Some D&D insights from Hasbro.

Piestrio · September 13, 2013, 11:06:51 PM

Quote from: HasbroWe’re delivering all new building and battling play experiences that combine fast module building and performance weapons for battling. We’ve also developed a new series of animated shorts that will introduce today’s kids to the rich lore and heritage of Dungeons & Dragons and all the great characters in the Dungeons & Dragons brand.

http://www.purplepawn.com/2013/09/mid-year-update-on-hasbros-game-business/

They also lay out 6 "gaming insights" based on market research that will drive their games (explanatory text snipped):

Quote#1: Gaming continues to become more consumable.

#2: Girls like to game too. According to Hasbro 51 percent of digital gamers are girls but under 10 percent of the game aisle is targeted to girls.

#3: Adults prefer “friction-free” games. Hasbro’s research has found that adults think games take too long to learn, too much time to set up, and too long to play.

#4: The retail experience is important.

#5: Personalization engages.

#6: Mobile integration is an important feature in the current market.

While they're not really talking about D&D directly here it's not hard to imagine how these guideposts will trickle-down to D&D R&D.

What do you think?

Also check out those WOTC numbers :eek:

Bobloblah · September 13, 2013, 11:21:05 PM

Interesting. The WotC numbers don't really surprise me; MtG is booming right now.

The first quote troubles me a bit. If someone used that kind of language to describe D&D to me, I'd think they completely missed the point.

From the second quote, point #3 is interesting. It goes directly to the heart of the current conversation about comlpexity in the "Next Tea Leaves" thread.

EDIT: Okay, went to the link and saw the picture of the game the first quote is presumably discussing. Looks like a simplistic "D&D with Lego" game. Less troubling now. I can see that kind of tie-in being highly beneficial for bringing in new players.

gamerGoyf · September 13, 2013, 11:25:35 PM

Quote from: Piestrio;691045Also check out those WOTC numbers :eek:

They own MTG, that never stopped being a thing, why are you surprised :?

Benoist · September 13, 2013, 11:31:06 PM

That's interesting.

Piestrio · September 13, 2013, 11:33:59 PM

Quote from: gamerGoyf;691047They own MTG, that never stopped being a thing, why are you surprised :?

Also Avalon hill.

But generally people hold up Monopoly as the gold standard of "mainstream boardgame success" and that doesn't appear to be true.

JeremyR · September 13, 2013, 11:39:43 PM

Quote from: Piestrio;691049Also Avalon hill.

But generally people hold up Monopoly as the gold standard of "mainstream boardgame success" and that doesn't appear to be true.

I dunno, I think it's pretty damn amazing that a 75 year old board game is still making any money these days.

Benoist · September 13, 2013, 11:41:05 PM

Quote from: JeremyR;691051I dunno, I think it's pretty damn amazing that a 75 year old board game is still making any money these days.

Is it?

Piestrio · September 13, 2013, 11:42:11 PM

Quote from: Benoist;691052Is it?

Also D&D is almost 40 years old. I think once you pass a certain point it all just becomes "old".

Benoist · September 13, 2013, 11:43:26 PM

Quote from: Piestrio;691053Also D&D is almost 40 years old. I think once you pass a certain point it all just becomes "old".

"Old"? It's just a hipster way of saying "Classic."

Piestrio · September 13, 2013, 11:49:01 PM

So If I was tasked with implementing those 6 guideposts into D&D I'd do something like the following:

Quote#1: Gaming continues to become more consumable.

This means cheap and disposable play. Consumable "one session in a can" adventures for casuals, nearly choose your own adventure or Host a Murder deals.

Quote#2: Girls like to game too. According to Hasbro 51 percent of digital gamers are girls but under 10 percent of the game aisle is targeted to girls.

As much as it would get cries of "SEXISM!" this means direct targeting to women with all the pink that entails (hey, Barbie sells).

Quote#3: Adults prefer "friction-free" games. Hasbro's research has found that adults think games take too long to learn, too much time to set up, and too long to play.

No more Char-op. No more "Builds". No more complex rules.

Quote#4: The retail experience is important.

Keep and expand Encounters.

Quote#5: Personalization engages.

Hrmmmm... D&D is already a very personalized game and you could definitely encourage this "Make the game your own" (rather the opposite of the cult of RAW)

Quote#6: Mobile integration is an important feature in the current market.

WOTC needs to come out of the 90's. Integrated Apps.

jeff37923 · September 13, 2013, 11:53:12 PM

Quote from: Piestrio;691045

Don't get too hung up on this, the graph only shows the relative growth in revenue for that particular division of Hasbro. It does not show the amount of that revenue, it could be as little as a few thousand or as big as a few million.

Piestrio · September 13, 2013, 11:55:39 PM

Quote from: jeff37923;691058Don't get too hung up on this, the graph only shows the relative growth in revenue for that particular division of Hasbro. It does not show the amount of that revenue, it could be as little as a few thousand or as big as a few million.

If the size of the bars does not indicate relative total revenue it would be an ASTOUNDINGLY dishonest graph.

Not that I put that past a large corporation but still...

EDIT: That should actually be easy to check, Hasbro does break out their public numbers by division IIRC.

Teazia · September 14, 2013, 12:03:12 AM

D&D Legos! Awesome! And they are making a skirmish game of it too! Very nice.

David Johansen · September 14, 2013, 12:09:36 AM

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen. At least they're trying to put the brand name out there and not hide it like they're ashamed of it. Someone in demographics must have decided the satanic panic risk has dropped sufficiently.

On the other hand. Ugh.

Doom · September 14, 2013, 12:10:26 AM

Hey, bring on the D&D Legos, I don't have a problem with that at all. Heck, I still have my handheld D&D game, and my electronic D&D game still in the box, from over 30 years ago.

Start 'em young.