Hasbro has decided to sell the IP rights to Dungeons & Dragons due to financial problems, the Chinese edition of Speed Daily reports, citing its sources. One of the potential buyers is Tencent.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Speed Daily writes that Tencent entered into negotiations at the request of Larian Studios, which developed the hit Baldur's Gate 3 in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Initially, the studio intended to buy the rights itself, but due to lack of funds, it turned to its minority shareholder for help. Recall, according to media reports, Tencent owns about 30% of the shares of Larian Studios.
A Tencent representative confirmed in a comment to Speed Daily that the company is in talks about Dungeons & Dragons. Judging by his words, Tencent is not going to acquire the rights to the entire IP. Instead, she is considering buying exclusive rights to create games based on Dungeons & Dragons.
It is unknown how much Hasbro estimated the rights to Dungeons & Dragons.
Hasbro is really not in the best financial position — it has been reporting losses for four quarters in a row. However, her video game division is doing much better. In the last quarter, its revenue doubled largely due to the success of Baldur's Gate 3 and MONOPOLY GO!.
UPDATE: Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, denied the information of Speed Daily in a comment to the Dicebreaker portal.
"We regularly communicate with Tencent and maintain numerous partnerships with it on a number of our IP addresses. We usually don't comment on rumors, but now we want to make it clear: we are not going to sell IP Dungeons & Dragons. We will continue to discuss with our partners how to make sure that fans of our games get the best experience. We will not comment further on speculation or rumors about potential M&A or licensing deals," Wizards of the Coast said.