From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

Source:
https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/

Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to rCyFranchise ModelrCO Internally, Will Be Led by Ex Halo Veteran
Alessio Palumbo
rCo
Jul 9, 2025 at 08:00am EDT

A few hours ago, we learned that the Dungeons & Dragons group within
Wizards of the Coast would shift to a 'franchise model' internally,
where everything about the beloved fantasy IP sits under the same roof.
The news was shared on LinkedIn by Dan Ayoub, a game industry veteran
who spent a long time at Microsoft working on the Halo franchise, from
Halo: Reach to Halo: Infinite. He left in 2021 to become Vice President
at Certain Affinity, though that didn't last long, as he moved again to Wizards of the Coast in 2022, first as VP/Head of Studios and then as
Senior VP of Digital Games. Now, Ayoub has been promoted to head the
whole Dungeons & Dragons franchise:

So, what happened today? We shifted our structure internally and D&D
moved to a full franchise model, meaning everything: books, video games,
film, and TV rCo everything touching the franchise lives under one roof.
The impact here cannot be overstated; this is massive for D&D and will
allow a strong, coordinated, and well-funded approach for the franchise,
and most importantly, for us, the fans.
Related Story Canceled Open World D&D RPG from Hidden Path Shown for the
First Time

Finally, in a moment that doubtlessly has my childhood self doing
cartwheels (and okay, maybe some old man cartwheels too), I've been
asked to lead this new group! As of today, I am thrilled, humbled, and somewhat freaked out to be leading the Dungeons & Dragons franchise for Wizards of the Coast.

Ayoub mentioned film and TV, but there are no publicly known plans to
create a sequel to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which only
barely recouped its budget, and work on the TV series that was going to
air on Paramount+ has been paused.

Wizards of the Coast does have plenty of Dungeons & Dragons games in the works, though:

The digital fantasy tabletop adventure game Demeo x DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS: Battlemarked, out in late 2025;
Project Baxter, a co-op game in development at Starbreeze and
scheduled to launch next year;
A new game from Invoke, formerly known as Tuque, which made the
Dark Alliance game;
The recently announced action/adventure game in development at
Giant Skull, the studio founded by Stig Asmussen;
A survival/life simulation/action RPG in development at Gameloft.

The company is also hard at work on the future of the Baldur's Gate
series, of course. In March, Dan Ayoub said fans of the franchise would
know more about what's coming next in 'short order'.
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source: >https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/ >Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to aFranchise ModelA Internally, Will Be
Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means. I'm
guessing the "all under one roof" bit indicates they aren't going to
be farming out D&D stuff to other non-Hasbro developers anymore, but
will be keeping a firmer grip and control on the product lines. There
might possibly be tighter integration between new products too; a
single inter-connected universe moving forward for all books, games,
movies, etc. Or it could just be a business reorganization that only
has to do with how payments are handled on the books, and ultimately
won't actually CHANGE anything. It's not really clear from the
article.

I doubt it will be for the betterment of the game, though. Hasbro has
not been a good custodian of "Dungeons and Dragons", and see it's
worth mainly for its value as a recognizable IP and money-maker. They
aren't willing to take chances or expand the IP in any significant
way, preferring to just pump out cheaply made pabulum, and nothing
about this announcement indicates any significant change in that
strategy (in fact, the tone seems to say quite the oppposite).


BTW, good to see you back, Kyonshi. I missed these updates of yours
;-)





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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 7/15/2025 7:26 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source:
https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/
Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to rCyFranchise ModelrCO Internally, Will Be >> Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means. I'm
guessing the "all under one roof" bit indicates they aren't going to
be farming out D&D stuff to other non-Hasbro developers anymore, but
will be keeping a firmer grip and control on the product lines. There
might possibly be tighter integration between new products too; a
single inter-connected universe moving forward for all books, games,
movies, etc. Or it could just be a business reorganization that only
has to do with how payments are handled on the books, and ultimately
won't actually CHANGE anything. It's not really clear from the
article.

ultimately it's management talk that mostly means they intend to make
money with the brand, but they don't know how.

I doubt it will be for the betterment of the game, though. Hasbro has
not been a good custodian of "Dungeons and Dragons", and see it's
worth mainly for its value as a recognizable IP and money-maker. They
aren't willing to take chances or expand the IP in any significant
way, preferring to just pump out cheaply made pabulum, and nothing
about this announcement indicates any significant change in that
strategy (in fact, the tone seems to say quite the oppposite).

I think they are trying to indicate that they want to make even more
money whoring out the brand.
The interesting thing is that Hasbro didn't use to be so bad about this.
Ten years ago they were really good about using their IPs to turn a
profit. But then they decided to squeeze even more out of their brands
and stuff went bad, and the people in charge just don't get why they
don't have the same success they had before.

BTW, good to see you back, Kyonshi. I missed these updates of yours
;-)

real life got a bit too busy the last few months.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:26:18 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source: >>https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/ >>Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to aFranchise ModelA Internally, Will Be >>Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means.

I think it means they're going to buy real estate and serve D&D burgers.
--
Pope Zaghadka III

`````````````````````````````````````````|
Every man, woman, and child on this Earth|
is a genuine and authorized Pope. | ``````````````````````````````````````````
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:59:57 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:26:18 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source: >>>https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/ >>>Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to aFranchise ModelA Internally, Will Be >>>Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means.

I think it means they're going to buy real estate and serve D&D burgers.

Also... will you people please cut it out with the Unicode? Usenet is an
ASCII medium. ;^P
--
Pope Zaghadka III

`````````````````````````````````````````|
Every man, woman, and child on this Earth|
is a genuine and authorized Pope. | ``````````````````````````````````````````
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:45:07 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/15/2025 7:26 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

BTW, good to see you back, Kyonshi. I missed these updates of yours
;-)

real life got a bit too busy the last few months.

I figured. It wasn't a complaint; just a comment on how welcome these
posts are. The newsgroup was deathly quiet without you ;-)


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 7/16/2025 6:59 PM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:26:18 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source:
https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/
Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to rCyFranchise ModelrCO Internally, Will Be
Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means.

I think it means they're going to buy real estate and serve D&D burgers.

that reminds me that there used to be a Polish gas station franchise
called D&D. They even had a logo that was suspiciously close to an old
Basic logo.

They seem to have closed down by now, but here's an ancient promo they
put on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI8CLXIzQM
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:55:51 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/16/2025 6:59 PM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:26:18 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:06:49 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

Source:
https://wccftech.com/dungeons-dragons-group-franchise-model-dan-ayoub/ >>>> Dungeons & Dragons Group Shifts to aFranchise ModelA Internally, Will Be >>>> Led by Ex Halo Veteran

I gotta admit, I'm not entirely clear what that all means.

I think it means they're going to buy real estate and serve D&D burgers.

that reminds me that there used to be a Polish gas station franchise
called D&D. They even had a logo that was suspiciously close to an old
Basic logo.

They seem to have closed down by now, but here's an ancient promo they
put on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI8CLXIzQM

LOL!!!!

Franchise that bitch!
--
Pope Zaghadka III

````````````````````````````````````````````````````|
Every man, woman, and child on this Earth |
is a genuine and authorized Pope. | `````````````````````````````````````````````````````

As Pope, you are entitled to the following privleges:

1. To invoke infallibility at any time, even
retroactively.

2. To completely rework the structure of the Erisian
church.

3. To baptise, bury, and marry (with the permission
of the deceased in the latter two cases)

4. To excommunicate yourself and others,
To de-excommunicate yourself and others,
To re-excommunicate yourself and others,
To de-re-excommunicate (no backsies) yourself and
others.

5. To perform all rites and functions deemed to be
improper to a Pope of Discordia.

Hail Eris!
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

They seem to have closed down by now, but here's an ancient promo they
put on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI8CLXIzQM

I like how "da and da" is pronounced in polish. We should adopt that pronounciation ...
--
Laurens Kils-H|+tten * lkh@sdf-eu.org * @lkh@social.sdfeu.org
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On Sun, 20 Jul 2025 12:25:02 +0200 (CEST), lkh <lkh@dwalin.uucp>
wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

They seem to have closed down by now, but here's an ancient promo they
put on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI8CLXIzQM

I like how "da and da" is pronounced in polish. We should adopt that >pronounciation ...

Gods know more than a few of my D&D campaigns were surrealistic
dadaism.

Not intentionally; it's just how they turned out. ;-)






--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.dnd

On 7/20/2025 5:41 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sun, 20 Jul 2025 12:25:02 +0200 (CEST), lkh <lkh@dwalin.uucp>
wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

They seem to have closed down by now, but here's an ancient promo they
put on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI8CLXIzQM

I like how "da and da" is pronounced in polish. We should adopt that
pronounciation ...

Gods know more than a few of my D&D campaigns were surrealistic
dadaism.

Not intentionally; it's just how they turned out. ;-)

Every DnD campaign that runs long enough starts as The Lord of the Rings
and ends as Monty Python and The Holy Grail.


(mind you, you can have a short cut: Space Gamer had a '(your name) and
the Holy Grail' DnD module once)
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