Mastodawn

Caerdwyn Jan 19, 2023

This will go down in business history alongside Elon Musk's ruination of Twitter as extreme examples of incompetent handling of a previously well-received brand. This is what is meant by "killing the goose that laid the golden eggs"; it is the face of unrestrained greed.

Caerdwyn Jan 19, 2023

What is saddest is that, as I forever turn my back to Hasbro, it is not just #DnD that I reject. If I am to be true to my principles, there are other Hasbro properties I can never again support. Anything they own is now tainted.

Farewell, Optimus Prime. Goodbye, Princess Celestia. You have been betrayed and soiled by evil men and women who believe themselves beyond reproach.

Jan 19, 2023

@caerdwyn If it makes you feel any better about such, it's likely WOTC's management specifically that came up with these ideas. WOTC's CEO is the one who specifically said DnD was under-monetized, and both her and the VP come from backgrounds focused on video game microtransactions. Hasbro leadership did likely have to sign off on it though, tbf so they're not blameless, just not the cause. (Wish Tusky had edit, removed a related claim that seems to be debunked now)

Caerdwyn Jan 20, 2023

@dekafox Hasbro Board of Directors and C*O. 99% of the WotC staff were as blindsided by this as the rest of us. Remember, we first found out about this via a leak by a WotC staffer to Gizmodo.

Anger against Hasbro is spot-on. Anger against WotC is (mostly) misdirected.

I believe WotC staff are almost entirely on our side but have been threatened with termination if there are further leaks or if they speak out in support of us. Say the wrong thing, get fired for cause.

@dekafox Source: https://kotaku.com/dungeons-and-dragons-dnd-fifth-edition-one-dnd-1849884812

Caerdwyn Jan 20, 2023

WotC business unit CEO and the whole of Hasbro C-level execs. Those are the ones to blame.

D&D CEO Thinks Hobby Is 'Under Monetized' Compared To Video Games

In an investor meeting, Wizards of the Coast’s CEO expresses a desire for ‘the type of recurrent spending you see in digital games’

Kotaku

@caerdwyn Notice I didn't say WOTC, I said WOTC management. The whole digital push smells of someone with MTX backgr4ound, and the VP in charge of DnD currently also comes from that background.

Also even by your own reasoning, the Transformers and MLP divisions had nothing to do with it, which is the point I was trying to make. Boycotting all of Hasbro is independent from enjoying ficiton and characters that already existed and have nothing to do with WOTC management.

@caerdwyn And ultimately the WOTC management is the fulcrum point here, as they're the ones who SHOULD know their product and how it works, and SHOULDN'T be making a mess like this. Hasbro signed off on it, and pressuring Hasbro will pressure WOTC, but outside the CEO who is ex -WOTC I wouldn't be surprised if half of them had no idea how things would go down. (If more of the C-suite is WOTC, fair enough.)

BUT to get to the actual point....

@caerdwyn YOuy can plauy 5e, 4e, and older versions wihtout giving WOTC or Hasbro a red cent. You can enjoy your existing Transformers and MLP fiction or figures without giving Hasbro a penny more. YOu can write new fiction or enjoy what others come up with without breaking any sort of personal Boycott on Hasbro.

So you do NOT have to give up Prime or Celestia or whatever just because some idiots at the top made a dumb decision. They can't take away your books OR toys.

Caerdwyn Jan 21, 2023

@dekafox I must disagree. Given that WotC provides 72% of Hasbro's operating profit. the Hasbro CEO is going to approve (or initiate) all major decisions, and this is the most major possible.

This could never have been initiated without Hasbro's explicit, informed approval at the very least. I believe that WotC/Williams was directed to squeeze more money out, and this was the path chosen.

The fish rots from the head.

@caerdwyn I said the CEO is WOTC's old CEO. From 2016 until this lady got put in place. Yes, he should have known better, and probably is partly responsible for Magic's mess.

Which is why I'm being VERY SPECIFIC on who I point blame at. Again, it was Williams herself who explicitly told the Shareholders it was under-monetized. That came from her. The VP in charge of say, Play-Doh probably knows jack about D&D and its community, and likely wasn't involved at all.

@caerdwyn Chris Cocks lived up to his name in that he picked her, and approved these actions, but I wouldn't blame the VP in charge of Tonka Trucks for a decision he wasn't involved in at all. And again, this is WIlliams specialty, and likely her strategy.

Again, I'm not saying don't boycott Hasbro for this if you don't want to, but the VP of GI Joe is not going to be involved in strategy or a specific strategy like this for an entirely different division with a CEO.