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
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.
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
You wouldn't think DnD would be that expensive to make. It's just printing books with a couple game designer authors and game testers involved. But selling books also doesn't make much money.
I think the trick to making money is definitely the licensing. It's an IP everyone's knows and lots of nerds love. Whenever someone doesn't know what to buy me for a birthday or Christmas present they get me some DnD crap and honestly, I usually appreciate it lol. I love my dumb DnD dice ice tray, pajama pants, cool looking minis I pretend I'll one day paint, or beholder waffle iron. It's stupid shit I'll never buy myself but makes a good gift. A good VTT will also help and I know they're working on that, but software devs are expensive so that feels like more of a gamble. Especially if it only works DnD 5e while the others in the market can work with any game.
Does D&D make them a lot of money, though? I know the movie did well and licensing fees gained from BG3 must be pretty good, but those aren't really the norm exactly. WoTC makes good money as a whole but I honestly figured that was mostly MTG, cardboard and ink is dirt cheap compared to how much a booster pack costs lmao
Actually I believe the movie did pretty badly. It was reviewed fairly well by critics and fans who actually went to go see it, but unfortunately it was squeezed between a couple of other popular IP's at the time (I think it was John Wick and the Mario movie). But hopefully it helped them with streaming or something.
I think I ended up watching it on Paramount+ in the hopes that it'll encourage them to make more in the future. Plus it was wholesome enough I thought it might be able to go into my comfort movie rotation with Princess Bride and Stardust. (Although now that I think about it, I should just buy a physical copy.)
it was squeezed between a couple of other popular IP's at the time
That, plus coming immediately after the whole licencing debacle. Many have speculated that part of the reason they were so quick (in the end) to capitulate and throw out the Creative Commons licence as haphazardly as they did is that they wanted to get fans back onside so they wouldn't boycott or review bomb the movie.
Hollywood accounting is weird as fuck, but the general ballpark is that a movie needs to make double its budget at the box office to break even.
On a budget of $150 million, D&D made $93.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $114.9 million in the rest of the world, for a worldwide total of $208.2 million.
Now, because of the complicated relationship between WotC/Hasbro and Paramount, some have speculated these numbers may not be as dire as they would be in an original IP. And of course the home viewing market is a huge part of the equation these days. So it's entirely possible the film did break even or even make a small profit. But sadly, it was not a commercial success.
Which is a shame, because it was so good. As a fantasy movie fan. As a D&D fan. And even as a Forgotten Realms fan.
"DND", interestingly, is also how Dungeons & Dragons is referred to in Chinese translations and references. (Because the actual translation of the name itself sounds stupid.)