But I was blind sided by this, was there any previous indication something like this was in the works?
Nothing directly that I'm aware of, but I do have to wonder if the bunch of high profile departures from DDB earlier this year were in any way related. It's probably safe to assume that internally, this is not breaking news. (But what do I know? :))
But I was blind sided by this, was there any previous indication something like this was in the works?
Nothing directly that I'm aware of, but I do have to wonder if the bunch of high profile departures from DDB earlier this year were in any way related. It's probably safe to assume that internally, this is not breaking news. (But what do I know? :))
Highest profile name left and is working with Pathfinder in a capacity similar to the way he would have been he been around when this happened.
2nd Highest profile name left for a solo stint and recently started working directly for D&D, and I'd expect within at most a couple of years time will likely put D&D Beyond "Content" under his direction again.
Everyone else seems to be in cool niche spaces of their own either within TTRPG or gaming.
Only thing I could think of would be the highest profile leaving in terms of a "buy out" to make the WotC sale cleaner, but I don't know much about that side of acquisitions so don't know if that's really a necessary thing to do.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier but on the getting both a print and digital version of a title without paying twice front: yes it makes sense that they won't do digital codes with print copies for all the reasons mentioned like having to seal the product; but what is stopping them from doing the reverse? You buy the book on DDB and get a discount code/free code/they ship the book to your address for just shipping costs for the published version. So right now a digital product costs an average of $30, and print products costs $50 (Amazon notwithstanding) so instead of paying $80 to have both maybe you can pay $40 or $50 online and it comes with a free book.
Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier but on the getting both a print and digital version of a title without paying twice front: yes it makes sense that they won't do digital codes with print copies for all the reasons mentioned like having to seal the product; but what is stopping them from doing the reverse? You buy the book on DDB and get a discount code/free code/they ship the book to your address for just shipping costs for the published version. So right now a digital product costs an average of $30, and print products costs $50 (Amazon notwithstanding) so instead of paying $80 to have both maybe you can pay $40 or $50 online and it comes with a free book.
What stops them from just shipping books direct to consumers is that DDB is definitely not set up to do that nor is Hasbro. It's one thing to send print runs to distributors then retailers, it's another to do direct to consumer shipping. Smaller companies do that, but neither WotC and (definitely) DDB are presently set up to to be a direct to consumer shipper of physical products.
The exception within Hasbro to this would be the Hasbro Pulse program, but those are very expensive products compared to what Hasbro usually produces and so those consumers do get an expected bespoke type treatment.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Alright, what about discount codes for physical books that could be redeemed at participating game stores within the Wizards network or whatever it’s called? This has the added benefit of supporting them against the march of Amazon.
Any possibility that DDB could be a central authority for digital ownership of D&D products now?
It's technically possible but unlikely, because when a third party (such as roll20) sells you a D&D product, they get part of the money, and if they're just being a portal for D&D Beyond, they don't, so why would they want to do that? It's not like formatting data for their particular platform is free.
That's exactly what most of the rest of the post you quoted was about, various methods the third parties could use to still make money off of respecting DDB's unlocked content.
Since the DDB user is already on the books as having access to a digital version of their content, if WOTC:
Doesn't require a cut of whatever service fee these third party sites charge users for the DDB ownership lookup, or
Does require a cut, but a smaller portion than the full licensing fee of the third party selling that digital content directly themselves
Then these third parties can charge less but still get similar profits.
Even if we assume that a system like this does nothing to increase the user base for these various third party platforms (or DDB digital ownership)*, a system where, say, Fantasy Grounds can go "Buy the PHB directly on our platform for $30 (XX% of which normally goes to WOTC)- or, if you already own a digital copy with DDB, unlock access to it in our tools for some % less (of which WOTC doesn't get as much of a cut)" would presumably be a nice way of saving the end users from eating licensing costs 2+ times for digital access to the same content while allowing Fantasy Grounds to still make about the same money for funding their actual integrations with their tech.
I'd like to believe there's at least some happy ground compared to where things currently sit where people don't have to pay as high a price on each of these third party sites but the third parties can still make their money, growing D&D's digital userbase via the lower prices in the process.
While I'm sure it's great for WOTC, I feel like the fact that I currently own about 7 ~$30 PHBs between digital and physical is a bit unnecessary** and WOTC could tone down how much of a cut they take on the 3rd party digital end of that a bit; they already know they got theirs through the DDB purchase.
*Which, the point is people would hopefully be more willing to try out and use these third party services- or to buy digital content on DDB- if it wasn't the third or fourth time they had to pay a full $30 for digital access to the PHB.
**I know I'm a power user in this scenario. I assume the average person is probably hesitant to pay for a digital copy twice- or even once, if they know they'd have to buy it in multiple locations to actually have a full digital toolset including VTT at the moment.
I see this going a different way, so WOTC telling Fantasy Grounds, Roll 20 etc, we will no longer licence DnD products to you but we will give you an API you can integrate direct to DnD beyond. That turns DnD beyond into the one stop shop for all digital content for wizards, meaning maximum profits, while not upsetting players by stopping access to that material on VTT's, you can still access it all and use it, but you need a DnD beyond account and to own all the material there. It also offers wizards protection. If roll 20 went bankrupt tomorrow then those who had bought DnD content there would lose it and the backlash would fall on wizards despite them having no control over it, this way Wizards knows it can control and maintain all digital use.
Alright, what about discount codes for physical books that could be redeemed at participating game stores within the Wizards network or whatever it’s called? This has the added benefit of supporting them against the march of Amazon.
Who pays for that discount? If wizards are selling a book wholesale for $20 for a shop to sell RRP for $30 then the shop has to still make that $10, so the discount comes out of that $20 price, I can tell you having had a friend who works in publishing the margins on printed books is tiny by the time you take out all the costs, so the RRP would have to increase meaning that book goes to $40 now, the shop buys it for $30 for wizards to cover the discount.
So nothing about DnD beyond acquisition on the DnD update video at all. Only a mention that having a DnD account gives free access to the same material as a wizards digital account.
So nothing about DnD beyond acquisition on the DnD update video at all. Only a mention that having a DnD account gives free access to the same material as a wizards digital account.
That's probably a clue to not expect any major changes in how either entity operates at first. That said, what you call an "only mention" is sort of significant. It's free content only available for folks with DDB and Wizards accounts (which are soon to be the same thing). It's not a guarantee of any sort but it does make the return of UA to DDB seem a little more possible.
I don't know why folks think WotC buying DDB = MASSIVE CHANGES TO WAY THINGS ARE DONE OUT THE GATE. On the contrary, when a company is acquired it's because they like what they're doing. Once owned, they have all the time in the world to determine how to best integrate DDB into WotC.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
That's probably a clue to not expect any major changes in how either entity operates at first.
That's usually the case; until the acquisition has been finished, there's a lot of types of planning that they aren't even allowed to do. The usual exception is "I only want this one part of the company, and once it's in my grips I'm going to rip out that part and toss the rest into recycling", and I'm pretty sure Wizards wants everything D&D Beyond does (well, they may not care about stuff like podcasts).
That's probably a clue to not expect any major changes in how either entity operates at first.
That's usually the case; until the acquisition has been finished, there's a lot of types of planning that they aren't even allowed to do. The usual exception is "I only want this one part of the company, and once it's in my grips I'm going to rip out that part and toss the rest into recycling", and I'm pretty sure Wizards wants everything D&D Beyond does (well, they may not care about stuff like podcasts).
With DDB alum Todd Kendrick doing what he used to do at DDB now at WotC's D&D studio, I think the "content" area of DDB will likely be the first thing to be either integrated or overtly managed by WotC D&D content team. I think it's the most obvious "redundancy". You need creatives who can hype both D&D and DDB together, I don't think there's a reason for two distinct separately managed teams going forward.
I'm less curious in hype videos dev updates and articles than I am in how or if this and the Discord community will integrated under WotC. Does WotC host a MtG community?
But I was blind sided by this, was there any previous indication something like this was in the works?
Nothing directly that I'm aware of, but I do have to wonder if the bunch of high profile departures from DDB earlier this year were in any way related. It's probably safe to assume that internally, this is not breaking news. (But what do I know? :))
I wondered the exact same thing as soon as the news of the buyout broke.
But I was blind sided by this, was there any previous indication something like this was in the works?
Nothing directly that I'm aware of, but I do have to wonder if the bunch of high profile departures from DDB earlier this year were in any way related. It's probably safe to assume that internally, this is not breaking news. (But what do I know? :))
I wondered the exact same thing as soon as the news of the buyout broke.
Myself I wasn't surprised at all I even wanted to buy WotC if I had the money which sadly I don't (I think being a multi billionaire gamer would be fun), and I would have also bought DDB if I could to do exactly what was done. I would also have worked with amazon to be supplier and having a price set that would allow both a DDB sell and include a physical copy. This would prevent international mailing and allow DDB prices to be in local currency instead of just USD. I know that is not FLGS friendly but it is the easiest and fastest way of including the dual access that so many folks want with where is my free books I bought a real one crap. Then later they can figure out a way to be FLGS friendly I would also get rid of that Target exclusive deal going on with the new starter set, which is BS as I live in Canada and I am not ordering it from Target USA and get stuck with a $60.00 CDN shipping like the essentials set was. I'm cheesed I have to wait till October to get it in Canada and here on DDB I don't think it has a code in it so that could mean everyone for a DDB version.
I'd assume that you get a code when you buy the book from certain retailers rather than it being included inside the book. There are plenty examples of guides that include codes that get you free digital versions of the book, but buying those online, especially with the rampant theft that's been going on in places like Amazon, is probably a bad idea.
So nothing about DnD beyond acquisition on the DnD update video at all. Only a mention that having a DnD account gives free access to the same material as a wizards digital account.
That's probably a clue to not expect any major changes in how either entity operates at first. That said, what you call an "only mention" is sort of significant. It's free content only available for folks with DDB and Wizards accounts (which are soon to be the same thing). It's not a guarantee of any sort but it does make the return of UA to DDB seem a little more possible.
I don't know why folks think WotC buying DDB = MASSIVE CHANGES TO WAY THINGS ARE DONE OUT THE GATE. On the contrary, when a company is acquired it's because they like what they're doing. Once owned, they have all the time in the world to determine how to best integrate DDB into WotC.
I agree having been on the end of an acquisition myself in tech I can tell you the first 6 months after the deal was done (and we knew about it long before any announcement), nothing changed other then signage, updating the front end portals with the new Terms and conditions etc, oh and everyone who worked for the acquired company had our contracts changed and was given a golden handcuff deal to ensure we wouldn't be leaving any time soon, in that case that took the form of a payrise and a bonus paid at 6,12 and 18 months after the acquisition.
I anticipate nothing will change in DDB at least that is visible to us, there might be some reviewing of the roadmap, time taken to determine how Wizards wants to leverage there new acquisition, they will be eager to resolve how they deal with there other licensing partners moving forward, I imagine Roll 20 and fantasy grounds might have concerns that they are about to lose those deals so I imagine those relationships will be being managed. I imagine Wizards will be in discussions with DnD beyond management about growth plans, expanding teams etc, but again from experiance you want to do that slowly gradually adding 1-2 people, letting them get bedded in, learn the code base and the approach of the company otherwise you risk making things worse.
My guess is that heading into xmas might be when we start getting a real feel for how things are going to change (if at all), but that wont stop now someone asking the same question every week, which makes me wish we could vote to delete questions or just link to the same existing thread.
When does the acquisition actually take effect? Wotc has bought dndb, but obviously the lawyers and boards and execs gotta do a bunch of signing before they officially become part of the family.
That's something to consider, it may not be until q2 or q3 until everything becomes officially official.
If you just click the links to the actual press release with the presumably SEC required boilerplate about "forward looking language" you'll see that end of q2 or q3 are most likely when the sale will actually close. And even then, I wouldn't expect to see dramatic changes in the operations of DDB at that point. It's unclear whether DDB is to be maintained as a separate and distinct and autonomous entity from the WotC D&D studio (though I don't think that's likely) or will be integrated over time with the D&D studio (more likely). Notice DDB celebrates the sale as a partnership while WotC language mostly celebrates it as an acquisition (it sort of reminds of when Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler). And I guess you could say Fandom is saying "thanks, and good luck!"
There will likely be some efficiencies/redundancies to be made but unlikely to happen on Day 1 of the sale's closing. It makes a lot of sense for WotC to buy DDB, but what to do with DDB beyond owning it will evolve over time, especially as the "next evolution of D&D" starts to take shape.
I don't see a need for much in terms of redundancies, certainly at the coal face so to speak, but also DnD digital is a very different beast to DnD beyond. I imagine in actuality Wizards will be offering DnD beyond staff improved contracts and possible golden handcuff deals, because the last thing any tech company wants when it makes an acquisition, is the devs who maintain and know the code base all heading off to new roles. I have been there, and it worked out really well for me financially, I got a nice pay bump and guaranteed bonus paid out at 6,12 and 18 months after the acquisition, just for sticking around.
Any possibility that DDB could be a central authority for digital ownership of D&D products now?
It's technically possible but unlikely, because when a third party (such as roll20) sells you a D&D product, they get part of the money, and if they're just being a portal for D&D Beyond, they don't, so why would they want to do that? It's not like formatting data for their particular platform is free.
That's exactly what most of the rest of the post you quoted was about, various methods the third parties could use to still make money off of respecting DDB's unlocked content.
Since the DDB user is already on the books as having access to a digital version of their content, if WOTC:
Doesn't require a cut of whatever service fee these third party sites charge users for the DDB ownership lookup, or
Does require a cut, but a smaller portion than the full licensing fee of the third party selling that digital content directly themselves
Then these third parties can charge less but still get similar profits.
Even if we assume that a system like this does nothing to increase the user base for these various third party platforms (or DDB digital ownership)*, a system where, say, Fantasy Grounds can go "Buy the PHB directly on our platform for $30 (XX% of which normally goes to WOTC)- or, if you already own a digital copy with DDB, unlock access to it in our tools for some % less (of which WOTC doesn't get as much of a cut)" would presumably be a nice way of saving the end users from eating licensing costs 2+ times for digital access to the same content while allowing Fantasy Grounds to still make about the same money for funding their actual integrations with their tech.
I'd like to believe there's at least some happy ground compared to where things currently sit where people don't have to pay as high a price on each of these third party sites but the third parties can still make their money, growing D&D's digital userbase via the lower prices in the process.
While I'm sure it's great for WOTC, I feel like the fact that I currently own about 7 ~$30 PHBs between digital and physical is a bit unnecessary** and WOTC could tone down how much of a cut they take on the 3rd party digital end of that a bit; they already know they got theirs through the DDB purchase.
*Which, the point is people would hopefully be more willing to try out and use these third party services- or to buy digital content on DDB- if it wasn't the third or fourth time they had to pay a full $30 for digital access to the PHB.
**I know I'm a power user in this scenario. I assume the average person is probably hesitant to pay for a digital copy twice- or even once, if they know they'd have to buy it in multiple locations to actually have a full digital toolset including VTT at the moment.
What I can see happening is DnD letting those licence deals lapse and in return provide a proper API gateway for those companies to use, this turns DDB into the central, sole, digital repo for all things WOTC DnD without taking away the ability of those companies to integrate. It also stops the necessity of buying material 3-4 times, and menas moving forward Wizards take 100% of the income from any digital sale.
There is then the possibility that Roll 20.Fantasy grounds etc offer that DDB integration access at a small price, so making up for the loss in direct revenue of DnD sales.
If you just click the links to the actual press release with the presumably SEC required boilerplate about "forward looking language" you'll see that end of q2 or q3 are most likely when the sale will actually close. And even then, I wouldn't expect to see dramatic changes in the operations of DDB at that point. It's unclear whether DDB is to be maintained as a separate and distinct and autonomous entity from the WotC D&D studio (though I don't think that's likely) or will be integrated over time with the D&D studio (more likely). Notice DDB celebrates the sale as a partnership while WotC language mostly celebrates it as an acquisition (it sort of reminds of when Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler). And I guess you could say Fandom is saying "thanks, and good luck!"
There will likely be some efficiencies/redundancies to be made but unlikely to happen on Day 1 of the sale's closing. It makes a lot of sense for WotC to buy DDB, but what to do with DDB beyond owning it will evolve over time, especially as the "next evolution of D&D" starts to take shape.
that's what's confusing me, one side is speaking as if it's all done and there's nothing left. so yeah, technically speaking Fandom still owns DNDB as of this second. But they're probably checked out until WoTC takes over in Q2/3.
Ok the announcement happened right before the end of financial year, I imagine that was done because wizards have included the 140 million in last years tax returns as planned future capitol expenditure, which means they don't have to pay tax on it. It would have appeared in the public financials so someone would have picked up on it. If they had instead waited then they would have paid tax on that 140 million this year.
In reality by announcing it it is done and agreed, but, there is paperwork, there is the actual time it takes to liquidate 140 million and transfer it over, there will be agreements and negotiations with the existing staff (I imagine golden handcuff deals on the dev team at least, in an acquisition like this you are buying the talent as much as the code base). There is also the time that Fandom need to handle things on there side.
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Nothing directly that I'm aware of, but I do have to wonder if the bunch of high profile departures from DDB earlier this year were in any way related. It's probably safe to assume that internally, this is not breaking news. (But what do I know? :))
Highest profile name left and is working with Pathfinder in a capacity similar to the way he would have been he been around when this happened.
2nd Highest profile name left for a solo stint and recently started working directly for D&D, and I'd expect within at most a couple of years time will likely put D&D Beyond "Content" under his direction again.
Everyone else seems to be in cool niche spaces of their own either within TTRPG or gaming.
Only thing I could think of would be the highest profile leaving in terms of a "buy out" to make the WotC sale cleaner, but I don't know much about that side of acquisitions so don't know if that's really a necessary thing to do.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier but on the getting both a print and digital version of a title without paying twice front: yes it makes sense that they won't do digital codes with print copies for all the reasons mentioned like having to seal the product; but what is stopping them from doing the reverse? You buy the book on DDB and get a discount code/free code/they ship the book to your address for just shipping costs for the published version. So right now a digital product costs an average of $30, and print products costs $50 (Amazon notwithstanding) so instead of paying $80 to have both maybe you can pay $40 or $50 online and it comes with a free book.
Do anyone have a decent grasp on how much worse/better Wizard is with handling our information compared to Beyond?
What stops them from just shipping books direct to consumers is that DDB is definitely not set up to do that nor is Hasbro. It's one thing to send print runs to distributors then retailers, it's another to do direct to consumer shipping. Smaller companies do that, but neither WotC and (definitely) DDB are presently set up to to be a direct to consumer shipper of physical products.
The exception within Hasbro to this would be the Hasbro Pulse program, but those are very expensive products compared to what Hasbro usually produces and so those consumers do get an expected bespoke type treatment.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Alright, what about discount codes for physical books that could be redeemed at participating game stores within the Wizards network or whatever it’s called? This has the added benefit of supporting them against the march of Amazon.
I see this going a different way, so WOTC telling Fantasy Grounds, Roll 20 etc, we will no longer licence DnD products to you but we will give you an API you can integrate direct to DnD beyond. That turns DnD beyond into the one stop shop for all digital content for wizards, meaning maximum profits, while not upsetting players by stopping access to that material on VTT's, you can still access it all and use it, but you need a DnD beyond account and to own all the material there. It also offers wizards protection. If roll 20 went bankrupt tomorrow then those who had bought DnD content there would lose it and the backlash would fall on wizards despite them having no control over it, this way Wizards knows it can control and maintain all digital use.
Who pays for that discount? If wizards are selling a book wholesale for $20 for a shop to sell RRP for $30 then the shop has to still make that $10, so the discount comes out of that $20 price, I can tell you having had a friend who works in publishing the margins on printed books is tiny by the time you take out all the costs, so the RRP would have to increase meaning that book goes to $40 now, the shop buys it for $30 for wizards to cover the discount.
So nothing about DnD beyond acquisition on the DnD update video at all. Only a mention that having a DnD account gives free access to the same material as a wizards digital account.
I have an idea, it may sound crazy but hear me out.
I know. It is a wild concept, but I think it just might work.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
That's probably a clue to not expect any major changes in how either entity operates at first. That said, what you call an "only mention" is sort of significant. It's free content only available for folks with DDB and Wizards accounts (which are soon to be the same thing). It's not a guarantee of any sort but it does make the return of UA to DDB seem a little more possible.
I don't know why folks think WotC buying DDB = MASSIVE CHANGES TO WAY THINGS ARE DONE OUT THE GATE. On the contrary, when a company is acquired it's because they like what they're doing. Once owned, they have all the time in the world to determine how to best integrate DDB into WotC.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
That's usually the case; until the acquisition has been finished, there's a lot of types of planning that they aren't even allowed to do. The usual exception is "I only want this one part of the company, and once it's in my grips I'm going to rip out that part and toss the rest into recycling", and I'm pretty sure Wizards wants everything D&D Beyond does (well, they may not care about stuff like podcasts).
With DDB alum Todd Kendrick doing what he used to do at DDB now at WotC's D&D studio, I think the "content" area of DDB will likely be the first thing to be either integrated or overtly managed by WotC D&D content team. I think it's the most obvious "redundancy". You need creatives who can hype both D&D and DDB together, I don't think there's a reason for two distinct separately managed teams going forward.
I'm less curious in
hype videosdev updates and articles than I am in how or if this and the Discord community will integrated under WotC. Does WotC host a MtG community?Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I wondered the exact same thing as soon as the news of the buyout broke.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Myself I wasn't surprised at all I even wanted to buy WotC if I had the money which sadly I don't (I think being a multi billionaire gamer would be fun), and I would have also bought DDB if I could to do exactly what was done. I would also have worked with amazon to be supplier and having a price set that would allow both a DDB sell and include a physical copy. This would prevent international mailing and allow DDB prices to be in local currency instead of just USD. I know that is not FLGS friendly but it is the easiest and fastest way of including the dual access that so many folks want with where is my free books I bought a real one crap. Then later they can figure out a way to be FLGS friendly I would also get rid of that Target exclusive deal going on with the new starter set, which is BS as I live in Canada and I am not ordering it from Target USA and get stuck with a $60.00 CDN shipping like the essentials set was. I'm cheesed I have to wait till October to get it in Canada and here on DDB I don't think it has a code in it so that could mean everyone for a DDB version.
I'd assume that you get a code when you buy the book from certain retailers rather than it being included inside the book. There are plenty examples of guides that include codes that get you free digital versions of the book, but buying those online, especially with the rampant theft that's been going on in places like Amazon, is probably a bad idea.
I agree having been on the end of an acquisition myself in tech I can tell you the first 6 months after the deal was done (and we knew about it long before any announcement), nothing changed other then signage, updating the front end portals with the new Terms and conditions etc, oh and everyone who worked for the acquired company had our contracts changed and was given a golden handcuff deal to ensure we wouldn't be leaving any time soon, in that case that took the form of a payrise and a bonus paid at 6,12 and 18 months after the acquisition.
I anticipate nothing will change in DDB at least that is visible to us, there might be some reviewing of the roadmap, time taken to determine how Wizards wants to leverage there new acquisition, they will be eager to resolve how they deal with there other licensing partners moving forward, I imagine Roll 20 and fantasy grounds might have concerns that they are about to lose those deals so I imagine those relationships will be being managed. I imagine Wizards will be in discussions with DnD beyond management about growth plans, expanding teams etc, but again from experiance you want to do that slowly gradually adding 1-2 people, letting them get bedded in, learn the code base and the approach of the company otherwise you risk making things worse.
My guess is that heading into xmas might be when we start getting a real feel for how things are going to change (if at all), but that wont stop now someone asking the same question every week, which makes me wish we could vote to delete questions or just link to the same existing thread.
I don't see a need for much in terms of redundancies, certainly at the coal face so to speak, but also DnD digital is a very different beast to DnD beyond. I imagine in actuality Wizards will be offering DnD beyond staff improved contracts and possible golden handcuff deals, because the last thing any tech company wants when it makes an acquisition, is the devs who maintain and know the code base all heading off to new roles. I have been there, and it worked out really well for me financially, I got a nice pay bump and guaranteed bonus paid out at 6,12 and 18 months after the acquisition, just for sticking around.
What I can see happening is DnD letting those licence deals lapse and in return provide a proper API gateway for those companies to use, this turns DDB into the central, sole, digital repo for all things WOTC DnD without taking away the ability of those companies to integrate. It also stops the necessity of buying material 3-4 times, and menas moving forward Wizards take 100% of the income from any digital sale.
There is then the possibility that Roll 20.Fantasy grounds etc offer that DDB integration access at a small price, so making up for the loss in direct revenue of DnD sales.
Ok the announcement happened right before the end of financial year, I imagine that was done because wizards have included the 140 million in last years tax returns as planned future capitol expenditure, which means they don't have to pay tax on it. It would have appeared in the public financials so someone would have picked up on it. If they had instead waited then they would have paid tax on that 140 million this year.
In reality by announcing it it is done and agreed, but, there is paperwork, there is the actual time it takes to liquidate 140 million and transfer it over, there will be agreements and negotiations with the existing staff (I imagine golden handcuff deals on the dev team at least, in an acquisition like this you are buying the talent as much as the code base). There is also the time that Fandom need to handle things on there side.