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Hasbro Admits: "It Was All About The Digital" (Extended) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-11 16:59:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

PDM analyzes Hasbro's latest conference call. Note: this video is a minute longer than the Youtube version but there is no "bonus content" after the main video. 5 non-WOTC news videos are coming up, including 3 crafting videos. So stay tuned.   

Enjoy. 

Files

Previews only

All About the Digital 1

Comments

Bagel-Man

Excited to watch PDM!

Kelsey (The Arcane Library)

Thank you for getting these scoops and sharing them PDM, it's all super important stuff that impacts the industry at large (and all creators)!

bynw

Totally agree and have been saying it for decades myself. A role-playing game is the table top type. Baulders Gate, WoW, EVE Online, Diablo and all the others are Video Games. Very fancy ones but they are Video Games.

NØKKEN_WAITS

LOUDER FOR THE FOLKS IN THE BACK. Right on the money, Professor.

Allen Westenbarger

Poor Deathbringer. Maybe someday he'll meet Ginny D. :)

Frederic Schmitt

The wizards of the cost too much will not leave PDM alone 😅

David Lake

Well said. I’ve had the same gripe about “ttrpgs” or “pen and paper.” It might be a Grognard’s stance but I don’t care. The only medium that can carry just rpg is the original tabletop version.

Nygfan

How come PM never mentions Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades? It’s so old school and a far good alternative to 5e WOTC

Kristen Solindas

It sometimes feels as though we are a dying breed, us role-players. How many tables have I played at where, when asked their character's name, the player has to look it up? I'm currently in a PF2e game and I don't think the DM cares who we are, just what we can do. So I'd say you hit the nail on the head here, and it makes me come to realize how inflated the TTRPG world is with all the players who have no characters, and when things go digital, we will better see the size of our small, niche hobby.

Nygfan

Also Ginny D is a WOTC sell out and overrated. Ever see her coving Independent Games? Nah D&D only bc cash flow baby

MrGunn
>>115005661

@Nygfan Here, here! I could not agree more, Ginny D is also not a nice person. Boo Ginny D...

Nygfan

Biggest sell out on YouTube. OGL hit and she demanded people quit D&DB only to immediately start shilling for D&D once her money was safe. Even playing D&D in a castle with WOTC!!! Hypocrisy knows no bounds

MrGunn

Interesting post, I think it is no longer a TTRPG if it is on a computer and the computer does everything but click the mouse for you. How can it be theater of the mind if you are staring at it on a screen? RPGs are about social interaction to create a shared story experience around a table. No thank you WotC!

James Mace

I love both TTRPGs and video games. I enjoy Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, Dragons Dogma, Balder's Gate (just purchased though yet to dive into), etc, but it is NOT the same as sitting around the table with friends during our Saturday sessions. There is no "theatre of the mind" with video games, no matter how immersive. And that's okay. But it is clear Chris Cox, Cynthia Williams, et al, are clueless when it comes to TTRPGs and are simply throwing word salad out there, searching for dollar signs.

Jimmy De Ruysscher

I don't get why people want the vtt of wizards. It will not allow for any customizable game experience. You won't be able to go the homebrew house rules and that includes an own world. You'll be stuck with the word worlds

Chuck Thorin

My latest conspiracy theory is that Baldur's Gate 3 is preview of what the WOTC virtual walled garden will be like. It's their model.

Graham Kane

I don’t know how anybody could deny this is coming. The dogs in the street can see Hasbro are heading full speed towards a digital model.

MrGunn

PDM you were dissed by the RPG Pundit, but he did like your video about WotC's sales figures. LOL

Nicholas Phariss

"...Inhabiting a character and creating a living, breathing alternative persona in a story that is created by the DM and the players..." This right here. This is near impossible to recreate in a video game - and the VTT is missing the point. They are a good alternative for groups who cannot meet for various reasons but otherwise, that is all. I will say it has been done in video game form before. Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 (as well as the recent 'Enhanced Edition' of 1) do this. Persistent World Online Communities, in which a team of builders and DMs creates that world, inhabits NPCs and Monsters, makes plots and moves character and world stories forward. Players can build years-long legacies of their groups and the like. Slice-of-life roleplay is common between the bouts of danger (And I'd go out on a limb and say NWN can do slice-of-life better than tabletop because the tug-of-war of time at the table isn't a concern). The only way I have ever seen the fire of DnD captured in the bottle of a video game.

Masterhit
>>115005661

I only study/practice working on the IT programs my company uses because they pay me. I mean, I find these comments unproductive. I think some of her videos are good and she clearly works hard on her productions. I don't need to know if she is a nice person any more than I need to know if Lux Interior was one to enjoy The Cramps or that Glenn Danzig isn't to enjoy The Misfits :) Just my .02 heh

Masterhit
>>115008920

What is RPG Pundit's beef... Actually, never mind that question ... "He is more beef now than man, twisted and political" I still watch some of his content though lol

Nygfan
>>115005661

She not an employee of WOTC and can make videos about any of the plethora of TTRPGS out there, but chooses D&D for the cash. Poor example

Adam

I consider VTT like Fantasy Grounds , Foundry or Roll20 etc. ...ttrpgs, they are not computer games, sure they have some mapping tools. but the game is 100% not automated. No different than playing with minis and props vs all theater of the mind. It is all players , it is a virtual table. And living in the vast lonely northern Wisconsin, it is the only table I can get everybody to. I am not playing a video game. BG3 I am playing multiplayer with my wife.... It is still a video game not a TTRPG. There is a subtle line there that I think you are ignoring. But hey thats ok. :)

Jay

So, the real emergency here is how digital RPGs will affect the TTRPG community and independent creators. In my opinion, that is absolutely a viable threat, and it could even come from sources other than just WotC. The DM shortage coupled with people being mostly socially disconnected, and living on their digital devices most of the time doesn’t help things. I still play many of these video games from time to time and with no need to organize people, the ease of access, all new graphics technology, photogrammetry, and the crazy AI stuff coming out, it’s likely to become very tempting and potentially addictive to many new, old, and would be players. Yet for me, it will not and can not replace my tabletop RPGs. So, all I can really do is continue to support all the good, hardworking independent creators out there and encourage others to as well. Thanks for keeping everyone informed PDM.

Scott Spears
>>115005661

Just because somebody decides to make videos about something you don't like, doesn't make them a bad person. I don't like Counrty Music or The Real Housewives shows but doesn't make the people who produce those shows "not nice people." Lots people work for companies I don't like but I don't call them not nice. Maybe you should try to old adage, if don't have anything nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all.

Scott Spears

Great insights. There's a great documentary out there called "The Corporation" where they run corporations through the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) and large corporations are basically sociopaths. They have one goal, make money at all cost. If it damages the environment, who cares? If it can find cheaper labor elsewhere, thus putting entire communities out of jobs, who cares? If they have to destroy something precious to make money, who cares? Hasbro/WOTC bought some great IP with D&D and now they plan do what all large corporation do, squeeze every penny out of it. Full disclosure, I own a small corporation, my business, so I am not against capitalism.

MrGunn
>>115008920

@Masterhit LOL, yeah sometimes he makes some good points.

Rob Edgar

What I want to know is, where can I find a tabletop game where I can have an amorous relationship with a bear?

The Tabletop Engineer

I just keep running my Shadowdark game and making terrain. Gave up on anything WotC does years ago.

The Tabletop Engineer

You cannot convert theater of the mind to digital. Digital will always be railroad-y and limited to how many options/branches the coders offer up to players.

Masterhit
>>115005661

I mean, my example isn't perfect, but it need not be. The gist is the same. Sometimes, you go where the money is. Especially if you actually enjoy the work. If you make Youtube your income source (primary job), you would be wise to cater to the majority and such. You're in it to make money, not necessarily as a hobby. I still enjoy D&D in all kinds of forms and from all kinds of publishers. It's D&D all the way down for me - even if I'm playing ICRPG, Hyperborea, Into the Odd, or even stuff like Mothership, Mork Borg, Boot Hill, or even PBTA games like Monster of the Week.

NØKKEN_WAITS
>>115007634

Absolutely. One of my players was telling me about the game yesterday and.... I was horrified tbh

Daniel Defazio
>>115008920

I wear that as a badge of honor. I heard he said I was part of a "slick marketing campaign." Which means he thinks I'm slick. That's flattering.

MrGunn
>>115005469

@Nygfan You forgot some other classics like OSRIC, Basic Fantasy RPG, Swords & Wizardry

Jeff Krus

A.I.as DM???.. Well if A.I. replaces DM and the the name of the DM is HAL-9000 better find a another DM, like a human...

Jeff Krus

Also the online stuff which I played has its place, especially if you live in a place that has little to no people who play D & D type games, but it is very sterilized. Humans need interaction with other humans. It's in our nature..

virtuadept

I get how Hasbro / WoTC want to monetize D&D better and that making a D&D VTT with AI Dungeon Masters and cool graphics and essentially a slightly more flexible Baldur's Gate 3 type game is how they envision making the Benjamins. But they are not going to stop printing D&D books, either. And so yes, you do have the choice to play Pathfinder (1 or 2) or Deathbringer or Shadowdark or EZD6 or whatever, but you also STILL HAVE THE CHOICE to play D&D 5e or 5.5e or whatever the next D&D is going to be in the print books, and that's STILL a VALID Role-Playing Game by PDM's own definition. I'm not saying play D&D because it's a great choice, I'm saying play D&D if that's the RPG you WANT to play. Otherwise just play something else. Either way, WoTC going "Digital" does NOT really impact your ability to play (or not play) D&D the same way it has been played for decades.

James C
>>115011130

I was going to mention the NWN series but you beat me to it. If, and it's a big if, WotC decided to build a robust DM toolset, then maybe they might have something there. But I have no faith in WotC or Hasbro so expect a heavy flow of microtransactions and DLCs which will sap all creativity and joy in the game.

Kevin Beck

Writing this just after hearing the comment. I disagree completely on the comment where you say computer games are not RPG. They are in my view just that. Especially since a lot of their character interfaces look like a character sheet you might have at a table. They normally have all of the things you would do or keep track of in a table game. For example, combat, resource management, interaction with NPCs exploration, and most games today actually make the characters decisions affect the storyline. (agreed you are limited to what the programmer allows)