Although revenues are down, profits are up at Hasbro, mainly due to digital gaming. I don't think that Baldur's Gate 3 still contributes a large amount to sales, but Monopoly Go and Modern Horizons probably do. This certainly explains why WotC wants to go fully digital.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/hasbro-profit-beats-wall-street-estimate-as-digital-gaming-business-grows/ar-BB1qBFrc?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds&ad=dirN&prod=HP&cmpgn=jan21&annot=false&sameTabLaunch=false&o=APN12179&installSource=client&browser=FireFox&darkMode=false&lang=en_us&ueid=6761B8D3-4679-43A2-A8D9-5EFDEBE5CAD0&doi=2021-03-25 (https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/hasbro-profit-beats-wall-street-estimate-as-digital-gaming-business-grows/ar-BB1qBFrc?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds&ad=dirN&prod=HP&cmpgn=jan21&annot=false&sameTabLaunch=false&o=APN12179&installSource=client&browser=FireFox&darkMode=false&lang=en_us&ueid=6761B8D3-4679-43A2-A8D9-5EFDEBE5CAD0&doi=2021-03-25)
Oh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
All they need is 1-3 of their IP to "hit" digitally, and they'll just shelve anything else that doesn't "perform".
They like the Big Bang for the buck that digital promises...
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
I dunno, I still only have animosity towards WoTC, I don't have it against Hasbro. WoTC could lose money and Hasbro could be making money with other stuff. But oh well.
Most players would rather play with miniatures at a table than over a VTT. D&D will continue to downward trend because they abandoned hobby shops and adventurers league cutting down on their recruitment funnel. Hasbro will have to create television commercials and digital ads now to draw in new D&D players and I don't believe WotC realized this. They think the players just appear out of nowhere.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
That would never happen. Whomever bought up D&D would ruin it.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
Worry not, Hasbro MIGHT buy Mattel...
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on July 25, 2024, 04:08:36 PMMost players would rather play with miniatures at a table.
I sure would.
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on July 25, 2024, 04:08:36 PMHasbro will have to create television commercials and digital ads now to draw in new D&D players and I don't believe WotC realized this. They think the players just appear out of nowhere.
They just recently bought out a bunch of D&D YouTube influencers so they may use that now as their covert advertising arm.
And of course outrage marketing.
I can about guarantee you there will be a combat wheelchair mini for the VTT. Mexican orc minis! That will surely drive up sales!
Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 25, 2024, 09:04:09 PMQuote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
Worry not, Hasbro MIGHT buy Mattel...
My first reflex is to cry out "No!", but on deeper consideration, the Matter of Eternia is already a lost cause ...
Quote from: Armchair Gamer on July 26, 2024, 02:54:53 PMQuote from: GeekyBugle on July 25, 2024, 09:04:09 PMQuote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
Worry not, Hasbro MIGHT buy Mattel...
My first reflex is to cry out "No!", but on deeper consideration, the Matter of Eternia is already a lost cause ...
Also Hasbro seems to be trying to not be a toy manufacturer anymore, so they might license out the rights to others...
Which doesn't mean it won't be shit in current year.
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 25, 2024, 09:29:19 AMOh joy. Here I was hoping they'd go bankrupt and be purchased by someone who actually cares about the mountain of unused IPs they own.
Your wish is similar to mine. :( Alas the accounting gods are fickle and divining their messages through goat entrails is challenging due to leaky guts from tax loopholes. But at least we are not adding to the problem child's bottom line. :)
Not surprising but don't be fooled. Their 'earnings' are due to cutting costs not increasing value.
Meanwhile they want to tie their success to a live service they're developing in house, when they have no experience in digital development, live services are in active decline, they're up against more mature and often free VTT competition, and have no idea what makes their product successful in the first place (which is why every success has been the product of a third party). And it all needs to generate enough revenue to justify the cost of creating/maintaining it.
The only thing #Hasbro has of any value at this point are their licenses, which they're doing far too little to leverage.
QuoteI dunno, I still only have animosity towards WoTC, I don't have it against Hasbro. WoTC could lose money and Hasbro could be making money with other stuff. But oh well.
I have the opposite opinion on this. I believe Hasbro was sinking, so they pressured their various subsidiaries to raise profits by any means necessary.
So, WotC had to pull some dubious shit because they would be fired by their Hasbro overlords if they didn't.