We never really get to hear children’s perspective on these companies, but if they do as poor a job appealing to them as they do adult action figure collectors, roleplayers, and the competitive Magic scene, then it wouldn’t surprise me that they were headed out of business. They seem like they go out of their way to not have good ideas.

@sundancer – A number of countries, I would guess most, do have regulatory agencies that are supposed to at least make sure there is competition in a market, so that the consumer has choice.

They are supposed to examine buyouts, takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, etc, and rule out any that will lead monopolies, duopolies, etc.

In New Zealand that agency is called the Commerce Commission, and it has failed in that task.  For example, we only have 2 big Aussie Corps that own the 4 supermarket chains here – 2 each – and they are, of course, making record profits each year.  Quelle surprise.

Not only does the NZ agency make the rulings, it also investigates the results afterwards, maybe decades later, of how the market is operating… Then they bring out the wet bus ticket and do sweet FA, because they are never really going to admit that they were wrong in the first place, even when the people that made the original decision are long gone.

Hasbro probably should never have been allowed to buy up the companies that originally produced DnD and MtG.  GlobalMegaCorps should never really exist.  They have too much power and influence over countries.

For a moment there, I was hoping your autocorrect had swapped “love” for “money”.
But I fear you were right the first time. Sigh.
Sad old hippy, over and out 😉

> Hasbro probably should never have been allowed to buy up the companies that originally produced DnD and MtG.

And Hasbro bought WotC for the Pokemon CCG, not even D&D or MtG.

The Hasbro purchase of WotC *did* allow many employee to leave the company for their own pursuits. And D&D, pre-WotC, was so mismanaged under TSR, that I think, between TSR and Hasbro, Hasbro is the much lesser evil. Hasbro also kept Heroscape around longer that another company would, and brought back HeroQuest. They tried a few hobby-level games with the Avalon Hill brand name, with House on Betrayal Hill (sp) doing quite well, and licensing Cosmic Encounter to FFG.

Still, with D&D 3.x written by freelancers, it became obvious then that D&D was in precarious circumstances. Personally, I think WotC / Hasbro has done a goodish thing by releasing its third boxed set, keeping the core books around $20 at Amazon, and releasing $20 campaign books.

Look into the history of Hasbro – or pretty much any other big company you choose – who their CEOs and shareholders are and you have your answer.

“followed shortly after by all the critics going back to playing and reviewing WotC stuff online again”

Yep, that about sums it up. The shills made a lot of noise to get views, and then skulked back to 5E as soon as possible.

Dungeon Dudes are a prime example as they just put their stuff on D&D Beyond.

Shills gonna shill.