D&D 5E Prediction: Hasbro Will Acquire Foundry Virtual Tabletop for $24M

[Grendel_Khan]

I am sad Fantasy Grounds isn't even in the running.

I'm not. One of my groups uses Fantasy Grounds every week, and we can't wait for the GM to finish tweaking his stuff in Foundry so we can finally switch over.

 

[Umbran]

Why would they not want to allow support for other games? I doubt those games eat into their profits in any serious way, do they?

Isn't there space in between those two possibilities?: they don't especially want to, but they also don't especially mind it (because they judge it relatively harmless and they decide they do want an existing, thriving VTT instead of building their own), so they reconcile themselves to it. No?

Unlikely. Because supporting other games isn't passive - it will require them to dedicate resources to support them.

And that's when opportuity cost enters the picture. They will have some finite number of resources dedicated to this platform. Every resource dedicated to, or line of code written for, some other system could be a line of code to support D&D better.

 

[Steampunkette]

Which direction is it aiming?

At Google.

I love both my family, and my computer, too much for anything else.

But a faceless corporation? I can shoot the idea of it without any serious repercussions.

 

[Oofta]

I am sad Fantasy Grounds isn't even in the running.

I think the smart choice would be to just pick an existing VTT and support it. Otherwise, it's like going out and making your own version of X-Box, Nintendo system or PS instead of just making games that work with it.

Since the OP is just creating a rumor based on pure speculation, we have no idea what the plans are. Maybe DndBeyond's VTT is practically ready to roll out, maybe they'll buy someone else, maybe they'll never bother with a VTT and just release and enforce licensing fees for an official DndBeyond API.

 

[Umbran]

...maybe they'll never bother with a VTT and just release and enforce licensing fees for an official DndBeyond API.

This seems like a significant possibility, to me.

 

[Jer]

This seems like a significant possibility, to me.

I think that until the VTT competition shakes out this is what they'll do. Let the VTT companies pay them a cut to use their API.

Then when the competition shakes out and there's a clear winner, buy them. Or if it never shakes out and multiple VTT companies all stand competitive with each other that's actually great - then Wizards keeps getting a take on licensing fees and the diversity of VTT companies helps keep prices reasonable and functionality competitive across the platforms.

 

[Deset Gled]

Since the OP is just creating a rumor based on pure speculation, we have no idea what the plans are. Maybe DndBeyond's VTT is practically ready to roll out, maybe they'll buy someone else, maybe they'll never bother with a VTT and just release and enforce licensing fees for an official DndBeyond API.

Maybe they'll focus on NFTs instead of VTTs.

You heard it here first.

 

[Heilemann]

Did everyone miss that WotC bought D&D Beyond this morning?

 

[J.Quondam]

Did everyone miss that WotC bought D&D Beyond this morning?

That thread is over here:

D&D 5E - Hasbro Acquires D&D Beyond For $146M

D&D owner WotC and D&D Beyond have announced that the online tools platform is being acquired by WotC. DDB’s (former) owner was Fandom, which acquired it in 2018, and which also acquired the Cortex Prime TTRPG system recently. Fandom is producing a range of licensed games using the Cortex Prime...

www.enworld.org

 

[Jer]

Maybe they'll focus on NFTs instead of VTTs.

You heard it here first.

Their NFT focus will be that their next release is "Nystul's Folio of Thaumaturgy" - a compendium of magic spells, items, and new caster classes to add to your D&D game. Including the 5e updates of both Binding and Incarnum magic.

You heard it here first!