Hasbro Addresses D&D’s OGL ‘Misfire’ With Investors
Hasbro’s latest earnings call is in, and the investors were wondering how the OGL has impacted the bottom line. WotC is wondering too.
Now that the dust is starting to settle from the OGL saga, the time has come to talk about how the pipers will be paid. In this case, the latest earnings call for Hasbro, during which Hasbro executives Chris Cocks and Deborah Thomas addressed recent “misfires” within the community regarding the Open Gaming License.
Though Wizards of the Coast has since moved to put the SRD 5.1 into Creative Commons, the question of how much damage to community goodwill had been done is out there. It was conspicuous in its absence when Cocks spoke about the Open Gaming License in the call.
Hasbro Addresses D&D’s OGL ‘Misfire’ – Attempts to Downplay D&D Beyond Cancellations
During the Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, formerly head of Wizards of the Coast spoke mostly about “challenges” rather than the delayed rollout and subsequent walking back of WotC’s original plan for the OGL. Calling it a “misfire” Cocks spoke of “best practices” and “continued growth” without outlining what either of those was:
“Lastly, on D&D, we misfired on updating our open game license, a key vehicle for creators to share or commercialize their D&D-inspired content. Our best practice is to work collaboratively with our community, gather feedback and build experiences that inspire players and creators alike. It’s how we make our games among the best in the industry. We have since course-corrected and are delivering a strong outcome for the community and game.”
Cocks also spoke to the Magic: the Gathering milestones, both as a billion-dollar IP, which is the first time WotC has acknowledged this, also speaking about how their “pricing assumptions” impacted Q4 results.
Of course, all this is par for the course on a call like this. It’s in Hasbro’s best interest to downplay any mistakes as simple challenges to be overcome. Investors care about the community and game but only insofar as it impacts their investment.
And Hasbro has been struggling in that department lately. Even so, despite WotC announcing that they would be rolling back their changes only after thousands of fans canceled their D&D Beyond Subscriptions, Cocks attempted to downplay that as well. Calling it “relatively minor” and saying that “we’re in contact with the people who canceled.”
But all of Hasbro/WotC’s eggs are in the D&D Beyond basket. Cocks highlights this in the call, saying that D&D Beyond was the biggest driver of user growth through 2022. Does this mean that Hasbro has, by focusing their efforts in D&D Beyond, given the community a lever they can pull? Only time and organized action can tell.
But 2023 remains the year that the D&D community made a billion-dollar company blink.
