Dungeons & Dragons owner Hasbro is buying D&D Beyond, the RPG’s leading digital toolset

polygon.com:

The parent company of Dungeons & Dragons developer Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, announced Wednesday it is acquiring D&D Beyond, one of the franchise’s most popular officially licensed digital toolsets and online storefronts. Wizards said on its official website it has “no plans to stop supporting D&D Beyond,” and all purchases made by consumers will be honored going forward.

D&D Beyond is the creation of Curse, and launched in 2017. The platform is, at its core, a web application and mobile app that provides players and Dungeon Masters (DMs) with the tools they need to play D&D in person or online. Features include a character builder, a character sheet, and a digital dice-rolling function. For DMs, it allows users to purchase official campaign books and other materials digitally for use inside the app. Prices for D&D books are traditionally more or less the same on D&D Beyond as they are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local game store.

D&D Beyond was purchased by Fandom in 2018 and, according to Hasbro, the relationship has been very lucrative since that time.

“Over the last three years, the royalty paid to Hasbro by D&D Beyond has represented a significant contribution to the fastest growing source of revenue for Dungeons & Dragons,” Hasbro said. That is undoubtedly true, as financial disclosures show that Wizards — and its attached digital properties, including Magic: The Gathering Arena — earned more than $1 billion for the first time in 2021.

Wizards has become a massive part of Hasbro’s overall earnings since the launch of 5th edition D&D in 2014. With an operating profit of $547 million in 2021, Wizards’ business unit accounted for 72% of Hasbro’s operating profit for the year. Taking that into