will dnd be sold off by hasbro

[Amdy_vill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TByW5A1K3xQ

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/...-being-horizon

Great video from Nerd Immersion and a great article from Scott Thorne. what do you think.

personally, I think WotC is Kinda unlikely to function without Hasbros, but I do see many reasons why Hasbro would ditch WotC.

[Unoriginal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TByW5A1K3xQ

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/...-being-horizon

Great video from Nerd Immersion and a great article from Scott Thorne. what do you think.

personally, I think WotC is Kinda unlikely to function without Hasbros, but I do see many reasons why Hasbro would ditch WotC.

I mean, if Hasbro sells WotC, the buyer is still going to want to do stuff with it, and presumably the same thing it's already doing.

Personally I find unlikely that Hasbro is going to sell WotC anytime soon, given the RPG projects based on Hasbro's properties that they announced on the work. Once it's done and if they don't make money out of them, maybe.

[Amdy_vill]

I mean, if Hasbro sells WotC, the buyer is still going to want to do stuff with it, and presumably the same thing it's already doing.

Personally I find unlikely that Hasbro is going to sell WotC anytime soon, given the RPG projects based on Hasbro's properties that they announced on the work. Once it's done and if they don't make money out of them, maybe.

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.

[MaxWilson]

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.

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. ;)

[Sception]

I'm not sure who would even be positioned to purchase it.

[Sparky McDibben]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TByW5A1K3xQ

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/...-being-horizon

Great video from Nerd Immersion and a great article from Scott Thorne. what do you think.

personally, I think WotC is Kinda unlikely to function without Hasbros, but I do see many reasons why Hasbro would ditch WotC.

As someone with no marketable job skills but a total lack of scruples, I think I would be a perfect acquisition partner.

[Unoriginal]

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.

Again, if WotC is sold, it would be to a company who wants those last few assets.

I just don't see Hasbro selling it as long as DnD and MtG are worth something. If anything maybe Hasbro is serving WotC a reality check after it tried to see if it was relevant for anything else.

Wouldn't make sense to go through all the hassels of approving a new DnD video game and selling the rights of exploiting that to a different company.

Unless the other company is making a huge offer based on how WotC's remaining properties seem to be doing well and Hasbro figured "well we'll never get more money than that out of this dump, let's make it someone else's problem".

Either way I doubt it'll hurt DnD much.

[Amdy_vill]

I'm not sure who would even be positioned to purchase it.

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.

Again, if WotC is sold, it would be to a company who wants those last few assets.

I just don't see Hasbro selling it as long as DnD and MtG are worth something. If anything maybe Hasbro is serving WotC a reality check after it tried to see if it was relevant for anything else.

Wouldn't make sense to go through all the hassels of approving a new DnD video game and selling the rights of exploiting that to a different company.

Unless the other company is making a huge offer based on how WotC's remaining properties seem to be doing well and Hasbro figured "well we'll never get more money than that out of this dump, let's make it someone else's problem".

Either way I doubt it'll hurt DnD much.

Hasbro has had a long history of not valuing those assets, they bought WotC for Pokemon and MTG or DND and have neglected both properties. also, all the hassle for the game right was awhile back. most of the moves they have been making recently have been canceling contracts and stoping asset lending. look at galeforce and the other contracts they have been canceling or pulling out of the past year and a half.

and yes of course it would go to a company that wants it. but this looks more like they're making WotC marketable not like they have a buyer lined up. if they had a buyer already they would probably not be pulling out of contracts.

i think you underestimate how much of a money sink ttrpg are look at the rest of the industry, almost all funded with Kickstarter and such. even ones with big backing and massive groups behind them. if WotC got sold off to a company that didn't have Hasbro money it would definitely change. it would probably end up like Chronicles of darkness or one of the other big TTRPGs with most books coming from Kickstarter or other funding sites. the only other TTRPG that doesn't do that is Warhammer.

[CharonsHelper]

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.

As a stockholder (albeit small-time), I've watched Hasbro's quarterly/annual reports (and I work in finance - so I'm not totally talking out of my wazoo). There has been no inkling of selling off WotC. Quite the contrary - the reports tout MtG & D&D as strong segments.

I think that the real reason that Hasbro likely has WotC doing fewer things than they were (especially when they were solo) is because they weren't very good at them, and Hasbro doesn't need WotC to do things that they're not good at for Hasbro to expand.

Back when WotC was solo, their core money-makers were MtG, Pokémon, & (to a lesser degree) D&D. However, those three were pretty much all maxxed out in terms of their potential market. Therefore, if WotC wanted to grow, it had to branch out into a variety of other games which were pretty hit & miss (mostly miss).

When Hasbro bought WotC, they had them focus down on the stuff which was solidly profitable. If WotC had extra profits, it could be funneled into other parts of Hasbro which had better prospects for growth rather than having WotC try to make yet another failed game. (Plus - Hasbro has a pretty decent dividend to pay for.)

Frankly - this is the same logic in D&D 5e having a much lower volume of books than earlier editions. Hasbro wants to keep D&D's profit margin high and the IP valuable - and it doesn't need to jack up revenue with a vast array of barely profitable splat books for the sake of revenue growth.

Hasbro's schtick is to try to keep its various parts lean and profitable and have each piece do what it's good at - which is a pretty good game-plan. WotC (and its IPs) has been a solid money-maker for Hasbro for years, and WotC benefits from being tied into Hasbro's supply-chain and distribution network, and I doubt that there are many companies who could fulfill that role as well. Between that and a few pretty long-termed projects with WotC IPs (the D&D show & movie they've announced come to mind) I seriously doubt that they're looking to sell of WotC anytime soon.

[Peelee]

As someone with no marketable job skills but a total lack of scruples, I think I would be a perfect acquisition partner.

You've got my vote. I like the cut of your jib.

[jaappleton]

I don’t see Hasbro selling whatsoever.

Yes, there’s some pending litigation. Show me one huge company that doesn’t have any pending litigation whatsoever. Pepsi, McDonalds, Ubisoft, they all deal with lawsuits all the time. As much as I hate to say it, that’s nothing new. That’s the norm.

MtG is a cash printing machine.

WOTC, with D&D, has had an exponential surge in large part due to streaming shows. It’s never been more popular than it is right now.

And that leads into the cross promotions. Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate board games, and Hero Quest coming back, etc. The article is right in one aspect; Hasbro loves board games. And all these internal cross promotions like the Ravnica book and Hero Quest are used to get their core individual base to buy their other products.

They announced a Power Rangers tabletop game setting for 5E, for crying out loud. Hasbro has the license to Power Rangers, not WOTC. Hasbro wouldn’t use WOTC to make that if they’re selling WOTC.

WOTC is doing a ton of hiring right now. You don’t do that when you’re doing an organizational restructure to proposition a sale; you cut staff to a skeleton crew and shed major salary so the buyer can install who they want.

It’s a clickbait article designed to generate talking points, IMO.

[Amdy_vill]

As a stockholder (albeit small-time), I've watched Hasbro's quarterly/annual reports (and I work in finance - so I'm not totally talking out of my wazoo). There has been no inkling of selling off WotC. Quite the contrary - the reports tout MtG & D&D as strong segments.

I think that the real reason that Hasbro likely has WotC doing fewer things than they were (especially when they were solo) is because they weren't very good at them, and Hasbro doesn't need WotC to do things that they're not good at for Hasbro to expand.

Back when WotC was solo, their core money-makers were MtG, Pokémon, & (to a lesser degree) D&D. However, those three were pretty much all maxxed out in terms of their potential market. Therefore, if WotC wanted to grow, it had to branch out into a variety of other games which were pretty hit & miss (mostly miss).

When Hasbro bought WotC, they had them focus down on the stuff which was solidly profitable. If WotC had extra profits, it could be funneled into other parts of Hasbro which had better prospects for growth rather than having WotC try to make yet another failed game.

Frankly - this is the same logic in D&D 5e having a much lower volume of books than earlier editions. Hasbro wants to keep D&D's profit margin high and the IP valuable - and it doesn't need to jack up revenue with a vast array of barely profitable splat books for the sake of revenue growth.

Hasbro's schtick is to try to keep its various parts lean and profitable - which is a pretty good game-plan. WotC has been a solid money-maker for Hasbro for years, and WotC benefits from being tied into Hasbro's supply-chain and distribution network, and I doubt that there are many companies who could fulfill that role as well. Between that and a few pretty long-termed projects with WotC IPs (the D&D show & movie they've announced come to mind) I seriously doubt that they're looking to sell of WotC anytime soon.

Normally I would competly agree, but Hasbro consistently does the opposite, they consistently bloat other groups and massively spread IPs. WotC has even been a victim of this in the past having massive cross-promoting with other big IPs like MLP.

[CharonsHelper]

Normally I would competly agree, but Hasbro consistently does the opposite, they consistently bloat other groups and massively spread IPs. WotC has even been a victim of this in the past having massive cross-promoting with other big IPs like MLP.

Leveraging IPs is a smart move - and then getting every business segment to do their thing for said IP.

That is pretty much the opposite of bloat from a business perspective, as bloat would be having a single segment in charge of an IP and having them reinvent the wheel for everything to do with that IP. (board games/cards/videos/whatever) Instead, Hasbro is spreading the workload around to different segments to have each do what they're best at in relation to said IP.

After all, why not have your board game segment make another board game with the various IPs (such as D&D) rather than having WoTC try to do the same thing, especially when their history shows that they're not all that good at it.

[Amdy_vill]

Leveraging IPs is a smart move - and then getting every business segment to do their thing for said IP.

That is pretty much the opposite of bloat from a business perspective, as bloat would be having a single segment in charge of an IP and having them reinvent the wheel for everything to do with that IP. (board games/cards/videos/whatever) Instead, Hasbro is spreading the workload around to different segments to have each do what they're best at in relation to said IP.

I completely understand this, what I mean by bloat is that they often push it to the point of detriment. placing so many of these cross-promotions at the same time as a massive project and ballooning these cross-promotions into massive projects themselves. look at all the Transformers and MLP projects Wotcs was in charge of making when they pushed them as a big promotions. they did spread the workload around but the work loud was still massive for everyone.

I should note I sold my stocks after this. so I haven't been in the loop much since last Oct.

[Thunderous Mojo]

As someone with no marketable job skills but a total lack of scruples, I think I would be a perfect acquisition partner.

LoL....is your real name, Lorraine Williams?
(Otherwise, been there...done that) 😇

[KorvinStarmast]

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. ;)

*snort* Wilsonian D&D: boon or bane?
(Some on-line RPG site will have that as a headline some day ...

As someone with no marketable job skills but a total lack of scruples, I think I would be a perfect acquisition partner.

Have you rented an office yet? I can telework in support of this effort if the money is right ...

As a stockholder (albeit small-time), I've watched Hasbro's quarterly/annual reports (and I work in finance - so I'm not totally talking out of my wazoo). There has been no inkling of selling off WotC. Quite the contrary - the reports tout MtG & D&D as strong segments.
--snip--
Frankly - this is the same logic in D&D 5e having a much lower volume of books than earlier editions. Hasbro wants to keep D&D's profit margin high and the IP valuable - and it doesn't need to jack up revenue with a vast array of barely profitable splat books for the sake of revenue growth.
--snip--
Hasbro's schtick is to try to keep its various parts lean and profitable and have each piece do what it's good at - which is a pretty good game-plan.

Yep.

MtG is a cash printing machine.

WOTC, with D&D, has had an exponential surge in large part due to streaming shows. It’s never been more popular than it is right now.

Free advertising that Hasbro does not need to spend on penny for.

WOTC is doing a ton of hiring right now. You don’t do that when you’re doing an organizational restructure to proposition a sale; you cut staff to a skeleton crew and shed major salary so the buyer can install who they want.

What, click bait on the internet? Say it ain't so!

[Pex]

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. ;)

One guess what rules I'd enforce.

[Willie the Duck]

I'm not sure who would even be positioned to purchase it.

I have no reason to think that it is really going to be up for sale, but if it were, I could see something happening like the Asmodee-Fantasy Flight acquisition.

Honestly, though Wizards of the Coast is a perfectly reasonable-sized Hasbro component with a profit margin and relative stability with which I am sure they are comfortable. Them packing up D&D and selling it off was something I always tentatively expected, simply because regardless of profit, it simply isn't the size of product line they normally deal with.

[cutlery]

Funny how quickly wild speculation becomes "will".

It doesn't seem like any of this relates to MtG which is a pretty big chunk of WotC's revenue; and MtG is just entering into some tv deal type stuff, something Hasbro is probably quite comfortable with.

[MaxWilson]

One guess what rules I'd enforce.

"Tree climbing is DC 10 unless it's an unusual tree"?

[KorvinStarmast]

"Tree climbing is DC 10 unless it's an unusual tree"?

Which tree? The one in my back yard or Yggdrasil?
(OK, I'll stop ... )

[MaxWilson]

Which tree? The one in my back yard or Yggdrasil?
(OK, I'll stop ... )

You don't think Yggdrasil would be an unusual tree?

[micahaphone]

You don't think Yggdrasil would be an unusual tree?

In my campaign setting, there's a worldtree in every village!

[PhantomSoul]

Which tree? The one in my back yard or Yggdrasil?
(OK, I'll stop ... )

What is Yggdrasil IS in your backyard...?

[Cicciograna]

I'm not sure who would even be positioned to purchase it.

Disney, of course.

[CharonsHelper]

Disney, of course.

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.

[Caelic]

Hasbro has a reputation for not letting go of properties. If a given property is not performing up to their standards, they tend to simply shelve it and sit on it for a while.

However, right now, D&D is as popular as it's ever been, and MTG is still a license to print money; I don't see them letting go of either one anytime soon without massive incentive.

[Doug Lampert]

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.

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.

[micahaphone]

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.

"why buy a steak when you can buy the whole ranch" is a very disney move.

[MaxWilson]

"why buy a steak when you can buy the whole ranch" is a very disney move.

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.