Selling the D&D brand and assets - Hasbro only way out of this mess?

[mamba]

I don’t think it is necessary, release an OGL 1.0b with the word irrevocable in it, attached to the SRD 5.1, promised the SRD 5.2 or whatever it will be called will be under the same license too and I am good, and so will many others.

Sure I will keep an eye on them, but they can be ‘redeemed’

 

[Vaalingrade]

I will purchase 4e.

Come one Wizards, you know you're not using it. Would you rather have a fan-sabotaged IP, or a fresh portrait of one Benjamin Franklin?

 

[macd21]

It seems that the situation is not so good for them. Maybe I've generalized a lot, but surely something between Wizards and us (players and creators) has broke. In a bad way.

Eh. I think this means that 6e might be a little less profitable… maybe. Or maybe this will blow over and will be forgotten by next year.

If not, Hasbro just shelve DnD for a decade or three. They’re unlikely to sell it.

 

[Matt Thomason]

Eh. I think this means that 6e might be a little less profitable… maybe. Or maybe this will blow over and will be forgotten by next year.

If not, Hasbro just shelve DnD for a decade or three. They’re unlikely to sell it.

I can actually see this being a reasonable (to them) option - although I think they'd likely license the trademark out (boardgames, toys, novels, etc.) for a while so they can point to the monetization on the boardroom graphs.

 

[Haplo781]

They will burn it to the ground first.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Everyone knows: Wizards will never been able to recover from this massive damage. No faith in OGL 1.0(a) can ever be restored. A lot of competition will rise in small time. A lot of people hate the company behind the game, not the game. So... it's time for Hasbro to sell everything? The brand has still massive appeal, 50th anniversary next year, lot of work already done in form of assets, both published and unpublished. It's going really down because of higher management doing a really bad move.

But... starting a new with a new really big company, that knows what messing with the fanbase means? One that promptly restores the OGL 1.0a in a new irrevokable form, liberates the SRDs (3 and 5.1) and starts a new dialogue with players and 3PP? One that will be the Aragorn to Hasbro's Sauron stunt? Sure, this means that 2023 will be poor on releases, maybe delaying movie and tv series, but at least the 2024 will be an happier year for everyone loving D&D.

Will this "revert" a little the damage done in these days?

No, they will not sell. Additionally I am pretty sure WotC/Hasbro can recover from this, pretty easily too. I just don’t k is if they are willing to do that.

 

[Incenjucar]

Honestly I only worry of the possibility of them pulling all the PDFs of old editions down. There's some good reading there that would be fun to dive into when I hit retirement age. "There was time now" I guess.

 

[TheSword]

Everyone knows: Wizards will never been able to recover from this massive damage. No faith in OGL 1.0(a) can ever be restored. A lot of competition will rise in small time. A lot of people hate the company behind the game, not the game. So... it's time for Hasbro to sell everything? The brand has still massive appeal, 50th anniversary next year, lot of work already done in form of assets, both published and unpublished. It's going really down because of higher management doing a really bad move.

But... starting a new with a new really big company, that knows what messing with the fanbase means? One that promptly restores the OGL 1.0a in a new irrevokable form, liberates the SRDs (3 and 5.1) and starts a new dialogue with players and 3PP? One that will be the Aragorn to Hasbro's Sauron stunt? Sure, this means that 2023 will be poor on releases, maybe delaying movie and tv series, but at least the 2024 will be an happier year for everyone loving D&D.

Will this "revert" a little the damage done in these days?

Now that is Funny. With a capital F

 

[Osgood]

I'd say the odds of selling off D&D are about as likely as me hitting the lotto (and I don't play). A slightly more plausible scenario (say if I bought a couple of those lotto tickets) would be Habsro spinning D&D, but probably not all of WotC and that sweet, sweet Magic money, off new independent company. It happened with a company I worked for years ago. The shareholders could make a bunch on the IPO and D&D enterprises or TSR4 or whatever they call it would be independent entity.

It would help with the immediate PR nightmare, but of course it would mean that D&D the main product of a company owned by a bunch of hedge fund types, so rather than just one brand among many its the main concern. It would only be a matter of time before some fresh hell comes about.

Like it or not, our hobby makes money, which means it will be exploited for profit.

 

[DarkCrisis]

They have the $ and power to just file it away for a few years and then bring D&D back. They will never sell the brand.