Quote from: Mistwell on April 25, 2024, 09:58:15 AMLatest earnings call:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hasbro-q1-2024-earnings-call-164518554.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW53b3JsZC5vcmcv&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHAQVO30snNQCJm4GSToRptm2zCiWDl5PtdcExukSViXZsez77nAC9_qFOxXXXoNlJ-C1g3LkpG1OqKaQ_-_O9kHHV6teOWfjsKyb9SuqT2xg5-VsuviwkSCQGvecU1n_XYQwT27-p0TqlLcxRrXQRS6z8KHRbZFnPvZM7lNi5xU

The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment's revenues totaled $316.3 million, up 8.2% from $339 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted operating margin was 38.8% compared with 26% in the year-ago quarter.

Hasbro's overall revenues: -24%
Digital and licensed game sales: +14%
Overall tabletop gaming: +5%
Magic the Gathering: +4%

Wait a minute...

$316.3 million < $339 million

So how can they be "up 8.2% from the year-ago quarter"?

Books ARE expensive, WotC wants to switch to digital only, and as Professor Dungeon Master says, I would be greatly surprized if they don't make a phone game you can play casually on the subway.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on April 25, 2024, 02:41:19 PM$316.3 million < $339 million

So how can they be "up 8.2% from the year-ago quarter"?

I don't know what the OP was posting, but according to the quarterly report I got directly from Hasbro.com, Q1 2023 revenue for Wizards of the Coast + Digital Gaming was $295.2 million

Quote from: GeekyBugle on April 25, 2024, 02:41:19 PM

Quote from: Mistwell on April 25, 2024, 09:58:15 AMLatest earnings call:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hasbro-q1-2024-earnings-call-164518554.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZW53b3JsZC5vcmcv&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHAQVO30snNQCJm4GSToRptm2zCiWDl5PtdcExukSViXZsez77nAC9_qFOxXXXoNlJ-C1g3LkpG1OqKaQ_-_O9kHHV6teOWfjsKyb9SuqT2xg5-VsuviwkSCQGvecU1n_XYQwT27-p0TqlLcxRrXQRS6z8KHRbZFnPvZM7lNi5xU

The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment's revenues totaled $316.3 million, up 8.2% from $339 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted operating margin was 38.8% compared with 26% in the year-ago quarter.

Hasbro's overall revenues: -24%
Digital and licensed game sales: +14%
Overall tabletop gaming: +5%
Magic the Gathering: +4%

Wait a minute...

$316.3 million < $339 million

So how can they be "up 8.2% from the year-ago quarter"?

LOL good point. No idea. Looks like Orwellian double speak but I am just pasting someone else's summary so maybe there is a logical explanation like a typo.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on April 25, 2024, 02:45:05 PMBooks ARE expensive, WotC wants to switch to digital only, and as Professor Dungeon Master says, I would be greatly surprized if they don't make a phone game you can play casually on the subway.

WOTC does not want to switch to digital only and anyone claiming they heard that from WOTC is lying. People keep guessing they want that, but the actual people in charge there keep saying that's not the intention at all and follow that up with more hardcopy books.

As for a phone game you can play casually, I highly recommend Marvel Snap. Seriously, really very good game and highly addicting. And free - no idea why anyone pays them for additional in-game stuff as almost all of it is meaningless and no advantage.

Quote from: BadApple on April 25, 2024, 02:28:20 PMTake a look at what is going on with Battletech with their community rep and the player base.  In short, the player base has had it with Catalyst Game Labs and have started to boycott buying new BT stuff.

Catalyst (the heirs to FASA) gets what it deserves in my opinion. Their sanctimonious attitude and their empowering those fuckers at Piranha to backdoor steal the Macross designs again has been detrimental to Robotech's brand for almost 40 years now, so fuck them.

Quote from: Mistwell on April 25, 2024, 06:15:17 PMAs for a phone game you can play casually, I highly recommend Marvel Snap. Seriously, really very good game and highly addicting. And free - no idea why anyone pays them for additional in-game stuff as almost all of it is meaningless and no advantage.

That's a whole nother topic, but basically there's a tiny number of people who, for various reasons, spend a huge amount on microtransactions. They essentially pay for the game while everyone else plays for free.

This has been described as predatory on people with behavioral issues. Somewhat like targeting people with gambling addiction with ads for online casinos.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on February 15, 2024, 11:53:43 AMAnd it's crazy to think that one D&D video game makes more money for Hasbro than tabletop D&D does in three to four years combined. And every cent of the Baldur's Gate money is profit whereas most of the revenue from tabletop D&D is countered by the cost to write and print the books.

But Baldur's Gate would not exist without the TTRPG.
My concern, and I think many people share this concern, is that they can miss TTRPGs as a small business in itself that can generate huge sales in spin offs. But the TTRPG has to exist and thrive to be generating those spin offs.
Corporate doinks can and do kill off golden geese trying to maximize profits, not understanding why things are profitable. And D&D could easily be a casualty of that kind of narrow thinking.

Has anyone made an alternative to BattleTech? I don't imagine that it's sustainable to not buy from the publisher anymore.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 25, 2024, 07:32:00 PMHas anyone made an alternative to BattleTech? I don't imagine that it's sustainable to not buy from the publisher anymore.

Are you talking rules sets or minis?

There are a LOT of TTWG rules sets that could make for a solid drop in for BT rules.  Some could even be argued as being much better.  With the advent of 3d printers, I think it's only a matter of time before This becomes the go to option.

As far as minis, there are several producers.  There's even a company that still makes some of the old metal BT minis.

The only full package replacement for BT that I'm currently aware of is CAV by Talon Games.  It's not as fleshed out as BT but it's a full one-stop shop for a mecha war game.

Quote from: Insane Nerd Ramblings on April 25, 2024, 06:39:27 PM

Quote from: BadApple on April 25, 2024, 02:28:20 PMTake a look at what is going on with Battletech with their community rep and the player base.  In short, the player base has had it with Catalyst Game Labs and have started to boycott buying new BT stuff.

Catalyst (the heirs to FASA) gets what it deserves in my opinion. Their sanctimonious attitude and their empowering those fuckers are Piranha to backdoor steal the Macross designs again has been detrimental to Robotech's brand for almost 40 years now, so fuck them.

I agree with you.
Catalyst has been so poor and lazy in making product for so many years that this is way overdue.

Quote from: BadApple on April 25, 2024, 10:59:04 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 25, 2024, 07:32:00 PMHas anyone made an alternative to BattleTech? I don't imagine that it's sustainable to not buy from the publisher anymore.

Are you talking rules sets or minis?

There are a LOT of TTWG rules sets that could make for a solid drop in for BT rules.  Some could even be argued as being much better.  With the advent of 3d printers, I think it's only a matter of time before This becomes the go to option.

As far as minis, there are several producers.  There's even a company that still makes some of the old metal BT minis.

The only full package replacement for BT that I'm currently aware of is CAV by Talon Games.  It's not as fleshed out as BT but it's a full one-stop shop for a mecha war game.

And what about multimedia? Books, video games, cartoons?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 26, 2024, 07:13:46 AM

Quote from: BadApple on April 25, 2024, 10:59:04 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 25, 2024, 07:32:00 PMHas anyone made an alternative to BattleTech? I don't imagine that it's sustainable to not buy from the publisher anymore.

Are you talking rules sets or minis?

There are a LOT of TTWG rules sets that could make for a solid drop in for BT rules.  Some could even be argued as being much better.  With the advent of 3d printers, I think it's only a matter of time before This becomes the go to option.

As far as minis, there are several producers.  There's even a company that still makes some of the old metal BT minis.

The only full package replacement for BT that I'm currently aware of is CAV by Talon Games.  It's not as fleshed out as BT but it's a full one-stop shop for a mecha war game.

And what about multimedia? Books, video games, cartoons?

You mean like 400 bazillion anime, manga series, and light novels?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 26, 2024, 07:13:46 AM

Quote from: BadApple on April 25, 2024, 10:59:04 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on April 25, 2024, 07:32:00 PMHas anyone made an alternative to BattleTech? I don't imagine that it's sustainable to not buy from the publisher anymore.

Are you talking rules sets or minis?

There are a LOT of TTWG rules sets that could make for a solid drop in for BT rules.  Some could even be argued as being much better.  With the advent of 3d printers, I think it's only a matter of time before This becomes the go to option.

As far as minis, there are several producers.  There's even a company that still makes some of the old metal BT minis.

The only full package replacement for BT that I'm currently aware of is CAV by Talon Games.  It's not as fleshed out as BT but it's a full one-stop shop for a mecha war game.

And what about multimedia? Books, video games, cartoons?

Battletech's videogame rights are owned by Microsoft (by way of Activision), their written fiction outside of the old Stackpole stuff is pretty mid (when in doubt they all fall back to genocide and all the factions are guilty of something basically irredeemable by this point), there hasn't been a cartoon since the 90's.

Arguably, a generic mecha game has much better support to extent it makes it easy for fans to create the mecha from their favorite anime series. Then they have basically all the related anime and manga and model kits (plus 3d printing; which is what a LOT of the BT players do now).

In general though, the actual BT fans have done a pretty thorough review and the differences between the rules c. 1990-ish (when the Clans got introduced) and today is about 4% and most of those are clarifications or cleanups (ex. originally an Anti-Missile system consumed 1d6 ammo to shoot down a variable amount of missiles... to speed play up they just reduced the number of shots it had and how much effect it had to the average result).

The core rules for Mechs have been very consistent since the first edition, so there's more than enough floating around to just play Battletech. They've never been like Warhammer with its WYSIWYG requirement for minis... as long as you can tell facing, you can use it as a mini.

The only place that has wildly changed over the years has been their associated RPGs (i.e. Mechwarrior, except it's 4th Edition which was instead "A Time of War"). The only compatibility between those would be that all except the most recent* default to the Battletech rules once you hop in your vehicles (which is invariably lethal or puts the PCs into an irreversible fail state).

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the Battletech fanbase already exists DESPITE the official material and support more than because of it. The latest row with Catalyst (which has as much to do with the limits the actual rights holder Topps has placed on them as their own issues) doesn't really matter because anyone with a passion for the game doesn't rely on them for anything important to actually playing the game.

* Mechwarrior Destiny, the most recent edition, finally broke that mold and geared it's Mech combat rules for playing the equivalent to one of the novel protagonists instead of a random pilot, with a corresponding increase in pilot and personal mech survival.