Dungeon Master Assistance

WoTC – 2023 – Year in Review

Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), the Hasbro subsidiary that owns D&D, had a bad year. 2022 was a banner year for Hasbro and WotC – 2023 not so much. Here are the highlights from this year.

January: The OGL Controversy – A leaked agreement drafted by WoTC threatened to “tighten” the OGL that has been in place since the early 2000s. It would grant WoTC the ability to “make money off of these products without paying the person who made it” and companies that make over $750,000 will have to start paying Hasbro a 25% cut of their earnings. In response to massive negative response from the D&D community, WoTC later announced that it would keep the current OGL intact. In addition, they released the Systems Reference Document (SRD) for the current edition under a Creative Commons license.

Also in January: Hasbro announced it was laying off 800 employees.

February: WoTC published Keys From the Golden Vault. This was originally scheduled for a Winter 2022,

March: The movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was released. The movie is said to have lost around $100 million.

April: WoTC sent the Pinkertons to recover Magic: The Gathering cards. YouTuber Oldschoolmtg uploaded an unboxing video featuring a collection of March of the Machine: The Aftermath booster packs. Evidently somebody sent out the wrong cases, and these were not supposed to be released yet. Pinkerton agents showed up at his home on Saturday morning and began demanding he hand over the “stolen” product.

Also in April: WoTC held its Creator Summit. One of the biggest announcements from the summit was that the 2024 core rulebooks will be a continuation of fifth edition and not a new edition. They referred to it as “One D&D”.

EDIT: I mistakenly stated that Hasbro purchased D&D Beyond in May 2023 – It actually acquired D&D Beyond on April 13, 2022 for $146.3 million.

June: WoTC dropped the term “One D&D” and began referring to the current version of the Player’s Handbook as the 2014 Player’s Handbook and the one scheduled for release next year as the 2024 Player’s Handbook. After it is published, it will just be the Player’s Handbook. The same goes for the other core rule books.

July: WoTC announced that they were translating the Systems Reference Document (SRD) into French, Italian, German, and Spanish to be released into Creative Commons.

August: WoTC published Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants. This was originally scheduled for a release in the Spring of 2023.

Also in August: WoTC released Baldur’s Gate 3. The deal that Hasbro made with Larian Studios 6 years earlier resulted in this video game that became the “Game of the Year” and a major money maker for Hasbro.

Also in August: Hasbro announced the sale of its eOne film and TV business, that it bought in 2019 for $4.0 billion, for $500 million (a $3.5 billion loss).

September: WoTC published Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. This was originally scheduled for release in the late summer as The Phandelver campaign.

October: WoTC published Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse which more or less hit its target released date.

November: WoTC launched three official DnD TV programs, but it was mired in confusion, with fans not sure how to access the content and there were many broken links.

December: Hasbro announced a new round of layoffs due to weak toy sales. They are projected to impact 1,100 workers across its global operations. Many WoTC employees have lost their jobs.

One final note: Don’t worry about Chris Cox, the CEO of Hasbro, he is doing just fine. He earns an annual salary of $1.5 million and received total compensation last year of $9.4 million.