XPost: rec.games.frp.industry
On 3 Feb 2024, dozens wrote:
Wizards of the Coast has denied the report.
In a statement provided to VGC, it said: “We regularly talk to Tencent
and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumors, but to be clear: we are not looking to sell our D&D IP.
“We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital experiences to our fans. We won’t comment any further on speculation or rumors about potential M&A or licensing deals.”
It's always interesting seeing the rumour mill churn. First you see
politicians denying things, then _whoops_ here's an email proving you did actually know about x, and then they soon leave to spend more time with their family.
I wasn't paying much attention when TSR was bought by Wizards, so I don't know what the rumours at the time were like. From reading books like Slaying the Dragon, I don't think anyone at TSR knew what was happening either until they were in the meeting room with WotC.
Hasbro doesn't feel anywhere near as broken, and it makes sense they're not desperate enough to offload DnD. Like someone said "throwing out a chest of diamonds to save a sinking ship".
Hasbro does have huge shelf presence in stores with the specialised monopoly editions. Dad likes X, kid's buy the monopoly edition of X for fathers day. Gets played once, everyone has a fight, and it sits in the back of the
cupboard forever.
We might see more movement towards the high profit and the lifestyle brand items. I guess similar to Disney, StarWars, LoTR, Marvel, StarTrek. I really doubt we'll see something like the Deck of Many Things. I assume the mistakes and low sales have cost them a load of money and now they won't touch it
again. I also expect to see a lot of mentions about VTT in the new rules.
Maybe things like QR codes linking to digital only assets. (You'll need some dice to play, scan the QR code to used DnD Digital Dice! Fill in your charater sheet, or scan the QR code to use a Digital Character sheet that does all the book-keeping for you. Click to generate AI art for you charater!)
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