Quote from: JeremyR on December 14, 2023, 03:40:54 PM
The other thing is that BG3 took what, 6 years and 200+ people to make. It's a one time sale for $60. No DLC. Apparently it sold like 20 million copies, so obviously it's profitable, but it doesn't seem like a great model for your product line, releasing one huge game every 5-6 years.

I mean, actually releasing one huge game every 5-6 years would be just fine for your product line.  If it's profitable, great.

Here's the thing though; Hasbro could just hire like three companies, and now there's a game with six years of development time coming out every two years.  Obviously, there aren't two more Larians, but there's no law preventing other companies from being great.

Larian doesn't have anything that is woke, but there's huge piles of degeneracy if you go nosing around in there.  This is likely how they "got away with" making a game where you can just play a white guy and bang all the bitches or just be a virtuous hero, without any giant flashing burn loot murder screens or whatever.  Most of the industry hasn't been given a green light for just "you can pick a weirdo", they have to actually push the message actively and unavoidably.

So it remains to be seen whether Larian will be permitted to continue to make profitable games.  Given their ownership doesn't have much Blackrock / Blackstone / etc. and has more Tencent (30% IIRC), there's a very good chance that Larian will be able to continue with their current set of employees, and to continue with their current business plan.  Assuming that's true, I'd love to see what they do next.

Quote from: Venka on December 12, 2023, 10:58:00 PM
Kyle Brinks told us that guys like Mike Mearls can't leave soon enough.  I guess they decided to press the issue.
I bet almost all the layoffs are white men.

Nope. Looks very much like it was equal opportunity layoffs. Seems more dependent on job rather than person. They basically eliminated positions, and then informed whoever was in those positions.

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on December 13, 2023, 01:40:45 PM

Quote from: daft on December 13, 2023, 12:21:39 PM
20% sales increase for MtG is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, both WotC and D&D will probably live on for a good long while.

If MTG increased sales by 20% and WotC only saw a 3% sales increase, what does that mean?

Where are you getting that number from, other than repeating what someone else said in this thread? Last quarterly report I recall D&D was up 13%. The third major part of WOTC is "digital gaming" by the way.

Quote from: Venka on December 14, 2023, 08:02:04 PMSo it remains to be seen whether Larian will be permitted to continue to make profitable games.

Not a hope in hell. The parasites smell success like a predator smells a carcass, they're going to worm their way in and kill the golden goose.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on December 14, 2023, 06:28:16 PM

I've been trying to find out how much of that money went to Hasbro and I'm seeing numbers around $100 million. This is significant considering their digital revenues are normally in the range of $300 million. While, as you said, it is a once in 6 years windfall, I'd expect Baldur's Gate 4 to be easier and quicker to develop.

However, Hasbro generally has revenue over $5 billion. So $100 million is great but not really game changing.

Gross profits don't mean much.  A company can be pulling in billions in gross profits while going out of business.  Net margins are far more telling and Hasbro's net margins for the last two quarters have been -4.62% for quarter ending 6-30 and -10.33% for quarter ending 9-30.  That's not good.

Quote from: Mistwell on December 14, 2023, 10:05:20 PM
Nope. Looks very much like it was equal opportunity layoffs. Seems more dependent on job rather than person. They basically eliminated positions, and then informed whoever was in those positions.

Good, I'm thrilled to be wrong about that kind of thing.

A new theory has droped, it sounds kind of plaussible, and it has receipts.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 15, 2023, 08:38:53 PM
A new theory has droped, it sounds kind of plaussible, and it has receipts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHaU3jJokrY

While he is likely right about MtG LOTR floundering being a cause why Wotc is getting hit so hard by layoffs...

He is completely wrong about Hasbro upper management "identifying the cancer" in their ranks.

Hasbro has been a converged corporation for quite some time now. Upper management is part of the problem.

And the culture at Wotc will never change as long as they are located in liberal Seattle.

Get woke, go broke, is a journey. We must remember that it took the BBC Ten Years to kill off Dr. Who from it's ratings peak to its current irrelevance.

That is the type of timeline that we are looking at. And D&D will absolutely get a sales boost with it's 50th anniversary "totally not a new edition" edition.

The good thing though is like Pundit pointed out - as they carelessly layoff the more competent people, and the new kids gain more power within the company, things will get more entertaining as time goes on...

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 15, 2023, 08:38:53 PM
A new theory has droped, it sounds kind of plaussible, and it has receipts.

I bet Grima Wormtongue stayed a pasty white guy though.

Quote from: Jaeger on December 15, 2023, 10:35:46 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 15, 2023, 08:38:53 PM
A new theory has droped, it sounds kind of plaussible, and it has receipts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHaU3jJokrY

While he is likely right about MtG LOTR floundering being a cause why Wotc is getting hit so hard by layoffs...

He is completely wrong about Hasbro upper management "identifying the cancer" in their ranks.

Hasbro has been a converged corporation for quite some time now. Upper management is part of the problem.

And the culture at Wotc will never change as long as they are located in liberal Seattle.

Get woke, go broke, is a journey. We must remember that it took the BBC Ten Years to kill off Dr. Who from it's ratings peak to its current irrelevance.

That is the type of timeline that we are looking at. And D&D will absolutely get a sales boost with it's 50th anniversary "totally not a new edition" edition.

The good thing though is like Pundit pointed out - as they carelessly layoff the more competent people, and the new kids gain more power within the company, things will get more entertaining as time goes on...

Collapses like we're seeing tend to be avalanches; not much happens as the weight continues to grow, then suddenly it all starts to slide and just picks up speed as it descends.

Hasbro and Disney have both passed the trigger point... their acceleration into oblivion is going to be much quicker than the build up that got them here.

Somehow I don't think Hasbro has enough cultural significance to be worth a hostile takeover as looks to be happening to Disney; It may not matter that Hasbro never willingly sells their IPs if they end up having to liquidate everything of value in a court-ordered bankruptcy.

Quote from: Grognard GM on December 16, 2023, 01:33:13 AM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 15, 2023, 08:38:53 PM
A new theory has droped, it sounds kind of plaussible, and it has receipts.

I bet Grima Wormtongue stayed a pasty white guy though.

Quote from: LOTR, WOTC VersionFor I am Saruman the Woke, Saruman the Ally, Saruman of Many Colours!'

I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but had rainbow flags all over them, and if he moved they shimmered and changed so that new flags appeared; pink and blue for trans, yellow and lavender for twinks, shades of brown for bears, black and gray for aesexuals. And as more colors and stripes appeared, for genders and preferences that had yet to be discovered, his robes became a nonsensical panoply of colors, so much so that the eye was bewildered.

Looking at everything I can find, I think that Hasbro is already in preparations for bankruptcy procedures.  To me, it loos like they are doing their last bast options for preventing ending up in court.

Quote from: Aglondir on December 16, 2023, 03:30:55 PM

Quote from: LOTR, WOTC VersionFor I am Saruman the Woke, Saruman the Ally, Saruman of Many Colours!'

I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but had rainbow flags all over them, and if he moved they shimmered and changed so that new flags appeared; pink and blue for trans, yellow and lavender for twinks, shades of brown for bears, black and gray for aesexuals. And as more colors and stripes appeared, for genders and preferences that had yet to be discovered, his robes became a nonsensical panoply of colors, so much so that the eye was bewildered.

LOL

Honestly I don't normally buy the "go woke go broke" in the short term, because there are moneyed interests who have purchased shares and are making demands of the companies.  Long term, yes, the market forces will work, but who knows how long that will take.
Still, if they are experiencing failures related to the most spiteful and hatred-filled of their works, that's a very good sign.

Quote from: Venka on December 16, 2023, 04:27:05 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on December 16, 2023, 03:30:55 PM

Quote from: LOTR, WOTC VersionFor I am Saruman the Woke, Saruman the Ally, Saruman of Many Colours!'

I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but had rainbow flags all over them, and if he moved they shimmered and changed so that new flags appeared; pink and blue for trans, yellow and lavender for twinks, shades of brown for bears, black and gray for aesexuals. And as more colors and stripes appeared, for genders and preferences that had yet to be discovered, his robes became a nonsensical panoply of colors, so much so that the eye was bewildered.

LOL

Honestly I don't normally buy the "go woke go broke" in the short term, because there are moneyed interests who have purchased shares and are making demands of the companies.  Long term, yes, the market forces will work, but who knows how long that will take.
Still, if they are experiencing failures related to the most spiteful and hatred-filled of their works, that's a very good sign.

Given that the ESG scam was pumping funds into corporations in exchange for they taking the mark of the beast I think Razorfist is correct and it's Go Broke, Get Woke, Ultimately Croak, at least most of the time.

Oh hey, I was just about to mention Razorfist's analysis of the go broke process. Saves me the trouble 😂