Hasbro Wants D&D’s New VTT to be “In Gamers’ Hands” Later This Year
In a recent Hasbro earnings call, CEO Chris Cocks said that the D&D virtual tabletop should be “in gamers’ hands” later this year.
Hasbro recently had their Q2 earnings call, and as part of it, CEO Chris Cocks teased more information about the upcoming D&D virtual tabletop. Calling it a “3D roleplaying sandbox experience”, Cocks said that fans can see some of it in action at GenCon, and that more was in store for the coming year. Of course this will almost certainly be some kind of test. Maybe a closed beta. Maybe a demo. But hey, stranger things have happened.
Either way, with the new Player’s Handbook coming out in September, one of the big pre-order bonuses is a virtual miniature of a gold dragon for the upcoming VTT. So it must be far enough along for that, at least. Here’s a closer look at the earnings call.
Hasbro Q2 Earnings Call – The D&D VTT is Coming Soon
In the earnings call, CEO Cocks outlined that, once again, Wizards of the Coast is the golden goose of Hasbro’s portfolio. While Hasbro is down across many avenues, Wizards of the Coast had “growth of 20%” mostly led by Magic and licensed digital games, which includes Baldur’s Gate 3, a game going strong almost a year later.
But of particular interest this time around was the mention of D&D’s virtual tabletop, which is gearing up for some kind of release in the not too distant future:
Within D&D, we’re seeing solid pre-orders of the 2024 Core Rules book for the revised and expanded Fifth Edition. D&D also shows how we are increasing digitization across our portfolio. Digital revenue already accounts for over half of the mix due to the success of D&D Beyond.
Next week at GenCon, fans can expect to see more of our 3D roleplaying sandbox experience build on Unreal engine 5, bringing players’ favorite franchises to life across PC, console, and mobile. We look forward to getting it in gamers’ hands later this year.
We’ve already seen a sample of what this looks like. The virtual tabletop has been brewing for a while now. But in addition to the video, we also have seen what some of the miniatures look like. Here’s the gold dragon virtual mini, which is a pre-order bonus for select versions of the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
You can expect to see all of this at play very soon. I dunno how much of a “roleplaying sandbox experience” it will all be. Famously the VTTs that succeed do so by making it easy to hop on and play. Where they shine is in functionality that makes someone’s life a little easier in some way, because you’re already having to wrangle with the platform. Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, they all have their own weird things you have to fight with. There’s only so far you can push it before this is just video games but with too many extra steps.
For now though, look to Gen Con for your next glimpse of the D&D VTT.
