Dungeons & Dragons is a popular tabletop fantasy game that spawned a handful of movies, a TV show, and appearances in popular media like Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory. In recent news, Tesla owner Elon Musk is considering buying its parent company, Hasbro, just to get the rights to the IP. No, this is not satire.
This all started on Twitter/X, when the tech millionaire took issue with an excerpt from the 40th Anniversary “Making of DnD” book. He claimed that Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are trashing Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D. He then asked what Hasbro’s net worth is when he replied to a social media user who also wasn’t pleased about the future direction of D&D’s audience.
How much is Hasbro?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2024
According to Stock Analysis, Hasbro’s Market Cap is $8.91 billion. For comparison, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, according to Reuters. It’s quite amusing that Musk wants to buy one company for the sake of one product. Hasbro owns multiple IPs, such as Transformers, Power Rangers, and G.I. Joe, just to name a few, but also owns multiple board games like Monopoly and Twister. The American company owns Wizards of the Coast, a game publisher for not only D&D but also Magic: The Gathering and the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
It’s not just the popular board game that Musk has eyes on. A few days ago, Musk announced plans to make a video game studio under xAI, in hopes to “make games great again.” He believes that many game studios are owned by massive corporations, which is untrue as there are a lot of indie studios that make games thanks to external or government funding or fan support.
As of writing, Musk has yet to make any official announcements or plans to purchase the toy and entertainment company. But if he does, want to buy my collection?