WotC WotC Makes Over $1B In 2021!

According to ICv2, D&D publisher WotC made over $1 billion in total sales in 2021, including $952M in tabletop games.

WotC is the first (and only) billion dollar publisher in tabletop RPGs, although much of this revenue will also be due to Magic the Gathering. It is responsible for a staggering 72% of Hasbro's total operating profit.

Interim CEO Rich Stoddart indicated that tabletop games grew 44% and accounted for 74% of the $1.3B sales for WotC in 2021. The division at Hasbro is 'Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming', so the remained came from the Digital Gaming side of things.

WotC Sold Over $950 Million in Tabletop Games in 2021

As Company Revenues Passed $1 Billion for the First Time

icv2.com

WotC - WotC Has A New President

With outgoing president Chris Cocks being promoted to the top job at Hasbro, WotC has a chief -- Microsoft's Cynthia Williams! Williams is joined by Tim Fields as Senior Vice President. Over at Microsoft, Williams was General Manager and Vice President, Gaming Ecosystem Commercial Team and was...

www.enworld.org

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

1. Those changes haven't been done yet.
2. It's in a splat book.

. . . Are those not two completely contradictory statements? "This hasn't happened yet, except it has, it's just in a splat book." That's a paradox.

Racial ASIs have been removed, even if it is just in updated forms of the races (Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse). The changes have been made, and it almost definitely would have affected the market in the past year if it was going to.

Remember Book of 9 Swords was "well recieved" but failed hard incorporated in a new edition.

Okay. But that was one book. The removal of racial ASIs from D&D 5e has been a thing since every book and Unearthed Arcana after Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

I'm more proof is in the pudding. 6E will be that pudding and yeah no one can reliably predict that.

White Wolf and 4E are example of change can be bad but there's counter examples.

I would also see how the movies and shows go.

Now, you're right that we don't know how the updated versions of the 5e PHB/DMG/MM will be . . . but even if they don't have much success with that (which I'm assuming they will, because a lot of people are undoubtedly going to want an updated version of 5e's rules), WotC still publishes multiple successful books and products every year. One dud is not going to be enough to sink 5e, even if it is a remake of the core rules.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

Yep. Only about the money. Never about the game. Figures.

They made that much, then they shouldn't have an issue with creating a department that writes more support products/conversions for older editions of the game. Still waiting on"Fiendish Codex III: Yugoloths" for 3.5e

Or make it even easier and just open up the DMs Guild to older editions and stop limiting content creators to 5e only

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Yep. Only about the money. Never about the game. Figures.

They made that much, then they shouldn't have an issue with creating a department that writes more support products/conversions for older editions of the game. Still waiting on"Fiendish Codex III: Yugoloths" for 3.5e

Or make it even easier and just open up the DMs Guild to older editions and stop limiting content creators to 5e only

The 3E OGL never went away, so why can't someone make new stuff and put it on the DrivethruRPG side of the site? The only rule I know of is that it cannot be setting-specific or use IP.

 

[Zardnaar]

. . . Are those not two completely contradictory statements? "This hasn't happened yet, except it has, it's just in a splat book." That's a paradox.

Racial ASIs have been removed, even if it is just in updated forms of the races (Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse). The changes have been made, and it almost definitely would have affected the market in the past year if it was going to.

Okay. But that was one book. The removal of racial ASIs from D&D 5e has been a thing since every book and Unearthed Arcana after Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

Now, you're right that we don't know how the updated versions of the 5e PHB/DMG/MM will be . . . but even if they don't have much success with that (which I'm assuming they will, because a lot of people are undoubtedly going to want an updated version of 5e's rules), WotC still publishes multiple successful books and products every year. One dud is not going to be enough to sink 5e, even if it is a remake of the core rules.

No one cares to much about splatbooks they never have.

Just because 5E is popular it's not guranteed for 6E is my main point.

They got enough "popularity capital" built if they would have to try hard to tank 5E.

They won't have that for 6E. The new PHB will be a last hurrah or in essence 5.5 so they're in effect doing an edition change without calling it that.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yep. Only about the money. Never about the game. Figures.

They made that much, then they shouldn't have an issue with creating a department that writes more support products/conversions for older editions of the game. Still waiting on"Fiendish Codex III: Yugoloths" for 3.5e

Or make it even easier and just open up the DMs Guild to older editions and stop limiting content creators to 5e only

It's not really reasonable to expect new older edition products. Reprints maybe or DMGuild sure.

 

[werecorpse]

It seems to me (personal observation not figures) that Mongoose Traveller, and Chaosium Runequest and Call of Cthulhu are all producing high quality material at a pretty frequent rate. Plus there are heaps of third party D&D publishers producing high quality material such as Kobold Press, MCDM, Lazy DM etc.
WOTC may be the elephant in the room but the room seems pretty big as well.

 

[Scott Christian]

WotC is the first (and only) billion dollar publisher in tabletop RPGs, although much of this revenue will also be due to Magic the Gathering. It is responsible for a staggering 72% of Hasbro's total operating profit.

Where in the article does it state this? Sorry, but I don't see it.

Also, is the "it" referring to WotC or MtG?

 

[AtomicPope]

What I like the most about this news is the fact that lots of money is being made but WotC isn't flooding the market with crap product like a backed up toilet. Living through the heyday of 2e and 3e I saw the D&D world inundated with crap. This is not to say there weren't gems, and I could spend I hours talking about the gems. However, it was a lot of wasted effort that amounted to a decrease in overall quality while overwhelming the market with bad choices. New players would find themselves buying things that were fundamentally useless, and DMs weren't onboard with allowing every splat book in their campaigns. So I'm looking at all of this not as an investor but as a long time player and DM. Even the products that weren't great (Rime of the Frostmaiden *cough *cough) still have a lot of potential for homebrew, and definitely worth stealing. Together with the high profit tells me that things are going steady and stronk for D&D, and I like to hear it.

 

[Maxperson]

Huh.

I guess investing in artificially scarce cardboard makes a good return.

I wish I still had all my old alpha, beta and arabian knights cards. When I sold out I bought a car. Now I could probably have gotten a house.

 

[Zardnaar]

I wish I still had all my old alpha, beta and arabian knights cards. When I sold out I bought a car. Now I could probably have gotten a house.

Cheap housing. I stopped MtG in 2010 same year we got the house.

I didn't have the older cards though I thought Black Lotus was to expensive at $400.

Well for my taste collectibles can be pricey.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I wish I still had all my old alpha, beta and arabian knights cards. When I sold out I bought a car. Now I could probably have gotten a house.

Yep. An Alpha Black Lotus graded Gem Mint 10, signed by the artist, sold for over $500k in an auction about a year ago. And in 2020, an unsigned one sold for $250k at auction.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yep. An Alpha Black Lotus graded Gem Mint 10, signed by the artist, sold for over $500k in an auction about a year ago. And in 2020, an unsigned one sold for $250k at auction.

Still wouldn't buy a house here lol.

Extreme case as well I guess most people who owned black lotus back in the day has a gem mint one. Only way to really get one is open alpha/beta product wearing rubber gloves.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Drive-by tangent: what do lesser grade BLs go for? Betas?

My collection goes back to Alpha, and I know I have a lot of the high value cards, but I haven’t looked at market values in a decade or more,

 

[Maxperson]

Still wouldn't buy a house here lol.

Not by itself, but when you add the rest of the power nine and other cards from alpha, beta and arabian knights, you're up well over a million.

 

[Zardnaar]

Not by itself, but when you add the rest of the power nine and other cards from alpha, beta and arabian knights, you're up well over a million.

If they're in that condition and that's roughly what houses go for here.

 

[Maxperson]

Drive-by tangent: what do lesser grade BLs go for? Betas?

My collection goes back to Alpha, and I know I have a lot of the high value cards, but I haven’t looked at market values in a decade or more,

Alpha Lightning Bolts are going for $300-$500 if that gives you an idea. The prices for the older sets have gone through the roof, entered orbit and then blown up the moon.

 

[Zardnaar]

Drive-by tangent: what do lesser grade BLs go for? Betas?

My collection goes back to Alpha, and I know I have a lot of the high value cards, but I haven’t looked at market values in a decade or more,

Depends on the condition. The mega prices generally only on gem mint.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Mine ARE NOT minty. They’ve seen some play,

I have a ridiculous amount of cards going up to 6thl with the earliest sets statistically overrepresented. MtG came out while I lived in Austin, and it was hot. Most stores sold out of initial runs within a couple weeks of a set’s release.

But one store in particular had a secondary supply line. The store owner had a colleague in Los Angeles who thought MtG would be HUGE, but his local customers just didn’t buy into it. So his store was constantly overstocked with dusty boxes of MtG. So the store in Austin started buying their excess. He’d have boxes coming in MONTHS after Austin was dry.

And I was buying LOTS! Not to collect, but to play. So I was chasing cards. (Stores hadn’t started selling singles yet.)

 

[Zardnaar]

Mine ARE NOT minty. They’ve seen some play,

I have a ridiculous amount of cards going up to 6thl with the earliest sets statistically overrepresented. MtG came out while I lived in Austin, and it was hot. Most stores sold out of initial runs within a couple weeks of a set’s release.

But one store in particular had a secondary supply line. The store owner had a colleague in Los Angeles who thought MtG would be HUGE, but his local customers just didn’t buy into it. So his store was constantly overstocked with dusty boxes of MtG. So the store in Austin started buying their excess. He’d have boxes coming in MONTHS after Austin was dry.

And I was buying LOTS! Not to collect, but to play. So I was chasing cards. (Stores hadn’t started selling singles yet.)

Still worth good money but a lot less if it's "low grade".

Still some people like them to use in vintage tourneys. Beat up power 9 is still power.

 

[Maxperson]

Mine ARE NOT minty. They’ve seen some play,

I have a ridiculous amount of cards going up to 6thl with the earliest sets statistically overrepresented. MtG came out while I lived in Austin, and it was hot. Most stores sold out of initial runs within a couple weeks of a set’s release.

But one store in particular had a secondary supply line. The store owner had a colleague in Los Angeles who thought MtG would be HUGE, but his local customers just didn’t buy into it. So his store was constantly overstocked with dusty boxes of MtG. So the store in Austin started buying their excess. He’d have boxes coming in MONTHS after Austin was dry.

And I was buying LOTS! Not to collect, but to play. So I was chasing cards. (Stores hadn’t started selling singles yet.)

A moderately played alpha Lotus is still about 40k. Maybe more now.