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Is Tabletop Gaming D&D's "Sideshow"?
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<blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7717648" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p>Recent struggles with Marvel's comics brand have made it clear that Marvel's properties are more valuable to as a multimedia franchise than the comics that spawned them. Could that happen with Hasbro and the <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em> brand?</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]269230[/ATTACH]</p><h3><strong>Marvel's Template</strong></h3><p>Marvel's comic woes have come recently into the spotlight thanks to controversy over diverse superhero comics struggling to make sales. Asher Elbein at <em>The</em> <em>Atlantic</em> <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/the-real-reasons-for-marvel-comics-woes/527127/" target="_blank">sums up the problem</a>:</p><p></p><p>Elbein <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/the-real-reasons-for-marvel-comics-woes/527127/" target="_blank">questions Marvel's commitment</a> to keep these books alive in their fragile early stages:</p><p></p><p>Rob Salkowitz at <em>ICv2</em> <a href="https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/37290/does-disney-see-marvel-brand-not-publisher" target="_blank">sees a parallel problem</a> with the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise, in which Marvel failed to capitalize on <em>Rogue One</em>:</p><p></p><p>Marvel's inability to bolster comic sales tied to mega-franchises raises the question of what might happen if the upcoming D&D movie is successful.</p><h3>Oh Yeah, the D&D Movie</h3><p>Hasbro's closest analog to the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise is its success with <em>Transformers</em>, drawn from the toys, comics, and cartoons. The movie series has grossed more than $3.7 billion worldwide and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-hasbro-ambitions-20170321-story.html" target="_blank">encouraged Hasbro to follow Marvel's model</a> of becoming directly involved in moviemaking:</p><p></p><p><em>Dungeons & Dragons'</em> cross-media franchise potential has been a topic of discussion at Wizards of the Coast and parent Hasbro for some time. We previously covered how Hasbro, envious of Marvel's success in turning its superhero properties into a lucrative transmedia juggernaut, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2949-D-D-Does-Digital-Part-I-MUDs-MMORPGs" target="_blank">gave each of its brands the goal of $100 million annual sales</a>. The problem was that each of Wizards of the Coast's brands were viewed in isolation, which left <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em>, "a $25-30 million business" according to then D&D Brand Manager Ryan Dancey, in dire straits. The <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em> team hit on the idea of using the online <em>Dungeons & Dragons Insider (DDI)</em> to grow the brand to $50 million and potentially $100 million. It didn't happen.</p><p></p><p>And yet there are still companies who believe the D&D brand is worth millions. The <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em> movie was a subject of a series of legal actions that went back and forth between two media titans lurking behind the scenes, Universal and Warner Bros, <a href="http://deadline.com/2014/09/dungeons-and-dragons-trial-ends-movie-sequels-839985/" target="_blank">waged by their proxies through Sweetpea Entertainment and Hasbro</a>. Warner paid $4 million for Sweetpea Entertainment's D&D rights and was willing to pay an additional $1 million in legal fees. The D&D movie is now moving forward.</p><h3>A Counterargument</h3><p>Is D&D "just a sideshow" for Hasbro? Perhaps it's more accurate to position D&D's tabletop success as less important to Hasbro than its overall selling potential. D&D, after all, is expressed in a wide variety of brands across video game, boards games, and tabletop -- 6 million people in total (not an hour), <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldofWelstar/status/851494842899288070" target="_blank">according to WOTC</a>.</p><p></p><p>In short, D&D has long since outgrown its roots as exclusively a tabletop role-playing game, which means the success and failure of the game is ancillary to its value to Hasbro as a brand. That might change if the new D&D movie is successful and the tabletop game becomes a quaint reminder of years past that, at best, doesn't embarrass the larger brand. According to Salkowitz, that's already happened with Marvel's comics:</p><p></p><p>By most accounts, Fifth Edition revived the <em>Dungeons & Dragons</em> brand as a tabletop game. Although WOTC has sharply scaled back its development team for D&D, it has <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?488519-D-amp-D-CEOs-The-Wizards-of-the-Coast-Years" target="_blank">a new CEO</a> who is <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?525581-A-New-Digital-Direction-for-Wizards" target="_blank">openly supportive of the tabletop game</a>. D&D even got a shout-out <a href="http://www.beastsofwar.com/industry/hasbro-2017-q1-financials/" target="_blank">during a recent investor call</a>, a rare occurrence. </p><p></p><p>It might not even matter. The D&D tabletop game will live in perpetuity thanks to <em>Pathfinder</em>, the Old School Renaissance, and the fact that gamers have enough material on the Internet that they can play entire campaigns for free without purchasing a single book.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="talien, post: 7717648, member: 3285"] Recent struggles with Marvel's comics brand have made it clear that Marvel's properties are more valuable to as a multimedia franchise than the comics that spawned them. Could that happen with Hasbro and the [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I] brand? [CENTER][ATTACH type="full"]269230[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2][B]Marvel's Template[/B][/HEADING] Marvel's comic woes have come recently into the spotlight thanks to controversy over diverse superhero comics struggling to make sales. Asher Elbein at [I]The[/I] [I]Atlantic[/I] [URL='https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/the-real-reasons-for-marvel-comics-woes/527127/']sums up the problem[/URL]: Elbein [URL='https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/the-real-reasons-for-marvel-comics-woes/527127/']questions Marvel's commitment[/URL] to keep these books alive in their fragile early stages: Rob Salkowitz at [I]ICv2[/I] [URL='https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/37290/does-disney-see-marvel-brand-not-publisher']sees a parallel problem[/URL] with the [I]Star Wars[/I] franchise, in which Marvel failed to capitalize on [I]Rogue One[/I]: Marvel's inability to bolster comic sales tied to mega-franchises raises the question of what might happen if the upcoming D&D movie is successful. [HEADING=2]Oh Yeah, the D&D Movie[/HEADING] Hasbro's closest analog to the [I]Star Wars[/I] franchise is its success with [I]Transformers[/I], drawn from the toys, comics, and cartoons. The movie series has grossed more than $3.7 billion worldwide and [URL='http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-hasbro-ambitions-20170321-story.html']encouraged Hasbro to follow Marvel's model[/URL] of becoming directly involved in moviemaking: [I]Dungeons & Dragons'[/I] cross-media franchise potential has been a topic of discussion at Wizards of the Coast and parent Hasbro for some time. We previously covered how Hasbro, envious of Marvel's success in turning its superhero properties into a lucrative transmedia juggernaut, [URL='http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2949-D-D-Does-Digital-Part-I-MUDs-MMORPGs']gave each of its brands the goal of $100 million annual sales[/URL]. The problem was that each of Wizards of the Coast's brands were viewed in isolation, which left [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I], "a $25-30 million business" according to then D&D Brand Manager Ryan Dancey, in dire straits. The [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I] team hit on the idea of using the online [I]Dungeons & Dragons Insider (DDI)[/I] to grow the brand to $50 million and potentially $100 million. It didn't happen. And yet there are still companies who believe the D&D brand is worth millions. The [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I] movie was a subject of a series of legal actions that went back and forth between two media titans lurking behind the scenes, Universal and Warner Bros, [URL='http://deadline.com/2014/09/dungeons-and-dragons-trial-ends-movie-sequels-839985/']waged by their proxies through Sweetpea Entertainment and Hasbro[/URL]. Warner paid $4 million for Sweetpea Entertainment's D&D rights and was willing to pay an additional $1 million in legal fees. The D&D movie is now moving forward. [HEADING=2]A Counterargument[/HEADING] Is D&D "just a sideshow" for Hasbro? Perhaps it's more accurate to position D&D's tabletop success as less important to Hasbro than its overall selling potential. D&D, after all, is expressed in a wide variety of brands across video game, boards games, and tabletop -- 6 million people in total (not an hour), [URL='https://twitter.com/WorldofWelstar/status/851494842899288070']according to WOTC[/URL]. In short, D&D has long since outgrown its roots as exclusively a tabletop role-playing game, which means the success and failure of the game is ancillary to its value to Hasbro as a brand. That might change if the new D&D movie is successful and the tabletop game becomes a quaint reminder of years past that, at best, doesn't embarrass the larger brand. According to Salkowitz, that's already happened with Marvel's comics: By most accounts, Fifth Edition revived the [I]Dungeons & Dragons[/I] brand as a tabletop game. Although WOTC has sharply scaled back its development team for D&D, it has [URL='http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?488519-D-amp-D-CEOs-The-Wizards-of-the-Coast-Years']a new CEO[/URL] who is [URL='http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?525581-A-New-Digital-Direction-for-Wizards']openly supportive of the tabletop game[/URL]. D&D even got a shout-out [URL='http://www.beastsofwar.com/industry/hasbro-2017-q1-financials/']during a recent investor call[/URL], a rare occurrence. It might not even matter. The D&D tabletop game will live in perpetuity thanks to [I]Pathfinder[/I], the Old School Renaissance, and the fact that gamers have enough material on the Internet that they can play entire campaigns for free without purchasing a single book. [/QUOTE]
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