4 ms·

WOTC has been on a downward trend since the Hasbro acquisition.

haunter 5mo ago
That was 27 years ago. They were only founded 9 years before that. The game(s) are more popular than ever, especially D&D
- nonethewiser 5mo ago
  D&D is famously not more popular than ever and is one of the reasons why so many OSR's have exploded in popularity over the past 5-10 years.
  - 1attice 5mo ago
    It is both true that there has been an OSR revival, and that D&D is more popular than ever -- just with a much broader and culturally normative audience. Also: Yes, Hasbro did some shit, but they also had to relent and CC their SRD. This all happened years ago. I say this as a committed Pathfinder player who hasn't seen a good reason to return to D&D (PF2e is good enough). D&D is doing numbers and no one cares that us nerds moved on because of weak tea from the previous decade. It's their house now, and it's fine.
- hellcow 5mo ago
  D&D had a massive player revolt a while back in response to WOTC (at the requirement of Hasbro) trying to take ownership over everything players create in the D&D universe, breaking their long-standing promise to all of those creators and players. Several of the top D&D people who were advocating for players resigned around this time. WOTC/Hasbro since relented under this pressure, but the bridge was already burned. My group hasn't played a D&D campaign since. We switched to Pathfinder 2e and found that it was a better system altogether.
- ddtaylor 5mo ago
  Short form brain rot and fentanyl are more popular than ever. Popularity is not a reliable metric.
hungryhobbit 5mo ago
They might have been declining since then, but more recently I'd point to when they introduced Dr. Who, Transformers, My Little Pony, and a whole bunch of other crap into a game about wizards fighting in a fantasy world. In the short term all the franchises have proved incredibly popular (just like in Fortnight), but in the long run I think it means the death of the game (just like where Fortnight is headed).
bena 5mo ago
That was 1999. Invasion came out that year. Innistrad, Mirrodin, Ravnica, and other settings all came out after Hasbro's acquisition. Every year seems to be the best-selling year so far. Magic: the Gathering is Hasbro's primary revenue source. And look, I don't like the sheer amount of product they're pumping out every year now. But I realize I'm clearly in the minority opinion based on sales.

That was 27 years ago. They were only founded 9 years before that. The game(s) are more popular than ever, especially D&D

nonethewiser 5mo ago
D&D is famously not more popular than ever and is one of the reasons why so many OSR's have exploded in popularity over the past 5-10 years.
- 1attice 5mo ago
  It is both true that there has been an OSR revival, and that D&D is more popular than ever -- just with a much broader and culturally normative audience. Also: Yes, Hasbro did some shit, but they also had to relent and CC their SRD. This all happened years ago. I say this as a committed Pathfinder player who hasn't seen a good reason to return to D&D (PF2e is good enough). D&D is doing numbers and no one cares that us nerds moved on because of weak tea from the previous decade. It's their house now, and it's fine.
hellcow 5mo ago
D&D had a massive player revolt a while back in response to WOTC (at the requirement of Hasbro) trying to take ownership over everything players create in the D&D universe, breaking their long-standing promise to all of those creators and players. Several of the top D&D people who were advocating for players resigned around this time. WOTC/Hasbro since relented under this pressure, but the bridge was already burned. My group hasn't played a D&D campaign since. We switched to Pathfinder 2e and found that it was a better system altogether.
ddtaylor 5mo ago
Short form brain rot and fentanyl are more popular than ever. Popularity is not a reliable metric.

hungryhobbit 5mo ago

They might have been declining since then, but more recently I'd point to when they introduced Dr. Who, Transformers, My Little Pony, and a whole bunch of other crap into a game about wizards fighting in a fantasy world. In the short term all the franchises have proved incredibly popular (just like in Fortnight), but in the long run I think it means the death of the game (just like where Fortnight is headed).

bena 5mo ago

That was 1999. Invasion came out that year. Innistrad, Mirrodin, Ravnica, and other settings all came out after Hasbro's acquisition. Every year seems to be the best-selling year so far. Magic: the Gathering is Hasbro's primary revenue source. And look, I don't like the sheer amount of product they're pumping out every year now. But I realize I'm clearly in the minority opinion based on sales.