Why We Should Work With WotC

[mamba]

WotC accounts for only 22% of revenue but 72% of profit for Hasbro as a whole. MTG and D&D are almost 4 times as cheap to extract profit from than anything else Hasbro has, and they think this is a cheap way to squeeze even harder to support the rest of its underperforming lineup.

Your math is off. To make it slightly easier, I will be using 1/4 of revenue and 3/4 of profit...

Going by

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

Hasbro had 2B revenue in 3Q2021, and 400M profit (both rounded for simplicity). So WotC had a revenue of 500M and 300M profit. The rest of Hasbro had 1.5B revenue but only 100M profit. So WotC's profit margin is 60% while Hasbro's is less than 7%.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Takeaway: don’t copy stuff verbatim, be more careful the more unique something is, and don’t use the OGL unless what you’re making doesn’t touch stuff you want to publish that can’t be OGL.

Assuming wotc doesn’t finally back down and yeet whoever is actually the driver of all this. Unfortunately, I think there is a good chance y’all are aiming at the wrong people, especially when it comes to Williams.

This is Hasbro. Full stop. The only question is whether it was Chris’ idea or if he was given the order from the board.

Wotc is most of hasbros profit. Hasbro is flailing. That’s all we need to know to determine where the momentum on this originates, at least in rough terms.

 

[raniE]

Your math is off. To make it slightly easier, I will be using 1/4 of revenue and 3/4 of profit...

Going by

https://investor.hasbro.com/news-releases/news-release-details/hasbro-reports-third-quarter-financial-results

Hasbro had 2B revenue in 3Q2021, and 400M profit (both rounded for simplicity). So WotC had a revenue of 500M and 300M profit. The rest of Hasbro had 1.5B revenue but only 100M profit. So WotC's profit margin is 60% while Hasbro's is less than 7%.

The numbers aren't off as far as I can see, it's just for 2021 in its entirety. WotC's profit for the entire year was 547 million dollars, out of 1.29 billion dollars, or a 42.5% profit margin. Hasbro's total revenue was 6.42 billion dollars, and total operating profit was 763.3 million. Removing WotC and digital gaming (as the reporting segment is called), we get revenue for the rest of Hasbro of 5.13 billion dollars, and operating profit of 216.3 million, which is 4.2%. So WotC and digital gaming is about 10 times more profitable than the rest of Hasbro as an entity.

 

[Scribe]

Wotc is most of hasbros profit. Hasbro is flailing. That’s all we need to know to determine where the momentum on this originates, at least in rough terms.

And the thing is, if WoTC is most of Hasbro profits, MtG is the MASSIVE lions share of WoTC profits, and they have gained NOTHING by doing all this.

They are not missing out on some massive fortune. They are pissing away the only thing they had (and even that the community was too generous in giving them) a 'good name'.

 

[mamba]

The numbers aren't off as far as I can see, it's just for 2021 in its entirety. WotC's profit for the entire year was 547 million dollars, out of 1.29 billion dollars, or a 42.5% profit margin. Hasbro's total revenue was 6.42 billion dollars, and total operating profit was 763.3 million. Removing WotC and digital gaming (as the reporting segment is called), we get revenue for the rest of Hasbro of 5.13 billion dollars, and operating profit of 216.3 million, which is 4.2%. So WotC and digital gaming is about 10 times more profitable than the rest of Hasbro as an entity.

that is my point, you said it was 4 times as cheap to extract profit when it is about 10 times as profitable

 

[Caerdwyn]

Even if D&D mechanics were somehow patentable (an assertion I do not concede), it's far too late for that. The public disclosure grace period of one year, and the patent duration of 20 years, has seen to that. Patents are off the table, whether by applicability or by calendar. All that leaves is trade mark, product identity and copyright.

And as for US-centric views... Hasbro is a US corporation.

I stand by the above assertions. You are, of course, free to assert otherwise.

 

[ECMO3]

If 1.0a goes away, I cannot write Level Up! content because I'm no longer covered under the OGL 1.0a's sublicensing. At least not without risking lawsuits from both WotC and EN Publishing (though I know the latter wouldn't start anything).

This really gets to the heart of why I don't think WOTC can actually deauthorize OGL 1.0a. If they do, as you alluded to then they have deauthorised you from publishing something that is not based on their content but rather another organization's content.

 

[raniE]

that is my point, you said it was 4 times as cheap to extract profit when it is about 10 times as profitable

No I didn’t. Not unless you think I run two accounts.

 

[Dausuul]

I am not a lawyer. I am a GM of 45 years of experience, a software quality engineer of 30 years experience

You ever listen to non-techies holding forth with total confidence about how some complex piece of software works under the hood?

I try not to be those people.

 

[mamba]

No I didn’t. Not unless you think I run two accounts.

true, not the same person Well, I guess then you missed where I was thinking the math was off I guess