will dnd be sold off by hasbro

[LudicSavant]

to be honest, it would probably be Konami or another big company, it is very unlikely it would go to a group like Paizo, kobold press, or such. it might if there are no big fish biting. it might also get sold off in pieces. dnd and MTG are massive and could easily be broken up and sold. they could sell the IP of the RPG and the literature separately. If it is sold like that WotC would not be a thing anymore.

Oh god now I'm imagining the alternate timeline where it goes to Konami and it's Dungeons and Dragons Survive and pachinko machines.

[CharonsHelper]

Or, to put it another way, I personally would not be at all surprised if Disney bought Hasbro tomorrow. There's a fair amount of synergy there and it adds useful capabilities to Disney.

I would be shocked if they bought WotC from Hasbro.

That's possible - but that would be a pretty hefty acquisition, even by Disney standards. Hasbro's market cap is just under 13 billion, which means that it would likely take about 15 billion to buy it via tender offer (assuming Hasbro doesn't pull a poison pill to avoid it). Disney's market cap is about 268 billion, so Hasbro is much smaller, but Disney is not a Google, Microsoft, or Amazon with a hundred billion in cash equivalents on hand. A quick Google search shows that Disney has about 4 billion cash on hand, so they would either need to buy Hasbro via stock and/or debt. Neither is out of the question, but either would be a big tactical move.

Really - while I agree that there would be some benefit to Disney in buying Hasbro via vertical integration, it might actually hurt Hasbro quite a bit.

Hasbro makes toys for all of the Disney movies, but they ALSO make toys for a bunch of other movies and other IPs which they don't own. If Disney suddenly bought Hasbro - how many of those IPs would shift their manufacturing to Mattel (or whatever) to avoid giving their competitor (Disney) any help? Or even just (understandably) fear that their own manufacturing would always take a backseat to whatever Hasbro was churning out for Disney if there was another manufacturing crunch like there has been the last year or so (first due to the trade war with China, and then COVID issues - Hasbro has not been able to keep up with demand)?

With all of those costs and risks, I don't see Disney making a tender offer to Hasbro any time in the near future. (Which is too bad - because I'd appreciate getting an instant 15-20% boost over the current price on my HAS.)

[Pex]

It would be convenient timing to be sold with the new owner putting out 6E in time for the 50th anniversary.

[Lupine]

It would be convenient timing to be sold with the new owner putting out 6E in time for the 50th anniversary.

That might be the most convincing piece of evidence yet.

[Spriteless]

Ten years from now the ownership chain will look like: TSR acquired by WotC acquired by Hasbro acquired by Disney acquired by Amazon acquired by [doesn't exist yet in 2020, creator is still in 8th grade].

Hasbro seems like a big fish but some of the fishes out there are enormously huge.

Look man, how else are we going to get power rangers and x men crossover game, it's not like I can just stat it out in FATE in an afternoon I need a big company to do it for me and take my money, then deliver it to my door via drone.

[Sception]

to be honest, it would probably be Konami or another big company.

I suppose Konami is possible. They do own the Yugioh card game. I'd certainly hate to see it, though. I don't really like the idea of the D&D brand being used to promote pachinko machines laundering money for the Yakuza.

[Tvtyrant]

Huh. Interesting. I have no opinion but I do wish I had a few spare million dollars. I'd love to buy D&D and then force everyone to acknowledge my favorite house rules as the new official RAW. ;)

Finally a good edition!

[Amdy_vill]

I suppose Konami is possible. They do own the Yugioh card game. I'd certainly hate to see it, though. I don't really like the idea of the D&D brand being used to promote pachinko machines laundering money for the Yakuza.

I feel like you think the yakuza launder money, when they just walk do to the local yakuza owned bank and have a nice and fair transaction. no. laundering required.

[137beth]

But who would need to buy WotC in order for us to get D&D: Battle Royale?

[Amdy_vill]

But who would need to buy WotC in order for us to get D&D: Battle Royale?

epic will do it.

[Sception]

I feel like you think the yakuza launder money, when they just walk do to the local yakuza owned bank and have a nice and fair transaction. no. laundering required.

I stand corrected. Thank you, Professor Crimes.

[Rhodree]

Unlikely there's any truth to this, but it might make sense for them to sell off D&D and not MtG. Is it very likely that D&D could continue its current success? Sell the lower revenue part of WotC when its at max value.

[loki_ragnarock]

I read the article.

I'm unconvinced.

However, it's also been a rough year for the economy all round; if they need to drop a modestly profitable segment for cash now, I'd be... a little surprised considering how cheap credit is right now, but who knows what a company will do in the face of a global economic collapse?

[AdAstra]

What is Yggdrasil IS in your backyard...?

Given that it's the world tree, it IS the backyard. Everyone's backyard. And no recorded incidents of anyone falling off. Thus climbing trees ought to be an auto-pass, since everyone's always climbing the biggest tree and never falls.

[Amdy_vill]

I stand corrected. Thank you, Professor Crimes.

It is actually quite terrifying how public they are. some buildings uses to just have yakuza plastered on their walls. like how McDonald's has the big M, some Yakuza buildings had Yakuza.

[EggKookoo]

I don't think that Disney wants to get into the manufacturing toys/games market. They already outsource all of their Disney cartoon and Star Wars toys to Hasbro - it seems unlikely that they'd buy WotC before they bring the manufacturing for their own IPs in-house.

There are antitrust implications there as well. They had hoops to jump through to get Fox.

[CharonsHelper]

There are antitrust implications there as well. They had hoops to jump through to get Fox.

Probably not. Anti-trust laws are about horizonal monopolies - while buying Hasbro would be Disney going vertical - which anti-trust laws (at least in the US) don't care about, as they're largely about keeping competition around for the good of the consumers. (Note: EU anti-trust laws are a different beast as they're aimed more at protecting businesses with a bit of a protectionist leaning rather than protecting consumers. I don't know enough about the intricacies to weigh in there, or even know if they'd have jurisdiction.)

[Amdy_vill]

Probably not. Anti-trust laws are about horizonal monopolies - while buying Hasbro would be Disney going vertical - which anti-trust laws (at least in the US) don't care about, as they're largely about keeping competition around for the good of the consumers. (Note: EU anti-trust laws are a different beast as they're aimed more at protecting businesses with a bit of a protectionist leaning rather than protecting consumers. I don't know enough about the intricacies to weigh in there, or even know if they'd have jurisdiction.)

Hasbro does have a kinda big media branch. I might cause problems. probably not if it did happen.

[KorvinStarmast]

Hasbro does have a kinda big media branch. I might cause problems. probably not if it did happen.

I just had a moment with your user name. When I read it and tried to say it out loud, it evoked the memory of a movie:
Amityville Horror

Not sure if that's your intention, but that's what happened.

[Amdy_vill]

I just had a moment with your user name. When I read it and tried to say it out loud, it evoked the memory of a movie:
Amityville Horror

Not sure if that's your intention, but that's what happened.

so I used to play a mobile game where you build up a city in the zombie apocalypse. when you made you account I suggested naming your account like a town or city, so like the idiot I am I misspelled Andy as Amdy and added vill as in Village to the end. since then it kinda stuck. I didn't even know what Amityville was for like another 3 or 4 years.

[KorvinStarmast]

so like the idiot I am I misspelled Andy as Amdy and added vill as in Village to the end.

/em Marlon Brando voice

The horror!

(Sometimes, jokes don't land, not sure how this one will do ...)

[Amdy_vill]

/em Marlon Brando voice

The horror!

(Sometimes, jokes don't land, not sure how this one will do ...)

I love people asking about my username, It becomes so tied to me and it's just a reminder that I was once a studied kid who couldn't spell. as I say this Grammarly caught 19 spelling mistakes and I am also only 19 so I am still a kid.

[Arkhios]

I would look at the article, Hasbro has been canceling projects and transferring assets from WotC. this isn't common outside of massive reorganization or sales. think about it WotCs only remaining assets are MTG, DND, half a dozen failed RPG and card games, and a few new attempts at card games and RPG yet to hit the market.

Gee, I dunno. If only there was a Giant in the RPG industry, or should I say, an Ancient Dragon in a Dungeon, that laid out the groundwork for a plethora of other RPG's both tabletop and video games alike, that has been around for nigh 50 years, still respected by millions of players, even if they're not all actively playing the latest edition. A game like that would alone be worth keeping by any publisher.

[jaappleton]

At first I borderline scoffed at this idea. As I've thought more, and talked with some friends, I actually think its possible. Not because Hasbro is necessarily looking to sell anything to generate some capital.... but because Hasbro itself could be prepping for themselves to be purchased. If that's the case, I see the sale of D&D as a much higher probability than I previously thought.

I think the following is all possible, some more likely than others:

1. Disney buys Hasbro. This move actually makes a ton of sense. Just from the toys and board games alone, Disney gets to keep everything in-house. Plus the super family friendly brand joining the king of family brands, all under one umbrella, it makes sense.

2. If Disney buys Hasbro, do they want everything under Hasbro? Do they want WOTC? Do they want D&D specifically? Paramount currently has the film rights. Lets not forget that Marvel gave Paramount 115 million a decade ago to get the distribution rights to the Marvel films they collaborated on (Avengers was the first in-house distributed film for Marvel as they started the MCU, it was Paramount before then). Its possible that D&D isn't worth including in the price tag of this whole deal, especially when you consider that D&D isn't just tabletop books. Its things like merchandising, film rights, etc.

3. If D&D isn't part of the deal, who / what has the interest, knowledge, and cash to snag D&D as a brand? Who knows what they're doing in the TTRPG space? Paizo? Paizo is big, for sure. And I'm not dissing them at all when I say this, but they don't have the cash. If I were a betting man (Spoilers: I'm a degenerate gambler), I'd wager a company like Asmodee to try to get the D&D brand. If you're not familiar with them, here's a list of their best sellers: https://b2b-media-production-ana.s3....s_10162020.pdf

[animewatcha]

How does this compare to hasbro obtaining DND WOTC around the time of 3.5e-4e? I had heard that was the reason at the time. With 4e turning into WoW-esque ( I never played it myself ). 5e coming about from backlash and constant errata-fortheerrata-fortheerrata each month.