Caveat: I write this as a life-long fan of both M:TG and D&D, so I do so with a heavy heart and a massive amount of vitriol for those responsible.

The comment was made on RollForCombat that Hasbro do not see D&D as anything more than a brand. They don’t care about the game. They care about the image and the nostalgia and excitement it invokes.

That is where they see the money.

They know that there is a massive audience unfulfilled by tabletop gaming because they simply don’t have a peer group that is interested in TTRPGs. They know there is a massive audience that will jump on the convenience of online gaming, despite the inevitable mundanity.

They know that the people paying attention to this are a drop in the ocean of current and potential open wallets.

They will weather the poor publicity.

They will weather the share drops (and those who had the inside information will undoubtedly make themselves even richer without any fear of the toothless SEC).

They will launch their microtransaction-riddled VTT, push online D&D to any platform they can reach and water down the game to make it programmable. D&D won’t be playing with your friends, it will be like LFR on WoW. Competitor VTT systems will dwindle, as they will be restricted from hosting D&D.

You can bet they had 1.0 examined before they sent out 1.1. They will shove this through, because ultimately, they don’t care about paper rpgs, they don’t care about a quality game - all they care about is keeping their promise to increase profits by 50% by 2025.

What you are seeing is the transformation of a gaming institution from something beautiful and unique into a prostituted shell of its former self.

This is what was intended with 4e. They had designs to release VTT.

I sincerely hope that this can be defeated. Or at least that the community will survive and reform in a way that keeps the real spirit of TTRPGs alive.

https://youtu.be/MkIg7MHMRn0