Wizards of the Coast Head Explains Benefits to D&D Franchise Model

The move will allow for better cross-platform integration.
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The head of Wizards of the Coast believes that moving to a franchise model will allow for more alignment between D&D multimedia and the core D&D tabletop game. Recently, Wizards of the Coast president John Hight spoke with GameIndustry.biz in a wide-ranging interview about the gaming company. Much of the interview was spent on Wizards' digital gaming ambitions, but Hight did speak about the realignment of the company to a franchise model.

Under the franchise model, all D&D-related operations now run through Dan Ayoub as opposed to having different arms for entertainment, video games, and tabletop. In the interview, Hight stated that the franchise model would allow for better coordination - specifically between different aspects of the franchise. One example was the D&D movie, which had relatively limited crossover with the D&D tabletop game. "We'd love to have had a D&D book or campaign a part and parcel with the movie," he says.

He also noted that Stranger Things - which is receiving a new tie-in project next month - could be integrated more with the game. "It'd be nice to have that all lined up, so when this thing rolls out, we've got a campaign for you to enjoy that's something you saw on the show, or the characters in the show."

Additionally, Hight noted that another side to the franchise model is to fully align the digital and physical sides of play, which he hopes will lead to in-person play. "Unfortunately, because of COVID, there's a whole generation of gamers that has spent a good deal of their time playing only online," he said. "And they're re-discovering the joy of being able to play together. What I want us to be able to do is have players move fairly seamlessly between in person play and online play."

Elsewhere in the interview, Hight hinted at a new D&D MMORPG, stating that he has encouraged development of a new MMO but stopped shy of saying a project was officially in the works.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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I'm not going to ask the details, but it seems covid helped stop a lot of that
Icewijd Dale.was the last big splash integrated campaign, and the pseudo-cancelled live event (the game table.portion went to streaming, but no show) for that was the last hurrah of that particular era of live engagement. Nothing like what they did for Tomb of Annihlation or Waterdeep for latter campaigns like Witchlight or Call of the Netherdeep.
 

Without Magic, I doubt Wizards even continues to exist as a viable entity, it likely would have shuttered with 4e.
define viable, D&D on its own is still bigger than any other TTRPG company. I can see them being a bit more careful with their investments (Sigil), but at a profit of around 70M a year, they are easily viable right now, no idea about cash flow around 4e
 

define viable, D&D on its own is still bigger than any other TTRPG company. I can see them being a bit more careful with their investments (Sigil), but at a profit of around 70M a year, they are easily viable right now, no idea about cash flow around 4e

They do not seem to be in growth mode, if that makes sense. If viable is 'as good or better then the next biggest offering' then I guess they would be fine.
 

They do not seem to be in growth mode, if that makes sense. If viable is 'as good or better then the next biggest offering' then I guess they would be fine.
it's hard to see whether they are in growth mode when Hasbro never really properly breaks out the numbers. Supposedly they were growing at around 10% last quarter
 

Icewijd Dale.was the last big splash integrated campaign, and the pseudo-cancelled live event (the game table.portion went to streaming, but no show) for that was the last hurrah of that particular era of live engagement. Nothing like what they did for Tomb of Annihlation or Waterdeep for latter campaigns like Witchlight or Call of the Netherdeep.
It's interesting to see how conventions have grown so much since lockdowns ended. UK Game Expo, Gary Con, and Gamehole Con have all enjoyed explosive growth. Gen Con keeps trying to find more space to jam in gamers. I think in-person events would've been a big hit, and plenty of games (like Magic the Gathering) have taken advantage of that.
 

It's interesting to see how conventions have grown so much since lockdowns ended. UK Game Expo, Gary Con, and Gamehole Con have all enjoyed explosive growth. Gen Con keeps trying to find more space to jam in gamers. I think in-person events would've been a big hit, and plenty of games (like Magic the Gathering) have taken advantage of that.
There's one part of me that thinks some sort of WotC branded convention that's 60-70% MtG (hosting World Championships or something) and 30-40% D&D could be as big as GenCon or even Essen. There's the other part of me that remembers Peter Adkison's dream (pretty much realized) that made GenCon that con. To which the final part of me thinks "hmmm, it's complicated..."
 

There's one part of me that thinks some sort of WotC branded convention that's 60-70% MtG (hosting World Championships or something) and 30-40% D&D could be as big as GenCon or even Essen. There's the other part of me that remembers Peter Adkison's dream (pretty much realized) that made GenCon that con. To which the final part of me thinks "hmmm, it's complicated..."
One thing to note is that WotC doesn't really run any of their own games at conventions. It's all contracted out.

At GenCon... D&D is run by Baldman Games. Great crew that has been running games at GenCon for a long time. Magic is run by Pastimes. I don't play MtG so can't speak to how great they may be. Like Baldman, they've running MtG events at GenCon for a long time.

So while WotC could run their own convention, I don't think they're really all that interested in doing it.
 



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