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Tencent Reportedly Seeking to Purchase Dungeons & Dragons Video Game Rights From Hasbro

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Thalanil

Thalanil

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Aug 24, 2023
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Kinda of a crazy rumor making the rounds that Hasbro wants to fix part of their financial problems by selling the exclusive DnD videogame rights to Tencent. Apparently (according to the same rumor) they tried to sell them off to Larian after BG3 proved to be a big hit but Larian refused due to not having the kind of money Hasbro wanted for the hypothetical purchase.

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-dragons-tencent-report-purchase/

Some relevant quotes from the linked article:

A bombshell report claims that a Chinese media company is seeking to purchase the iconic Dungeons & Dragons brand, or at least some part of it, from Hasbro. Speed Daily, a Chinese media site, is reporting that Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate company that owns Riot Games and has ownership shares in Epic Games, Fatshark Games, and several other game companies, is looking to purchase the Dungeons & Dragons IP from Hasbro or alternatively is seeking to purchase some kind of exclusive rights to make Dungeons & Dragons video games.

Per the report, Hasbro reached out to Larian Studios about potentially acquiring the Dungeons & Dragons IP after the success of Baldur's Gate 3. While Larian had insufficient funds for a transaction, it served as an intermediary between Hasbro and Tencent, as Tencent is a minority investor in Larian Studios. The report notes that Hasbro is pursuing the acquisition because of the company's recent struggles, which has led to operating losses and job cuts across the company.
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What is ERA take?

Personally to me it seems shortsighted for Hasbro to sell the DnD games rights permanently when you consider how well BG3 did and how much DnD is having a resurgence in popular consciousness(stuff like Critical Role) and pop culture in general(Stranger Things, BG3 etc.etc.).

They could pull off a Disney and just make money by licensing out their stuff like the big mouse does with Star Wars and Marvel Videogames. It would require some long term thinking and strategy but could potentially be more beneficial in the long run rather than a one and done sale of the license.

At the same time I don't know how much I like the idea of Tencent getting their hands on the DnD gaming license, I don't like how they are tied to the Chinese Government . I don't have much experience with their games so maybe they are more hand offs than I think and I should not fear that they could start meddling and censoring stuff to appease the chinese government but still just like I don't appreciate it when Saudi government start buying stakes in gaming companies I don't like it here either due to the authoritarian tendencies of both of those governments.

Hopefully Hasbro changes idea or someone else makes a good offer.
 
Raigor

Raigor

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May 14, 2020
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Tencent owns and have several shares in plenty of AAA studios so that's pretty fine to me, compared to Hasbro they know how to make games.
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

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Apr 25, 2020
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Wild move from the company that just said their video game division didn't do jack shit in 2023 lol
 
AvianAviator

AvianAviator

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Jun 23, 2021
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NOOOO, WE COULD HAVE HAD LARIAN WITH THE RIGHTS

Please let them change their minds
 
Drayco21

Drayco21

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Oct 25, 2017
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Hasbro and mismanaging WotC properties, name a more iconic duo?

I don't like Tencent very much and wouldn't be thrilled to see DnD games permanently tied to them, but also Hasbro has been a mess with both DnD and MTG for multiple generations in a row now, so I'm not sure it'll be notably worse than how things have been lately.
 
Shinobido Heart

Shinobido Heart

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Dec 23, 2017
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It does feel like we're going back to the medieval ages of swords and magic with Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon's Dogma 2 leading the charge. I can see why they would want D&D...

The past several years saw the return of samurai games which surprised me. Oh, and even Wizardry came back.
 
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Dest

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
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Jun 4, 2018
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Larian was offered the rights, couldn't afford it. Tencent certainly can, owns a stake in Larian. I'd feel like after BG3s success that's why they're even interested in the first place.
 
Bigkrev

Bigkrev

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Oct 25, 2017
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220px-Dark_Alliance_cover_art.jpg

The fact that their attempt to make a 3rd Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (but naming it D&D instead of Baldur's Gate) was likely a huge bomb- it reviewed like shit and no one played it- probably has something to do with this. Sure, Baldur's Gate 3 was huge, but it was also funded with fucking Stadia money, that's the level of confidence they had in it. Why not cash out now when the property hasn't been hotter?
 
t67443

t67443

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Oct 30, 2017
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Hasbro the same company that fired all the people in their company related to the release of BG3? The same Hasbro that's had a hand in every DnD game since at least the 360? Can it get worse?
 

Deleted member 8579

Oct 26, 2017
33,843
I know living under a rock but watching the recent film, all the name drops of games and places I've heard over the years in videogames.

Who knew 🤦‍♀️ It all comes from Dungeons and Dragons.
 
Mobius and Pet Octopus

Mobius and Pet Octopus

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Oct 25, 2017
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I think Baldur's Gate is not going to suddenly usher in good D&D games. But I'm not sure Tencent should be the ones to control it either, but at least there is a chance for a positive outcome I suppose.

D&D supports potentially a wide range of games and genres. It's incredibly underutilized currently imo.
 
Burt

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Oct 28, 2017
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Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't good because of the license. If anything, the value of DnD as a videogame brand is grossly overinflated because of it.

Have at it, whoever.
 
Hrodulf

Hrodulf

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Oct 25, 2017
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Nah, I'm good, Tencent has their fingers in enough pies as it is and I'd rather not have a single company taking big scoops out of so many things worldwide.
 
LordRuyn

LordRuyn

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Oct 29, 2017
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Dungeon Craft called it in one of his videos, he said that Hasbro ought to sell the rights to Larian. I guess he didn't factor in that Larian would decline because they could not afford them. Turned out to be a monkey's paw of a wish he had.

I really hope Tencent doesn't get them for the very simple reason that I don't believe they would be good stewards of the brand.
 

Deleted member 52065

Jan 16, 2019
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The less things Chinese companies get control of or become involved with the better.
 
Drayco21

Drayco21

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Oct 25, 2017
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Pocky4Th3Win said:
They own 40% of Epic so we get Shadowheart and Karlak in Fortnite instead.
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The fact that there's no DnD or MTG characters in Fortnite is actually insane. Fortnite literally got a release of Magic cards, and you couldn't get them to stick Chandra and Jace in there to co-market? A D20 rolling emote for DnD would be so aces, too.
 
Xater

Xater

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Oct 26, 2017
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Hasbro has no idea what they are doing in regards to video games, so whatever. They really just lucked out with BG3.
 
Arc

Arc

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Oct 25, 2017
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Hasbro is desperate for cash. I don't think some people here really understand how dire their financial situation is.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is real.
 
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OP
Thalanil

Thalanil

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Aug 24, 2023
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LuckyLinus said:
Doesnt Tencent own like 30% of Larian? So rights would essentially go to them anyways I guess.
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It's not really the same when Swen Vincke(founder and head of Larian) owns 60% of Larian and his partner owns another 10% for a combined total of 70%.

Like Swen has the clear controlling stake and gets to make the decisions with Larian, it's not really comparable if Larian gets them or Tenceng gets them. If Larian gets them Swen gets to decide how to use the license, if Tencent does then it's Tencent board and CEO instead.

I personally would trust Swen far more than Tencent board with the rights, but Larian does not have the money for it so not possible anyway.
 
Mesoian

Mesoian

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Oct 28, 2017
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No thanks. Hapless as they are, Hasbro having the rights means the property will actually get used, rather than sat on by another consolidation house.
 
Burt

Burt

Fight Sephiroth or end video games
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Oct 28, 2017
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Baldur's Gate 4

by

uh

I know this is bad timing

but uh

... Obsidian?
 
Vash

Vash

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Oct 28, 2017
1,960
Yeah, it's going to be bad for the future of D&D when Tencent gets their hands on it. It will cause a severe regression of the brand where a lot of people did their best to make it more inclusive.
 
HK-47

HK-47

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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't want a progressively slanted fantasy space like DnD ending up in Tencent's hands. Will anyone who has been shepherding it even follow it, since the talk isn't about WotC
 
VariantX

VariantX

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Oct 25, 2017
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I would think thats a timeless brand and it would be a dumb idea to sell it but Tencent seems like it has bottomless reserves of money and it would probably be the shareholders who will pretty much decide no matter what in the end.
 
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OP
Thalanil

Thalanil

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Aug 24, 2023
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Sign My Guestbook! said:
No. Pleaaaaase no. No more. Stop combining everything please.
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I agree, just like Embracer getting the Lords of the Rings videogames rights(as elenarie pointed out) it seems the exclusive videogame rights to so many beloved pop culture brands are ending up in the hand of souless huge holding corpos trying to monopolize everything. Bad stuff going on in the industry with all this consolidation.
 
Patapuf

Patapuf

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Oct 26, 2017
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Mesoian said:
No thanks. Hapless as they are, Hasbro having the rights means the property will actually get used, rather than sat on by another consolidation house.
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I don't really think there's a danger of Tencent not using the license if they spend a few 100 million to get it. They are the biggest game publisher around. They'll find a dev or two for D&D.

I just don't really see they point of Hasbro selling it in the first place. Like, why give an easy scource of licensing revenue up? They could just do what games workshop does and get a check from everyone that wants a go at the license. That seems like a low risk high reward business that doesn't swallow lots of resources and scales nicely with the popularity of their TTRPG - to the point that both, games and the TTRPG reinforce each other - And you get to say no when a project clashes with your branding.

I'm really baffled by everything Hasbro is doing with their WOTC branch. It's very successful, earning tons of money but Hasbro acts like it's the opposite.
 
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