Tencent won’t be buying the Dungeons & Dragons IP from Hasbro.
That’s now been confirmed by both the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast and Larian Studios boss Swen Vincke, of Baldur’s Gate 3 fame.
According to a report by Pandaily, Hasbro was seeking to sell the IP with Tencent as a potential buyer and Larian Studios acting as an intermediary – 30 percent of the developer is owned by Tencent.
However, this has now been confirmed as untrue by those involved.
Vincke took to social media to clarify the company’s position. “It’s silly that I should do a tweet about not buying something that is not for sale so I won’t. But in case you’re wondering, we’re not. Hope that clears it up,” he wrote in a post on X.
Wizards of the Coast also denied the report in a statement to VGC.
“We regularly talk to Tencent and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumours, but to be clear: we are not looking to sell our D&D IP,” it said.
“We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital experiences to our fans. We won’t comment any further on speculation or rumours about potential M&A or licensing deals.”
Pandaily claimed Larian Studios was a potential buyer of the Dungeons & Dragons IP due to its success with Baldur’s Gate 3, but lacked sufficient funds. Instead it supposedly introduced the deal to Tencent.
We now know this is untrue.
At the start of last year, Hasbro laid off around 15 percent of its global workforce, despite “strong growth” in Wizards of the Coast and gaming sector.
Then, in December last year, it laid off more employees, with Wizards of the Coast affected – as reported by Forbes.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has proven immensely popular, winning numerous game of the year awards. Now the studio is working on a new game, and Vincke reckons he’s “figured out” its first act.
