[Pandaily] Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent

[kyonshi]

https://pandaily.com/hasbro-seeks-to-sell-ip-dnd-and-has-had-preliminary-contact-with-tencent/

Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent
Jan 31, 2024, 11:22am Pandaily

Speed Daily exclusively learned that the American toy company Hasbro is
seeking to sell its well-known IP “Dungeons & Dragons” (referred to as
“DND” below), and Tencent is one of the potential buyers.

At present, the negotiations are still in the early stages and both
parties have not yet reached an agreement on the details of the transaction.

According to informed sources, the financial crisis faced by Hasbro is
the main reason for considering the sale of DND, and Tencent
Investment’s Larian Studios is acting as an intermediary in this
transaction. Larian Studios’ game “Baldur’s Gate 3” won the TGA Game of
the Year award in 2023 and is considered one of the most successful
adaptations of DND. As a result, it was seen as a potential target buyer
by Hasbro. However, due to insufficient funds, Larian ultimately
introduced this deal to shareholder Tencent.

Hasbro was founded in 1923 and has a history of over a hundred years. In
1935, the company gradually became a world-class toy company with its
Monopoly series games. It owns well-known IPs such as Transformers,
Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly, and My Little Pony. However, this
century-old enterprise is currently facing a huge crisis due to losses.
Its stock price has dropped from a high of $108 in 2019 to $51 (closing
data on January 26th).

According to the financial report, as of the third quarter of 2023,
Hasbro has been experiencing consecutive losses for four quarters due to
its main business of toy sales. The accumulated loss from Q4 2022 to Q3
2023 exceeds $500 million USD, and in Q2 2023, there was even a negative
free cash flow situation. According to Forbes reports, in response to
the crisis, the company underwent significant layoffs last year, with a
total reduction of over 1,900 employees accounting for more than 20%.

Although the company as a whole is in a loss situation, its DND-related
IP is a high-quality asset and has achieved considerable success in
video game adaptations. Last year, the release of “Baldur’s Gate 3” by
Larian Studios was both critically acclaimed and commercially
successful. It not only won six TGA awards, including Game of the Year
but also generated revenue of $657 million, surpassing the Harry Potter
IP adaptation game “Hogwarts Legacy,” making it the most profitable PC
exclusive game last year.

The success of “Baldur’s Gate 3” is also reflected in the financial data
of Hasbro. The financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2023,
driven by “Baldur’s Gate 3” and another Monopoly IP game called
“Monopoly Go!”, Hasbro’s electronic gaming and licensing-related
business achieved a contrary year-on-year growth of 40%, reaching $423
million.

Outside of electronic games, DND is also one of the most popular
tabletop games in Europe and America. It has appeared multiple times in
American TV shows such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Stranger Things”. A
large fan base has formed around its related culture, making it a
top-tier IP.

A Tencent IEG (Interactive Entertainment Group) insider revealed that
Tencent, represented by its overseas business department IEG Global, is
in negotiations with the aim of acquiring a series of rights including
the adaptation rights for electronic games such as DND.

According to the aforementioned IEG insiders, Tencent currently holds
the game adaptation rights for many top-tier IPs. However, due to the
licensing model mostly not being a one-time buyout, Tencent not only
needs to bear high copyright fees and long-term revenue sharing but also
frequently faces restrictions from its partners in terms of development
and operation. Previously, the mobile game adaptation of “NieR”
developed by Tencent TiMi Studio was unable to be launched even until
the project was cancelled.

If this acquisition is successful, it will enable Tencent to gain
dominant control over the IP of Dungeons & Dragons, which will largely
avoid the aforementioned issues.

Companies in Europe and America attach great importance to the value of
intellectual property (IP), while Chinese companies have limited
opportunities to acquire top-tier IP from overseas. For Tencent, the
opportunity to acquire the Dungeons & Dragons IP from Hasbro due to
financial considerations is a rare chance.

[gbbgu]

On 1 Feb 2024, kyonshi wrote:

> https://pandaily.com/hasbro-seeks-to-sell-ip-dnd-and-has-had-preliminary-contact-with-tencent/
>
> Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent
> Jan 31, 2024, 11:22am Pandaily
>
> Speed Daily exclusively learned that the American toy company Hasbro is
> seeking to sell its well-known IP “Dungeons & Dragons” (referred to as
> “DND” below), and Tencent is one of the potential buyers.

I find the timing interesting considering the new version is due to come out
this year.

Does that mean Hasbro can get a higher price based on potential future sales
of the new product, or are they walking from the new version because they're
worried it won't generate as much revenue? Or both?


--
gbbgu

[dozens]

From:
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/tencent-is-reportedly-seeking-to-acquire-dungeons-dragons-from-hasbro/

Wizards of the Coast has denied the report.

In a statement provided to VGC, it said: “We regularly talk to Tencent
and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We
don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumors, but to be clear: we
are not looking to sell our D&D IP.

“We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital
experiences to our fans. We won’t comment any further on speculation or
rumors about potential M&A or licensing deals.”



--
doz...@tilde.team
https://tilde.town/~dozens

[gbbgu]

On 3 Feb 2024, dozens wrote:

> Wizards of the Coast has denied the report.
>
> In a statement provided to VGC, it said: “We regularly talk to Tencent
> and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We
> don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumors, but to be clear: we
> are not looking to sell our D&D IP.
>
> “We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital
> experiences to our fans. We won’t comment any further on speculation or
> rumors about potential M&A or licensing deals.”

It's always interesting seeing the rumour mill churn. First you see
politicians denying things, then _whoops_ here's an email proving you did
actually know about x, and then they soon leave to spend more time with their
family.

I wasn't paying much attention when TSR was bought by Wizards, so I don't know
what the rumours at the time were like. From reading books like Slaying the
Dragon, I don't think anyone at TSR knew what was happening either until they
were in the meeting room with WotC.

Hasbro doesn't feel anywhere near as broken, and it makes sense they're not
desperate enough to offload DnD. Like someone said "throwing out a chest of
diamonds to save a sinking ship".

Hasbro does have huge shelf presence in stores with the specialised monopoly
editions. Dad likes X, kid's buy the monopoly edition of X for fathers day.
Gets played once, everyone has a fight, and it sits in the back of the
cupboard forever.

We might see more movement towards the high profit and the lifestyle brand
items. I guess similar to Disney, StarWars, LoTR, Marvel, StarTrek. I really
doubt we'll see something like the Deck of Many Things. I assume the mistakes
and low sales have cost them a load of money and now they won't touch it
again. I also expect to see a lot of mentions about VTT in the new rules.
Maybe things like QR codes linking to digital only assets. (You'll need some
dice to play, scan the QR code to used DnD Digital Dice! Fill in your charater
sheet, or scan the QR code to use a Digital Character sheet that does all the
book-keeping for you. Click to generate AI art for you charater!)

--
gbbgu