Sean Reynolds Let Go

[Horacio]

Unless you want to get into politics or acting.

O.K., I agree, but it's not the case!

 

[Henry]

Why in the world should Hasbro care a bit about Dungeons and Dragons? Its fans only represent a tiniest fraction of its customers.

The answer is simple, my liege.

As jester said, it is the best-selling RPG of all time. It consistently has a greater market share than any other game in its field. It doesn't matter that it isn't as big as monopoly - it made a profit, and it's been a good business sideline, AND it dominates the majority of the RPG Market. If it is a market leader, then they are unlikely to get rid of it.

Now, should that dominance fail, and d20 / OGL is somehow dropped like a hot potato, then you might see something different. This may sound "blasphemous," but I ALMOST wish they would drop it, and someone like White Wolf would pick it up. The ranks of people responsible for the birth of 3E are gettin' pretty thin in there.

It makes me wonder what the profit margin is on something like a $10.00 monopoly set - 50% ? 30% ?

 

[Trellian]

According to the Hasbro webpage, 100 million people play Yahtzee regularly, and that's just one of their many extremely popular games. They sell 50 million copies of the Yahtzee game a year.

.

100 million play yahtzee? 100 million with no sense of pride at all? jeez.. kidding.. yahtzee may be popular, but they dont exactly sell accesories to yahtzee. I dunno how much one game costs in USA, but in Norway, you could buy at least 6 yahtzee games for the price of one players handbook. So if they sell 10 million D&D game books, they will in theory make as much money on D&D as yahtzee..

But then again, yahtzee is already invented, so they dont have to hire people to write it either.. ok.. so I just backfired my own point.. well well... how typical...

anyone up for creating Yahtzee d20?

 

[Axiomatic Unicorn]

It makes me wonder what the profit margin is on something like a $10.00 monopoly set - 50% ? 30% ?

Well, they can't do NASCAR D&D, NFL D&D, Barbie D&D, <Any college you ever heard of> D&D, Wizard of Oz D&D (well maybe that one), ...

Seriously, just because D&D makes a certain steady profit, does not mean it will be seen as a good holding. If it makes X% profit and they think they can use the money it costs to support it to make X+1% profit on a different game, they have 2 basic choices.
They can dump D&D and shift the funds to the more profitable game or they can cut the cost of producing D&D and hope that the gross income does not decrease much, thus increasing the return on their money while still freeing up some $$ for other ventures.

 

[WizarDru]

They sell 50 million copies of the Yahtzee game a year.

How many people play role-playing games regularly? How many Player's Handbooks have been sold so far?

Why in the world should Hasbro care a bit about Dungeons and Dragons? Its fans only represent a tiniest fraction of its customers.

The equation isn't that simple.

1) Yahtzee's profit margins aren't as great as D&D. Production costs are lower, but the sales price is much lower, as well. I can pick up a copy of 'Don't Spill the beans' for $4.99 US...but that doesn't necessarily generate as much profit, even if it sells ten times as well as the PHB

2) D&D produces a returning revenue stream. Gamers buy accessories and supplements. Much like young girls and Barbie, gamers continue to buy supplements and additions to their D&D stuff. Return customers are good customers.

3) D&D is brand-name that extends beyond the product itself. D&D Clue? The D&D movie? D&D TV series, both animated and live-action (proposed)? D&D Action figures, miniatures, and so forth? Hasbro has licensed the name, as it is easily recognizable. I don't know if they'll edit it out, but E.T. has a scene with the older brother playing D&D with his friends (and playing it badly, if memory serves...it has been twenty years, but I remember it irritated me then ). That kind of name recognition is valuable.

4) D&D isn't competing with Yahtzee...it's competing with the bottom-line. As long as it continues to generate a good profit, Hasbro will support it.


The real issue is what happens, next? Master Tools is probably effectively dead, at this juncture. Hasbro will most likely farm out D&D to contractors on a routine basis, so quality may or may not maintain from this point forward. It sounds like Hasbro's plan is simply to fan the embers, and let D&D stagnate by 2002. I hope that's not the case, but I get the distinct feeling that WOTC is no longer planning that far ahead, or has planned to neglect their product lines after a certain point. After 3 layoffs, I can't imagine much of a future for WOTC's support of D&D, beyond simple maintenance. I hope I'm wrong (lord knows I have been before, and will be again).

 

[Wolfspider]

Well, I don't pretend to understand the occult nature of economics. I just know that I'm rather upset at the latest turn of events, as I imagine many of the others posters here are.

Speaking of the D&D game in ET, I've always wondered why that scene hasn't been mentioned more than it has. It's a relatively positive portrayal of the game in one of the most popular movies of all time. For goodness sake, ELIOT plays the game! Eliot is a gamer!

In fact, one could argue that playing the game helped prime him and his friends for their extraterrestrial encounter....

It boggles.

 

[Number47]

I do not remember that scene at all. It's incomprehensible, but I have no recollection of that scene. It's a shame, because I refuse to see this re-made movie so I shan't be seeing this scene again.

 

[mearlus]

This is sad news. I remember way back when Sean was doing the webmastering for TSR's website. It was always a pleasure to listen to him speak at Gen Con, and to have small conversations with him. I hope that this will not be the end of the line in products that we see from him.

In any event, Good luck to you Sean!

Mearlus

 

[Eridanis]

Sean's presence as TSR Netrep in the mid-90s was a harbinger of things to come - while he had to enforce TSR's policies, his was the first public voice from them in a long time to try to side with the fans and help them enjoy the game. That attitude, along with Ryan Dancey's shepherding of D&D over to WotC for a third edition, helped create the RPG explosion we're enjoying today - the OGL, d20 system, the more open feeling of the corporation towards its customer base.

I have no worries about SKR putting out profitable d20 materials if he wishes to, just as Chris Pramas will be able to devote more time to the proven success of Green Ronin. I'm more worried about whether Hasbro (seemingly taking a more commanding presence in WotC descion-making) will continue to let the d20 system grow, or if it will stifle it in the next year. Only time will tell - but the genie's out of the bag, and OGL is certainly not going anywhere, even if the originator and first user of it pulls d20 off the OGL market.

 

[Wolfspider]

I do not remember that scene at all. It's incomprehensible, but I have no recollection of that scene. It's a shame, because I refuse to see this re-made movie so I shan't be seeing this scene again.

I also don't intend to see the remade version of E.T. But don't miss out on this scene--rent the old version!