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

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.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A reminder, as people were insisting that D&D was on the path to microtransactions, WotC eliminated DnDBeyond microtransactions.

The number of people who had no idea those were even a thing and insisted here, on this site, that nothing had changed, was wild.

I had used the a la carte purchases extensively, since my table collectively purchases D&D Beyond material for our Ptolus game. There's so much of many WotC books that we just don't need. I'm already irritated that we may end up having to buy the complete Forgotten Realms players book this fall just for $50 for the sake of a dozen pages of material, which we would have happily paid a premium for.

 

[Domino80]

I like the idea of returning to the table more... But they just spend the last couple years telling me that online microtransactions were the future. Something about a billion-dollar-franchise.

It would be cool if they had an online tool that allowed me to drag and drop items like monster statblocks and dungeon elements into a helper module of some sort. Guessing there would be some AI involved, but if it can help with structure and certain elements of design, then I might be in.

They went Away from microtransactions a while ago... and a lot of us are pissed off about it! The a la carte purchasing of D&Dveyond was amazing. I wanted subclasses or magic items, but not necesarrily the whole adventure or campaign setting. I actually spend less overall than I used to because instead of spending $10 or $15 getting pieces I wanted, I have to either buy the whole $30 book or nothing at all. It more often is that second choice now.

 

[mamba]

I just think the "Everything D&D will come down to microtransactions and destroy the game" meme that was going around was highly overblown.

I agree with that, but that doesn't mean I was not expecting MTs in Sigil. That WotC did not shout their inclusion from the rooftops is not exactly proof of anything

ame with the "Everybody playing D&D will be forced online" or "Everything will be AI generated" or any of the other bogeymen that have never come to pass.

I agree with that too, but just because the 'everything will' part is not true does not mean there is not a direction WotC wants to take the game in

 

[mamba]

A reminder, as people were insisting that D&D was on the path to microtransactions, WotC eliminated DnDBeyond microtransactions.

yeah, but not because they were fundamentally opposed to them but because few used them and they apparently did not consider the overhead of breaking the pieces out worth the additional revenue. Probably in part because they hope / expect to get at least some of the people who would have bought some pieces to instead buy the entire book. Case in point

There's so much of many WotC books that we just don't need. I'm already irritated that we may end up having to buy the complete Forgotten Realms players book this fall just for $50 for the sake of a dozen pages of material, which we would have happily paid a premium for.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

yeah, but not because they were fundamentally opposed to them but because few used them and they apparently did not consider the overhead of breaking out the pieces out worth the additional revenue. Probably in part because they hope / expect to get at least some of the people who would have bought some pieces to instead buy the entire book. Case in point

I am highly skeptical that the amount of extra work to make a la carte purchases work was significant. I think this is just a move intended to get more money out of their customers.

The Forgotten Realms books will be the first real test of whether they're going to make generate more revenue without a la carte purchases. (My group has a member who is happy to create homebrew everything in D&D Beyond, so we can just make our own 2024 subclasses instead of dropping $50 bucks for eight of them.)

If we see a la carte purchases triumphantly return early in 2026, we'll have our answer.

 

[Incenjucar]

Waiting on the 12 issue IDW series where the Transformers end up in Mechanus, followed by a Drizzt Transformer that turns into Guenhwyvar.

Beast Wars: Eberron, perhaps.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They went Away from microtransactions a while ago... and a lot of us are pissed off about it! The a la carte purchasing of D&Dveyond was amazing. I wanted subclasses or magic items, but not necesarrily the whole adventure or campaign setting. I actually spend less overall than I used to because instead of spending $10 or $15 getting pieces I wanted, I have to either buy the whole $30 book or nothing at all. It more often is that second choice now.

The ala carte aspect of D&DB was the only thing that made buying content that way remotely palatable.

 

[Azzy]

They went Away from microtransactions a while ago... and a lot of us are pissed off about it! The a la carte purchasing of D&Dveyond was amazing. I wanted subclasses or magic items, but not necesarrily the whole adventure or campaign setting. I actually spend less overall than I used to because instead of spending $10 or $15 getting pieces I wanted, I have to either buy the whole $30 book or nothing at all. It more often is that second choice now.

Yeah, this is my experience, too. I've spent a whole order of magnitude less on D&D Beyond since the a la carte option went away.

 

[MGibster]

I think they're just acknowledging that in-person play is important and to counter the argument that I've seen made that they're pushing for more and more online play.

Despite playing face-to-face, out of the six participants in my current Greyhawk campaign, only two of us are rocking it old school with pen & paper. Four of the players are using D&D Beyond for everything including rolling dice. I do think WotC will continue to encourage players and DMs to make use of D&D Beyond or whatever else they come up with even when you're playing with your pals at the kitchen table. While I personally have mixed feelings about it, I don't have any moral objections.

I was surprised by how little integration there was between the game and recent film, so I am glad that they recognize this as a problem and are trying to address it. On that point, how come their game doesn't manage to cater to the now conventional druid power fantasy (transforming into a huge beast and wrecking face) anywhere near as well as their movie does?

I was more than a little surprised as well. Hopefully they manage to maintain quality while releasing tie-in products in a timely fashion. I don't imagine it's actually that easy to coordinate production schedules between different forms of media.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe the campaign played by the characters from "Stranger Things" could become a new canon D&D setting.

Multiplayer online videogames are a risky bet today. If a Power Rangers-Fortnite collab has been possible, maybe there are possibilities for a D&D-Fortnite.

I guess most of you live in a big city but where I live I am the one who bought a D&D sourcebook, althought the Hero Quest is sold very well in the toy shops. I can't meet D&D players to play in person and if I wanted online would be the unique option.

If there is a LEGO: D&D... why not a Playmobil: D&D?

Other idea of collab is some comic or manga where characters "from the real life" play D&D "to learn creativity, communication, team work and critical thinking".