at all. A company tried to renegotiate a contract and screwed up. It happens all the time. This was inevitable that WotC would challenge the OGL IMO. Of course they would.

If you, twenty years later, were tied to a contract you thought was bad for your company, wouldn’t you challenge it?

Granted it was handled unbelievably badly. Blindingly stupid. And they got very resoundingly spanked for it.

But moral issues? Really?

WotC didn't try to renegotiate the OGL. They announced their intention to violate the OGL (as understood by the parties that wrote and agreed to it). And they weren't tied to a contract in the sense of having to do anything on an ongoing basis. They simply had to respect other parties' rights to the specific pieces of content they had already chosen to release as SRDs.

 

[Scribe]

Anybody posting on this forum is using a device that is incredibly morally compromised. Yet, we still do it and don't think twice about it.

"Yet you live in society, curious."

I mean come on now. This threads gotten weird, not as weird as that other one, but weird.

 

[Stormonu]

I think it's going to take another couple of months before we see what the true shakeout on D&D's profits is going to be from the OGL fiasco, and whether people's future money (and interest) sticks with WotC's 5E or goes elsewhere. I get a sense that at worst for WotC it will be a cooling - less growth or possibly stagnation, but not significant losses as some folks reconsider whether they really need WotC's and their future products in their life. I think the hit would be a lot more noticable if WotC had reacted poorly and forced the 1.1 through rather than backed off. Likely, the impact won't be directly occuring at the point of time of the OGL fiasco, but in future sales going forward as people consider upcoming products.

Though there's a good chance that if the upcoming movie fares well, they may offset their stumble with an influx of new and renewed interest.

 

[Vaalingrade]

You do see why it’s really hard to take some of this seriously right? People are very much up in arms about things that haven’t happened. There are no micro transactions right now. They never ended or changed the OGL. They have not instituted any of the changes that were in the DRAFT version of the new license.

It's not like we didn't just prevent a terrible change through foresight and pre-emptive action.

This is like saying it's silly to diet and exercise until after the chest pains start.

 

[Oofta]

"Yet you live in society, curious."

I mean come on now. This threads gotten weird, not as weird as that other one, but weird.

What I think is "curious" is that people are still upset about a change a corporation thought about implementing but then backed off based on feedback. Even if it was stupid, unnecessary and messy.

I assume everyone at some point or other thought about doing something monumentally stupid and changed their minds, perhaps after discussing it with someone. Why hold a corporation to such a high standard that most people couldn't ever achieve?


I was actually thinking of The Good Place where

Spoiler

No one can get to the good place because in modern society there will always be something bad happening the supply chain

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Today is one year, seven months, three weeks, five days and ten hours when she said I am too resentful

---

Now D&D could be the potentially most important brand by Hasbro, and if there is a economic crisis this year, D&D could be key to save the company.

Maybe I have read too many conspirancy theories but some times I suspect there is some group who doesn't want Hasbro to become too important but if this is enoughly controlled, and not only for the money, but the strategic value within the "soft power". Maybe really that was not idea by the sharks among the CEOs chairs, but they were compeled to do it. They knew it was a a bad idea, but they couldn't said, it had to be showed, proved.

If the planned strategy of D&D as a multimedia franchise worked, this means the TTRPG wouldn't be the main income source. Then they shouldn't worry about the money earnt by the 3PPs because they would be making more money with the new movies, toys, videogames, comics..

The 3PPs aren't the true rivals of WotC. These publish new things, and this help to fill "hollow spaces" where WotC's team can't.

WotC could learn to work like a videogame or movie distributor. There are several 3PPs with fabulous ideas, but they can fall into the oblivion some time after the crowdfunding. Their work could be interesting, but they aren't known by the enough number of players. Maybe WotC shold create something like a DMGuild spin-off for 3PPs. In exchange for a percentage (equivalent to advertising expenses) they would enjoy the best showcase. Maybe the 3PPs would only need to publish an intro, or their best part of crunch.

* Maybe it is a crazy idea, but WotC could create virtual "figures/skins/models" to be used by AI-Art creators. For example with your premium account within D&D-Beyond you could use AI-Art creator to create portraits of your PCs, or epic scenes with your favorites characters, the heroes of Dragonlance, or the iconic classes from 3.5.

 

[Bolares]

I was trying to comment on another thread, don’t know what happened here