this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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Rumours, speculation and hearsay? "Interesting" at least.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

Hasbro has no clue what to do with the game since their games-as-service, closed ecosystem plan went kaput after they backed down on the OGL revision (which would have been necessary to shut out other VTTs and ensure player & DM subscriptions). I think the recent lay offs of senior people in the D&D related teams suggests this as well. This article doesn't seem well sourced at all, but a shake-up would be very interesting at this point.

Side-stepping some of the speculation and impact on the traditional market/fanbase, I am curious about the interest in D&D in China, as a Tencent acquisition would presumably make it much easier to market the game there. From the searching I've done, there doesn't seem to be a ton of interest in D&D, and there's no official translation into Mandarin. The movie didn't do great at the Chinese box office, although Baldur's Gate 3 did fine? Obviously, if Tencent does put together a subsidiary to design a version for the Chinese market, I'm not sure if they'd want to start by translating/adapting existing books or using the ruleset to design a bespoke version (either with a fantasy setting or based on relevant Chinese IP.)

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (8 children)

Honestly? This doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing. Hasbro has been fucking up DND left and right because they simply don't understand it. At the same time, it's a valuable IP with quite a bit of potential in the right hands, and they haven't killed is through mismanagement yet or even close to. If they sell it for a fair value to someone who won't fuck it up, and use that money to specialize in some things they know what to do with, then it could be win-win for the business guys and for the players.

(Of course the question of what they could specialize in that they do know how to make money with is a whole different elephant in the room.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Found the person that has never heard of TenCent before.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Most of my knowledge of them comes from this video which I found to be pretty in-depth for a clickbaity Youtube watch. But yes, I've heard of them.

I notice that the culture here is that everyone's an expert on everything, surrounded by people who need to be enlightened by their knowledge. I feel out of place, I'm the only one who's not that, I guess.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Yeah but ten cent?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Tencent will microtransaction the hell out of it.

They are the worst thing in the gaming industry and absolutely need to be taken out back and legislataively shot.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yes because a Chinese multinational corporation is going to any better...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Not every big conglomerate is just a relentless fuckup machine. Baldur's Gate 3 was made by a Tencent subsidiary. I'm not saying they won't fuck it up, just that there's no reason to assume out of the gate that they automatically will. And, it's legitimately a little hard to see them doing worse than Hasbro has been so far.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Not every big conglomerate is just a relentless fuckup machine

Do you have any examples?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tencent has a minority stake in Larian. That's very different from being wholly owned and managed by them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

And Tencent has a minority stake in, like, every functioning software company that's ever done an investment funding around at this point. They make it a point to diversify their holdings across basically the entire software industry at this point.

They're fairly hands-off in those endeavours, since they're doing it to protect themselves against shifts in the market.

Their in-house made stuff, though, is... Well, let's just say it's efficiently monetized.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tencent owns 3% of Larian shares. This does not make them a subsidiary, or fully owned.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's 30%. The point is pretty valid though, and I did have it wrong in saying subsidiary -- I edited my comment to reflect my learning.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Yah, my fat thumb dropped the zero. Oops.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Micro transactions, battle pass, dlc

The Terrible Three

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

For a license to use the word "Dwarf", please subscribe to our weekly Campaign Pro package.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Yes, but if you don't log 8 hours with 2 other paying Campaign Pro players that week, you won't get your content unlock.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Moving to an even larger company that has less experience with physical "fun" products isn't likely to be good for the core game. D&D is already at odds with the hardcore community despite the success of the movie and BG3.They don't need more licensed content, they need to rethink their creative process and how they interact with the core tabletop community. I just don't see how Tencent is the place for that.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (9 children)

Not a chance. It's one of only two properties Hasbro has that makes any money at all.

Edit: not to mention that the article only refers to "DND" which is only used colloquially and never by the company itself. It's either D&D or Dungeons (and|&) Dragons

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It’s one of only two properties Hasbro has that makes any money at all.

How comes that Hasbro can make money with D&D ? We know that most of the RPG end-up costing money to their author or bringing them a revenue way under the hourly minimal wage. I know D&D is big and expensive compared to other RPG, so hopefully they bring money. But basically with the 3 base books, you have a few 100 hours of play for 5 persons. So doesn't look like a good investment for a large company.

I mean, yes there is Baldur's gate and the movie. but looks like the kind of IP which can be worth nothing in a decade if you don't keep the game alive

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It could be that Hadbro only licence the "video game" part or all dynamic electronic content (beyond, vtts etc). But I'm not sure how much of a cash influx that would give Hasbro.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

BG3 literally is the reason they make a Profit last year.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but what about this quarter?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Fuck, ain't that the truth?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

If this is true, can't wait to hear all the gamer-brained dorks whining because Tencent is a Chinese company. As if they can't handle it worse than Hasbro has already.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They can and their existing track record suggests they will be worse than Hasbro.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

In Tencent's favor I haven't really heard about them mismanaging properies or being too heavyhanded when it comes to squeezing out profitability.

Do I want DnD to be owned and controlled by another multinational holding company? No. Will it matter to me? Not really. But I do enjoy the drama.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Yeah, at best it'll be acquired by a company that won't totally enshittify it, whoever that is. It's a big enough game that some form of enshittification is inevitable, though. shrug-outta-hecks

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Every time i see a hexbear they are sucking dick of a dictatorship...

Get lost, all of you.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (16 children)

in what way is china a dictatorship?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Yeah Chinas as democratic as North Korea!

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