The movie being a flop will not impact the OGL in any way. All the boycotting would achieve is we might never again get a D&D movie. Which is just a great disservice in my opinion. High fantasy movie with action, comedy and monsters we recognise from the games like oozes, owlbears and dragons? Maybe even a Beholder? I want more of that, not less.
I understand the anger, but go too far and you just kill D&D.
And Hasbro? Even if every D&D player in the world boycotted absolutely everything Hasbro is involved in --- They'll still make billions. For them it's just unfortunate, but nothing they can't handle. D&D is just one, relatively small, avenue of profit from the many they have.
So cancelling subs and stuff to feedback the OGL? Understandable. Makes sense. And they listened - yay.
But this boycotting everything, rage against them, off with their heads stuff? Hurts D&D community far more than even the OGL 1.1 would have. Greedy company being greedy I can deal with. Cancel-Culture Warrior-Wannabes trying (even if unintentionally) to destroy the hobby, I'm not OK with. I mean, nothing I can do about it, but I just wanted to vent about the hypocrisy - since y'all are worse than Hasbro in my eyes.
I mean, given that WotC has brought in a substantial amount for Hasbro -- a company that, as I recall (but correct me if I'm wrong), hasn't been doing all too well in their other pursuits -- I'd imagine they'll keep following the DnD money. I reject the premise that Hasbro are so dang huge that boycotting the movie would only hurt the community while Hasbro shrugs it off. They want the movie to succeed; given recent loud community backlash the shareholders are watching. But let's say they are a behemoth, and the boycotting does little to their profit margin. So what? So another DnD movie doesn't get made? We'll never see oozes and owlbears and dragons on the big screen again?
Like just to put things into perspective here, because some of y'all are equating DnD to the nose on your face: you're calling people warrior-wannabes, destroyers of a hobby, and worse than lying money-grabbing litigious corporates because they're: potentially in the way of you seeing an owl+bear combo in a two hour action-fantasy?
The movie isn't the hobby. The owlbear or dragon aren't the hobby. Hollywood output isn't the hobby. And neither are the DnD books WotC has been releasing.
The hobby is the friends playing online or at the table, and the community that is really hurting right now. Just admit you're emotionally invested in those DnD elements you associate with fun times with your friends at the table. It's ok to feel invested. But plenty of us are still here playing at our tables, and with a thriving community unencumbered by restrictive corporate practice, I might get to see owlbears and bearowls, maybe with rich backstories and adventures. And I think that is pretty swell.
The movie being a flop will not impact the OGL in any way. All the boycotting would achieve is we might never again get a D&D movie. Which is just a great disservice in my opinion. High fantasy movie with action, comedy and monsters we recognise from the games like oozes, owlbears and dragons? Maybe even a Beholder? I want more of that, not less.
I understand the anger, but go too far and you just kill D&D.
And Hasbro? Even if every D&D player in the world boycotted absolutely everything Hasbro is involved in --- They'll still make billions. For them it's just unfortunate, but nothing they can't handle. D&D is just one, relatively small, avenue of profit from the many they have.
So cancelling subs and stuff to feedback the OGL? Understandable. Makes sense. And they listened - yay.
But this boycotting everything, rage against them, off with their heads stuff? Hurts D&D community far more than even the OGL 1.1 would have. Greedy company being greedy I can deal with. Cancel-Culture Warrior-Wannabes trying (even if unintentionally) to destroy the hobby, I'm not OK with. I mean, nothing I can do about it, but I just wanted to vent about the hypocrisy - since y'all are worse than Hasbro in my eyes.
I think you're being a bit reactionary here, and overly emotional. Frankly, the idea that a failed D&D movie is somehow going to take down the hobby is just silly; we've survived Jeremy Irons doing the hammiest acting I've ever seen, and I love watching Mst3k, so my bar for movies is pretty low. If the D&D movie does poorly now, it's not going to tank the franchise and kill the hobby - this hobby has always existed on the outside of the mainstream and what is popular, to matter how close to the stream it manages to get it's still just too dorky for most people to actually get into or participate in in a meaningful way.
The people who are drawn to D&D will still be drawn to TTRPG's of any stripe because it's the action of playing together and being creative in fantasy settings that draws people in, not the IP of Dungeons and Dragons with Beholders and whatever - like, no one cares about any of the 'unique' things D&D actually has ownership of, I promise you. No one could give less of a crap about mindflayers. They care about the experience of roleplaying with friends and having fantasy adventures the likes of which real life will never manage to deliver. That's it.
And frankly, all the more reasons that WotC should know their place as 'stewards of the game' and not try this overreach, as if they were somehow bringing something miraculous to life and not simply feeding off of the creative endeavors of thousands of people who collectively came together for decades.
If you think that the executives will have zero idea all of this is going on, then you must think they REALLY live in a bubble.
Dude, they lost 40,000 subsruptions in a WEEK. Based on some other things I've seen, that looks like it was roughly 10% of their subscribers. No company loses 10% of it's subscribers without having to put in a little note about why that happened somewhere, on some report. More likely they at least had one board room meeting about it to tell the Boss what gives.
If you want to assume though they'll never know WHY we didn't go and see the movie because they lack the ability to look at their own forums or google D&D at all, then sure, oh no, they won't want to invest in another Dungeons and Dragons movie. How sad. How awful.
Maybe they'll start investing in the game then, instead of stupid stuff that I don't care about and does NOTHING to add to my ttrpg experience. How awful.
If you think that the executives will have zero idea all of this is going on, then you must think they REALLY live in a bubble.
You can dismiss my concerns if you'd like, but unless there is a method by which we can guarantee that the higher ups are being told the movie's performance among fans is directly tied to the OGL (i.e. through a dedicated news story) then there will always be wiggle room for them to dismiss a potential flop for the movie as a problem with general audiences, not the fans, since it is meant to appeal to both demographics.
There has been plenty of great coverage thus far for the fans response to the OGL (both through media sights and renown internet personalities), but if there is a story out there suggesting that the movie may flop in response, I have not seen it. Without it, we are relying on people at the company actually reviewing threads like these, which are lost in an ocean of other OGL discussions.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Yesterday, an insider purchased $1.1m in Hasbro shares (just one person, so it's not like a wave of people buying shares.). Feels like they are panicking and attempting to artificially inflate the market with this move.
I only mention this because it somewhat relates to our efforts of boycotting the movie.
Edit: I was mistaken. The article was posted yesterday, but the information is from the last 6-9 months.
If you think that the executives will have zero idea all of this is going on, then you must think they REALLY live in a bubble.
Hasbro's stock is still in the tank right now. They're bleeding money and if Bank of America were smart, they would devalue it again to teach Hasbro's arrogant board a lesson AGAIN. As it is, heads SHOULD HAVE ROLLED over the OGL fiasco. As for the movie, it looks like it will be stupid. Its generic fantasy hot garbage that's 2 steps removed from Hawk the Slayer only because of better technology and a higher budget. But at least the people behind Hawk TRIED to make something that wasn't godawfully cringey (just unintentionally cringey in a way that's oddly endearing/entertaining). And its not like they couldn't find a decent composer cheap, but instead (apparently) licensed Led Zeppelin music (I'm hoping I'm wrong and was only picked for the inane trailer) which is utterly tone deaf for D&D soundtrack IMO.
Quite literally they could have picked ANY of the MANY classic Gygaxian-era modules that they keep having to rehash for editions to build a story out of instead of something that sounds like a bad rewrite of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings crammed together. D&D is ultimately about ADVENTURING, not questing to save the world. Heck, if they wanted to make a story about "the good guys defeating the bad guys" they could have done The Scourge of the Slavelords series where adventurers put an end to The Slavelords of the Pomarj and it would have probably been a far better story than this one.
Yesterday, an insider purchased $1.1m in Hasbro shares (just one person, so it's not like a wave of people buying shares.). Feels like they are panicking and attempting to artificially inflate the market with this move.
I only mention this because it somewhat relates to our efforts of boycotting the movie.
Insiders need to file with the SEC if they purchase shares. On January 4, insiders received typical annual stock grants. No insider purchases have been filed since April of 2022.
So you are either intentially spreading misinformation, which seems to be extremely commonplace nowadays with this "movement," or you do not know what you are talking about, which is also indicative of this "movement".
Yesterday, an insider purchased $1.1m in Hasbro shares (just one person, so it's not like a wave of people buying shares.). Feels like they are panicking and attempting to artificially inflate the market with this move.
I only mention this because it somewhat relates to our efforts of boycotting the movie.
Insiders need to file with the SEC if they purchase shares. On January 4, insiders received typical annual stock grants. No insider purchases have been filed since April of 2022.
So you are either intentially spreading misinformation, which seems to be extremely commonplace nowadays with this "movement," or you do not know what you are talking about, which is also indicative of this "movement".
Upon closer inspection it would seem that i was mistaken on the date, This article was posted yesterday, however the last purchases were indeed from Apr 22 (I didn't get much sleep last night for obvious reasons, we all make mistakes)
Yep, I agree with pretty much everything you said. There's really nothing about the D&D movie that I found compelling or interesting - I was going to see it because frankly, I really like schlocky B-Movie fantasy and even if I wasn't expecting a quality film I figured I'd have a good laugh. That said, from an artistic or merit based standpoint there's no choices I see from the trailers that seem anything other than cut and paste stereotype fantasy of the Gygax era, you're absolutely right. They basically stole Keyleth's character design (a softie beautiful red haired horned druid? wow what a coincidence... e_e) because she's popular from CR and then stuck her in a generic module cover and called it a plot.
It seems like they're even doing the same plot as the old D&D movie right? Dragons bad, attacking places, must defeat dragons? Like yeah I know it was kinda Jeremy Irons controlling dragons with a staff but ultimately I see a lot of shot-for-shot similarities that I'm curious to see if they're actually that much difference from the other hot garbage D&D movie. Which actually holds a really special place in my heart because I know the guy that got that made was a huge D&D fan and as schlocky and stereotypical as it is I think it's a fun time and I have fond memories of watching it with my sisters as a kid, but like - they absolutely could have blown it out of the park these days with this budget and the VFX they have access to now. And unfortunately I'm not seeing anything all that creative or new from the trailers.
Like, when stuff is bad like Hawk, or Sword and the Sorcerer, it's usually due to low budget and just a general lack of access to better material, writers, actors, etc. This movie has none of those things to excuse why it's this generic, so really I'm not sure it was ever going to be a smash success. I expected, frankly, for it to be a bit of a laughing stock with the mainstream audience but because it was D&D we'd all go watch it and laugh at how they kinda missed the mark or didn't really get it but like hey they tried and it was fun so whatever! But now it's more like no D&D fans will want to see it and the mainstream audience will probably not find it that interesting because it's mostly fantasy tropes and stuff that they sorta don't know but sorta know from having watched LOTR, and they'll think it's just boring and forgetful and it'll end up being a lost movie that no one really likes because the audience that could have potentially enjoyed it is spittin' mad at the people who own the IP right now.
I'm not the one dismissing anything; I'm stating what I think is logical and obvious.
If someone runs a company, like Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro, it seems likely and logical that they will be roughly kept in the loop on hiccups or events that happen within the general atmosphere or perception of that company. Like, if Hasbro released a toy that had shards of glass in it and they suddenly lost 40,000 sales due to refunds, and there was a big hubub in the parent community about how Hasbro toys are unsafe and no one should buy them, and how no one should let their kids watch the new Hasbro cartoon that's coming out next week - do you genuinely think that the person who helms the company would be kept entirely in the dark about that event?
Because that is what you're kinda saying now. That the people who are in charge are entirely unaware of what is happening with the OGL and the pushback. They may not CARE, but that does not mean they do not KNOW.
So we're talking about how the potential consequence of the failure of the movie could be felt, right? Ultimately, I think it is impossible for those in charge to not connect the dots here, because there's nothing else to attribute the failure to; they were making record breaking profits on D&D up until about - oh, right now, when they did this OGL thing. The movie failing could perhaps be dismissed by some people I suppose, but they'd have to be very stubborn and obtuse to think that slapping the main audience of an IP in the face a few times right before releasing somehting about that IP to the marketplace is somehow unrelated.
I'm not the one dismissing anything; I'm stating what I think is logical and obvious.
If someone runs a company, like Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro, it seems likely and logical that they will be roughly kept in the loop on hiccups or events that happen within the general atmosphere or perception of that company. Like, if Hasbro released a toy that had shards of glass in it and they suddenly lost 40,000 sales due to refunds, and there was a big hubub in the parent community about how Hasbro toys are unsafe and no one should buy them, and how no one should let their kids watch the new Hasbro cartoon that's coming out next week - do you genuinely think that the person who helms the company would be kept entirely in the dark about that event?
Because that is what you're kinda saying now. That the people who are in charge are entirely unaware of what is happening with the OGL and the pushback. They may not CARE, but that does not mean they do not KNOW.
So we're talking about how the potential consequence of the failure of the movie could be felt, right? Ultimately, I think it is impossible for those in charge to not connect the dots here, because there's nothing else to attribute the failure to; they were making record breaking profits on D&D up until about - oh, right now, when they did this OGL thing. The movie failing could perhaps be dismissed by some people I suppose, but they'd have to be very stubborn and obtuse to think that slapping the main audience of an IP in the face a few times right before releasing somehting about that IP to the marketplace is somehow unrelated.
This movie is a new entity which has not contributed to their "record profits" up to this point, and it wont be a factor until March 31st, which gives alot of time for things to change for them financially. Furthermore, because of its attempt to appeal to mainstream audiences (that is to say, people that do not need to play the games as part of engaging with the product), they are now the new source to "attribute failure to." The movie's success/failure is tied to more sources than the other products that pushed their profits until now (which mainly relied on people who play the TTRPG). All of the pushback on the OGL and its connection to dropping D&D Beyond subscriptions has seen a fair amount of spotlight so far through media outside of just internet forums that basically guarantees it has gotten the attention of the parent company. As far as I am aware, the conversation surrounding boycotting the movie has yet to breach that threshold and has remained restricted to individual internet forums, which I why I am not confident the push to boycott the movie has reached the level of popularity necessary to get the company to know or care.
Investment houses do the devaluing and they do it on a profitability /return on investment basis, not on a 'they were naughty, we need to punish them' basis.
Not true. They devalue them when they are acting rashly that bleeds valuation from the company. It most certainly is a form of "whapping them on the nose".
Once a week I meet with 50+ like minded Nerds and we play D&D (8 or 9 different Groups). Half of us are fathers who choose and pay toys for our kids. Why should I spend my money on cheap plastic from Hasbro if I can spend it on a cheap plastic from a different company? Will it Bankrupt Hasbro? Of course not, but the PR damage is done and will have an effect.
I'll see the movie.. for free.. but no way anyone is going to make money from me on it.
Generally, these D&D movies have always been really terrible so I wasn't really pacing in anticipation for it, but even with the really bad D&D movie's it was fun to see a Beholder on screen.
Suffice it to say, I think this movie would have bombed with or without this "fiasco" but with it, I guarantee you this thing is going to explode in their face and when someone asks why, the OGL drama is definitely going to be blamed as are the people who created it.
Their is a reckoning coming at Wizards of the Coast, you can count on that like money in the bank or as the case may be here, the lack thereof!
I mean, frankly, if the movie bombs I think blaming the OGL drama makes sense. It may have bombed without it, sure, but there was a far better chance the movie would have been successful (even in an ironic, oh god it's so bad but we're having fun so let's go see it again kind of way) before WotC decided to start punching the community directly in the face for no reason.
Now, the people who had the most reason to go see it and be interested in it have a built-in reason to not want to go see it, right when it's being released. If that isn't crippling a runner at the start of a race, I don't know what is.
Yep, I don't have kids of my own but I have a large social group, and a lot of them have kids now. I had to buy something like $300 worth of various christmas gifts this year for kids that aren't mine just because of the quantity of kids [and I always keep the budget under $25 per child, it's never nice to outshine a parent on christmas!] I'm pretty sure I must have spent some of that on Hasbro toys, and next year I'll make sure none of it is Hasbro. Will it be a big contribution? No, but it's money I wouldn't have cared about spending before and now I'll be more mindful - it's not like Barbie is out here trying to get little girls to sign a contract forking over their rights or anything, they can have my money since they're not actively being evil creeps.
I mean, given that WotC has brought in a substantial amount for Hasbro -- a company that, as I recall (but correct me if I'm wrong), hasn't been doing all too well in their other pursuits -- I'd imagine they'll keep following the DnD money. I reject the premise that Hasbro are so dang huge that boycotting the movie would only hurt the community while Hasbro shrugs it off. They want the movie to succeed; given recent loud community backlash the shareholders are watching. But let's say they are a behemoth, and the boycotting does little to their profit margin. So what? So another DnD movie doesn't get made? We'll never see oozes and owlbears and dragons on the big screen again?
Like just to put things into perspective here, because some of y'all are equating DnD to the nose on your face: you're calling people warrior-wannabes, destroyers of a hobby, and worse than lying money-grabbing litigious corporates because they're: potentially in the way of you seeing an owl+bear combo in a two hour action-fantasy?
The movie isn't the hobby. The owlbear or dragon aren't the hobby. Hollywood output isn't the hobby. And neither are the DnD books WotC has been releasing.
The hobby is the friends playing online or at the table, and the community that is really hurting right now. Just admit you're emotionally invested in those DnD elements you associate with fun times with your friends at the table. It's ok to feel invested. But plenty of us are still here playing at our tables, and with a thriving community unencumbered by restrictive corporate practice, I might get to see owlbears and bearowls, maybe with rich backstories and adventures. And I think that is pretty swell.
I think you're being a bit reactionary here, and overly emotional. Frankly, the idea that a failed D&D movie is somehow going to take down the hobby is just silly; we've survived Jeremy Irons doing the hammiest acting I've ever seen, and I love watching Mst3k, so my bar for movies is pretty low. If the D&D movie does poorly now, it's not going to tank the franchise and kill the hobby - this hobby has always existed on the outside of the mainstream and what is popular, to matter how close to the stream it manages to get it's still just too dorky for most people to actually get into or participate in in a meaningful way.
The people who are drawn to D&D will still be drawn to TTRPG's of any stripe because it's the action of playing together and being creative in fantasy settings that draws people in, not the IP of Dungeons and Dragons with Beholders and whatever - like, no one cares about any of the 'unique' things D&D actually has ownership of, I promise you. No one could give less of a crap about mindflayers. They care about the experience of roleplaying with friends and having fantasy adventures the likes of which real life will never manage to deliver. That's it.
And frankly, all the more reasons that WotC should know their place as 'stewards of the game' and not try this overreach, as if they were somehow bringing something miraculous to life and not simply feeding off of the creative endeavors of thousands of people who collectively came together for decades.
If you think that the executives will have zero idea all of this is going on, then you must think they REALLY live in a bubble.
Dude, they lost 40,000 subsruptions in a WEEK. Based on some other things I've seen, that looks like it was roughly 10% of their subscribers. No company loses 10% of it's subscribers without having to put in a little note about why that happened somewhere, on some report. More likely they at least had one board room meeting about it to tell the Boss what gives.
If you want to assume though they'll never know WHY we didn't go and see the movie because they lack the ability to look at their own forums or google D&D at all, then sure, oh no, they won't want to invest in another Dungeons and Dragons movie. How sad. How awful.
Maybe they'll start investing in the game then, instead of stupid stuff that I don't care about and does NOTHING to add to my ttrpg experience. How awful.
You can dismiss my concerns if you'd like, but unless there is a method by which we can guarantee that the higher ups are being told the movie's performance among fans is directly tied to the OGL (i.e. through a dedicated news story) then there will always be wiggle room for them to dismiss a potential flop for the movie as a problem with general audiences, not the fans, since it is meant to appeal to both demographics.
There has been plenty of great coverage thus far for the fans response to the OGL (both through media sights and renown internet personalities), but if there is a story out there suggesting that the movie may flop in response, I have not seen it. Without it, we are relying on people at the company actually reviewing threads like these, which are lost in an ocean of other OGL discussions.
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Yesterday, an insider purchased $1.1m in Hasbro shares (just one person, so it's not like a wave of people buying shares.). Feels like they are panicking and attempting to artificially inflate the market with this move.I only mention this because it somewhat relates to our efforts of boycotting the movie.
Edit: I was mistaken. The article was posted yesterday, but the information is from the last 6-9 months.Hasbro's stock is still in the tank right now. They're bleeding money and if Bank of America were smart, they would devalue it again to teach Hasbro's arrogant board a lesson AGAIN. As it is, heads SHOULD HAVE ROLLED over the OGL fiasco. As for the movie, it looks like it will be stupid. Its generic fantasy hot garbage that's 2 steps removed from Hawk the Slayer only because of better technology and a higher budget. But at least the people behind Hawk TRIED to make something that wasn't godawfully cringey (just unintentionally cringey in a way that's oddly endearing/entertaining). And its not like they couldn't find a decent composer cheap, but instead (apparently) licensed Led Zeppelin music (I'm hoping I'm wrong and was only picked for the inane trailer) which is utterly tone deaf for D&D soundtrack IMO.
Quite literally they could have picked ANY of the MANY classic Gygaxian-era modules that they keep having to rehash for editions to build a story out of instead of something that sounds like a bad rewrite of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings crammed together. D&D is ultimately about ADVENTURING, not questing to save the world. Heck, if they wanted to make a story about "the good guys defeating the bad guys" they could have done The Scourge of the Slavelords series where adventurers put an end to The Slavelords of the Pomarj and it would have probably been a far better story than this one.
Insiders need to file with the SEC if they purchase shares. On January 4, insiders received typical annual stock grants. No insider purchases have been filed since April of 2022.
So you are either intentially spreading misinformation, which seems to be extremely commonplace nowadays with this "movement," or you do not know what you are talking about, which is also indicative of this "movement".
Please consider the following:Bullish insiders bet US$1.1m on Hasbro, Inc.Upon closer inspection it would seem that i was mistaken on the date, This article was posted yesterday, however the last purchases were indeed from Apr 22 (I didn't get much sleep last night for obvious reasons, we all make mistakes)
Yep, I agree with pretty much everything you said. There's really nothing about the D&D movie that I found compelling or interesting - I was going to see it because frankly, I really like schlocky B-Movie fantasy and even if I wasn't expecting a quality film I figured I'd have a good laugh. That said, from an artistic or merit based standpoint there's no choices I see from the trailers that seem anything other than cut and paste stereotype fantasy of the Gygax era, you're absolutely right. They basically stole Keyleth's character design (a softie beautiful red haired horned druid? wow what a coincidence... e_e) because she's popular from CR and then stuck her in a generic module cover and called it a plot.
It seems like they're even doing the same plot as the old D&D movie right? Dragons bad, attacking places, must defeat dragons? Like yeah I know it was kinda Jeremy Irons controlling dragons with a staff but ultimately I see a lot of shot-for-shot similarities that I'm curious to see if they're actually that much difference from the other hot garbage D&D movie. Which actually holds a really special place in my heart because I know the guy that got that made was a huge D&D fan and as schlocky and stereotypical as it is I think it's a fun time and I have fond memories of watching it with my sisters as a kid, but like - they absolutely could have blown it out of the park these days with this budget and the VFX they have access to now. And unfortunately I'm not seeing anything all that creative or new from the trailers.
Like, when stuff is bad like Hawk, or Sword and the Sorcerer, it's usually due to low budget and just a general lack of access to better material, writers, actors, etc. This movie has none of those things to excuse why it's this generic, so really I'm not sure it was ever going to be a smash success. I expected, frankly, for it to be a bit of a laughing stock with the mainstream audience but because it was D&D we'd all go watch it and laugh at how they kinda missed the mark or didn't really get it but like hey they tried and it was fun so whatever! But now it's more like no D&D fans will want to see it and the mainstream audience will probably not find it that interesting because it's mostly fantasy tropes and stuff that they sorta don't know but sorta know from having watched LOTR, and they'll think it's just boring and forgetful and it'll end up being a lost movie that no one really likes because the audience that could have potentially enjoyed it is spittin' mad at the people who own the IP right now.
I'm not the one dismissing anything; I'm stating what I think is logical and obvious.
If someone runs a company, like Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro, it seems likely and logical that they will be roughly kept in the loop on hiccups or events that happen within the general atmosphere or perception of that company. Like, if Hasbro released a toy that had shards of glass in it and they suddenly lost 40,000 sales due to refunds, and there was a big hubub in the parent community about how Hasbro toys are unsafe and no one should buy them, and how no one should let their kids watch the new Hasbro cartoon that's coming out next week - do you genuinely think that the person who helms the company would be kept entirely in the dark about that event?
Because that is what you're kinda saying now. That the people who are in charge are entirely unaware of what is happening with the OGL and the pushback. They may not CARE, but that does not mean they do not KNOW.
So we're talking about how the potential consequence of the failure of the movie could be felt, right? Ultimately, I think it is impossible for those in charge to not connect the dots here, because there's nothing else to attribute the failure to; they were making record breaking profits on D&D up until about - oh, right now, when they did this OGL thing. The movie failing could perhaps be dismissed by some people I suppose, but they'd have to be very stubborn and obtuse to think that slapping the main audience of an IP in the face a few times right before releasing somehting about that IP to the marketplace is somehow unrelated.
This movie is a new entity which has not contributed to their "record profits" up to this point, and it wont be a factor until March 31st, which gives alot of time for things to change for them financially. Furthermore, because of its attempt to appeal to mainstream audiences (that is to say, people that do not need to play the games as part of engaging with the product), they are now the new source to "attribute failure to." The movie's success/failure is tied to more sources than the other products that pushed their profits until now (which mainly relied on people who play the TTRPG). All of the pushback on the OGL and its connection to dropping D&D Beyond subscriptions has seen a fair amount of spotlight so far through media outside of just internet forums that basically guarantees it has gotten the attention of the parent company. As far as I am aware, the conversation surrounding boycotting the movie has yet to breach that threshold and has remained restricted to individual internet forums, which I why I am not confident the push to boycott the movie has reached the level of popularity necessary to get the company to know or care.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Not true. They devalue them when they are acting rashly that bleeds valuation from the company. It most certainly is a form of "whapping them on the nose".
Once a week I meet with 50+ like minded Nerds and we play D&D (8 or 9 different Groups). Half of us are fathers who choose and pay toys for our kids. Why should I spend my money on cheap plastic from Hasbro if I can spend it on a cheap plastic from a different company?
Will it Bankrupt Hasbro? Of course not, but the PR damage is done and will have an effect.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]I'll see the movie.. for free.. but no way anyone is going to make money from me on it.
Generally, these D&D movies have always been really terrible so I wasn't really pacing in anticipation for it, but even with the really bad D&D movie's it was fun to see a Beholder on screen.
Suffice it to say, I think this movie would have bombed with or without this "fiasco" but with it, I guarantee you this thing is going to explode in their face and when someone asks why, the OGL drama is definitely going to be blamed as are the people who created it.
Their is a reckoning coming at Wizards of the Coast, you can count on that like money in the bank or as the case may be here, the lack thereof!
I mean, frankly, if the movie bombs I think blaming the OGL drama makes sense. It may have bombed without it, sure, but there was a far better chance the movie would have been successful (even in an ironic, oh god it's so bad but we're having fun so let's go see it again kind of way) before WotC decided to start punching the community directly in the face for no reason.
Now, the people who had the most reason to go see it and be interested in it have a built-in reason to not want to go see it, right when it's being released. If that isn't crippling a runner at the start of a race, I don't know what is.
Yep, I don't have kids of my own but I have a large social group, and a lot of them have kids now. I had to buy something like $300 worth of various christmas gifts this year for kids that aren't mine just because of the quantity of kids [and I always keep the budget under $25 per child, it's never nice to outshine a parent on christmas!] I'm pretty sure I must have spent some of that on Hasbro toys, and next year I'll make sure none of it is Hasbro. Will it be a big contribution? No, but it's money I wouldn't have cared about spending before and now I'll be more mindful - it's not like Barbie is out here trying to get little girls to sign a contract forking over their rights or anything, they can have my money since they're not actively being evil creeps.