D&D General io9: 2023 Should Have Been D&D's Best Year, Until It Wasn't

[ersatzphil]

That would make a lot more sense than being scared of other RPG makers.

I have a pretty easy time imagining a WotC exec, probably on the Magic side of the house, saying to themselves, "OK people, battlestations! The freaking House of Mouse is coming to eat our lunch, we need to lock down everything we can right now! I ... ... we let people do what!?"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have a pretty easy time imagining a WotC exec, probably on the Magic side of the house, saying to themselves, "OK people, battlestations! The freaking House of Mouse is coming to eat our lunch, we need to lock down everything we can right now! I ... ... we let people do what!?"

Oh, for sure, especially if it was someone who came from outside of the gaming space and for whom open gaming was a completely alien concept.

I mean, being scared of Disney is just being responsible in the entertainment industry.

 

[Zardnaar]

I mean, they have supplied a hard number.

And what numbers that?

 

[Parmandur]

Oh, for sure, especially if it was someone who came from outside of the gaming space and for whom open gaming was a completely alien concept.

I mean, being scared of Disney is just being responsible in the entertainment industry.

Somewhere, deep in the bowels of Hasbro, there is a PowerPoint making the case that the OGL 2.0 is a super generous offer by general business standards, making the nicely presented and bullet pointed argument that nobody could possibly reject or object to.

As the man says, "you gotta know the territory!"

 

[Parmandur]

And what numbers that?

60 million.

I mean, they aren't offering a peer-reviewed study to prove anything., the numbers of books sold are proprietary business information.

 

[ersatzphil]

I mean, being scared of Disney is just being responsible in the entertainment industry.

Oh, no doubt Disney entering the CCG market seriously makes WotC and Hasbro executives sweat bullets. But, Kyle Brink did name Microsoft and Meta entering the RPG space as something making them lose sleep...and FaceBook now has an AI Dungeon Master. And Microsoft is investing several Hasbro's worth of money into AI.

To both of your points, Disney getting into the CCG game is also direct proof to people at WotC that Meta or Microsoft might.

 

[Parmandur]

To both of your points, Disney getting into the CCG game is also direct proof to people at WotC that Meta or Microsoft might.

For sure, for sure. And since Meta has now shown thst they are building an AI DM, it is not improbable that executives at Hasbro might have heard it through the grapevine that such a thing was in development.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

To both of your points, Disney getting into the CCG game is also direct proof to people at WotC that Meta or Microsoft might.

This really is a half-measure.

If they're going to make up stuff to scare themselves silly, forget Meta, which is managing to fail in the gaming space, despite being the undisputed leader in home VR technology. Tell yourself that the governments of India, Russia and China are going to release their own tabletop RPGs. It's equally without evidence, but now you're really scared and can justify any decisions. (Hey, why does Hasbro have an intercontinental missile?)

 

[Parmandur]

This really is a half-measure.

If they're going to make up stuff to scare themselves silly, forget Meta, which is managing to fail in the gaming space, despite being the undisputed leader in home VR technology, tell yourself that the governments of India, Russia and China are going to release their own tabletop RPGs. It's equally without evidence, but now you're really scared and can justify any decisions. (Hey, why does Hasbro have an intercontinental missile?)

The full measure response was the Creative Commons release. Now Microsoft or Meta are going to use that, because they would be silly not to and waste time on making their own system for their AI, and feed the 5E machine, while being removed from direct association woth Hasbro by Creative Commons. So if some eccentric billionaire makes a culture war 5E clone on the CC, WotC doesn't need to work hard to keep their distance.

 

[Zaukrie]

Io9 writes a negative article? Unreal!