Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a very popular tabletop role-playing game. The game has been around since the 1970s, but it has recently exploded in popularity thanks to podcasts, TV shows, video games, and movies that have made the game more mainstream. Each year, parent company Hasbro generates millions of dollars in revenue from intellectual property alone. Masu). Decisions may be attributed to D&D, even if made by Hasbro).
Initially, D&D published physical rulebooks and sourcebooks to guide players and help establish the rules of the game. There were also modules that players could purchase. Ready-made stories to ease new players into the system or challenge experienced players. Players often also create “homebrew” content. That means creating your own stories, magic items, and more. Using a physical character sheet, players track their character’s progress, abilities, inventory, spells, and more.
Some character classes, especially spellcasters (wizards, warlocks, sorcerers, bards, and clerics), can be very complex to track manually. Players must roll dice, add numbers, calculate probabilities on the fly, and determine the outcome of their actions. I like to call D&D a “homework: game” because it can get very complicated. To help players manage increasingly complex characters, online game streaming company Twitch has created a website called D&D Beyond that automates much of the process. Players simply purchase the D&D rulebook on the website, set up their characters, and the website tracks and rolls everything out for them. In 2022, D&D will bring all of its content under one roof – its own – as part of its efforts to take advantage of the shift to digital gaming that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We acquired D&D Beyond.
On paper, D&D looked like it was becoming a monopoly. By owning a popular IP, the company could potentially control large aspects of the tabletop gaming world. Most of the homebrew content creation under the company’s Open Games License allowed players to use large portions of D&D content for their own personal as well as limited commercial purposes without paying royalties. . The agreement has been in place since 2000, and players treated it as a given.
However, in August 2022, D&D announced that it would be moving towards a new content deal with players called One D&D. Players were initially concerned that the new One D&D would limit their creative freedom without paying royalties to D&D. The company initially denied it, but as more details emerged, players’ concerns were confirmed. The fanbase revolted by canceling their subscriptions to D&D Beyond and finding (or developing) new tabletop games. By January 2023, D&D was withdrawn and placed much of its content under irrevocable Creative Commons licenses. D&D tried to exert monopoly power, but failed.
More recently, D&D has once again attempted to strengthen its monopoly power. Following the announcement of a new edition of the rulebook, on August 22, 2024, everything related to the previous rulebook will be available on D&D Beyond (or other digital content) unless players create their own content or purchase the new rulebook. ) announced that it does not work. In other words, D&D was trying to take away the content people had already purchased and force them to buy new content. Once again, the fan base revolted. Less than a week later, on August 26, D&D announced that it was canceling planned changes to D&D Beyond after “loudly listening to fan feedback.” Players can use previously purchased content on digital platforms.
There’s an important lesson here, one that my late mentor and friend Steve Horwitz always repeated. “Monopoly” does not equal “huge”.
Although a company may be large and own a lot of IP and content, it is not necessarily a monopoly with the ability to set market prices. The monopoly power they have depends largely on the availability of substitutes for their products. If there are many substitutes available, a company, regardless of its size, is likely to perform as well as a competitive company.
Mistaking size for monopoly power is a multidirectional error. Companies often overestimate their monopoly power and are forced to retreat, as in the case of D&D. Similarly, antitrust regulators often overestimate a company’s monopoly power, making an efficient market inefficient. Metrics such as company size, market share, profits, and profit margins do not accurately represent a company’s monopoly power. Sometimes you don’t realize how little (or how much) a company has monopoly power until you do something as painstaking as D&D.
PS This is a photo of my D&D group. My character, Vergen, is second from the right.
