Hasbro Invests $1B in Single-Player Games, Focuses on D&D

Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has revealed that the company is currently investing $1 billion in largely single-player games following the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3. After confirming that the company is looking to release a Baldur’s Gate 4 in the future last year, Cocks explained in a new interview that the company is looking to expand its “really broad portfolio” into gaming. Speaking to The Game Business in a new podcast episode, Cocks explained that the company is “building games mostly around D&D, Magic, Transformers” and potentially other platforms. For now, the focus is largely on Dungeons and Dragons, and will be “very focused on action-adventure and role-playing games for PC and console”. The interview comes alongside the news that Hasbro has cancelled Star Wars Jedi director Stig Asmussen’s in-development Dungeons and Dragons game. Via Bloomberg, a Hasbro spokesperson explained that the company “decided not to pursue an early concept from Giant Skull” while it continues to focus its efforts elsewhere. In the interview, Cocks explained that Hasbro is still committed to further investment in single-player games based on its brands, and that the majority of games will not be live-service titles. “You can invest $100 million to build a really great mobile or, or a really great games-as-a-service, like a shooter,” he said. “And the upside is you make billions and billions. But how many people achieve that upside? It’s very low single-digit percentages, if even that. The downside is you don’t make anything back, and it’s basically a wash.” The Hasbro CEO said “there’s always going to be a demand for good games that deliver a nice 40-50 hours worth of content set at a fair price”, and it certainly seems like the runaway success of Baldur’s Gate 3 has made a lasting impact on the company. To this day, Baldur’s Gate 3 is still selling phenomenally well, and has stayed in the most-played games across multiple platforms every month since launch. Hasbro is even investing in a full HBO TV sequel series for the game while the fourth game’s existence remains in purgatory. Cocks explained that Hasbro “have a history of making video games” with dozens of D&D-based games, digital Magic games, and more. However, as gaming as become bigger than ever, and games based on Hasbro’s brands have become even more popular, the company needs to evolve. “If you’re a company that’s based on play, you got to be able to figure out how to make your play be relevant on those platforms,” Cocks said. “And while we do a lot of partnerships, and that’s been pretty lucrative for us with games like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Monopoly Go, we need to have a piece of that and we need to understand it.” The Hasbro CEO claimed that the company’s video game push is “a long-term investment” and they hope to “have a nice long pipeline for the next decade of game development”. However, this now all comes after the cancellation of a number of titles, not just including Stig Asmussen’s aforementioned game. Via MP1st, footage of a scrapped Dungeons and Dragons RPG by Hidden Path Entertainment was discovered last year. The action-based D&D RPG was cancellated before its reveal and resulted in significant layoffs. Additionally, the company shut down new studio Atomic Arcade which was founded to create a game based on the G.I. Joe character Snake Eyes. Nevertheless, Hasbro does have a number of games still in development, including sci-fi RPG Exodus and open-world action-RPG Warlock, which is set in the world of D&D. Additionally, the company has expressed an interest in creating a brand-new D&D MMO, although there are seemingly no concrete plans as of yet.