Baldur's Gate 3 Has Made a Ton of Money for Hasbro

14.02.2024 - 22:17 / gamerant.com / Eric Law

Hasbro has made $90 million off of Baldur’s Gate 3 since the hit RPG’s release in August 2023. Though it did not make Baldur’s Gate 3 directly, Hasbro has cashed in on its success via a licensing deal between Larian Studios and Wizards of the Coast.

Considering its multiple awards, including Game of the Year 2023, few gamers haven’t heard of Baldur’s Gate 3 since its release last summer. Developed by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 uses a modified 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons system for its gameplay, and is set in the Forgotten Realms – the default setting used in many D&D adventures. Needless to say, Larian Studios had to form a licensing deal with Hasbro through Wizards of the Coast in order to make Baldur’s Gate 3.

According to Hasbro’s earnings call for the final quarter of 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 made Hasbro an impressive amount of money through that deal. Since the release of the hit CRPG, Wizards of the Coasts’ earnings have increased by 7%. While Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks admitted this could be attributed to the extremely popular Lord of the Rings set Magic: The Gathering released around that time as well, Baldur’s Gate 3 had a huge hand in its profit increase. The company estimated the Dungeons and Dragons licensing deal made Hasbro about $90 million since its release.

Yet, despite this success, Hasbro had a rough financial year in 2023. The company as a whole experienced a 15% revenue decline last year, and lost about $1.5 billion across its branches. Shortly before Christmas, Hasbro laid off around 1,100 workers, including Wizards of the Coast staff who worked with Larian Studios on Baldur’s Gate 3. That said, Cocks seems optimistic about Hasbro’s future. “Our refreshed leadership team is bringing innovative new products to our fans," he said. «At the same time, we are taking the necessary actions to transform Hasbro and deliver long-term profitable growth starting with driving significant profit growth across our segments in 2024 and building momentum in our innovation pipeline between now and 2025.”

»Turn arounds take time and for our toy business we are still in the early innings. While we are likely to face some near-term industry headwinds in 2024 and we are comping a better than planned 2023 for Wizards, the work we have done under the hood to strengthen our balance sheet, upgrade our planning and right size our inventory are a strong foundation to build from."

It is no exaggeration to say Dungeons and Dragons has been on the rise. The rising popularity of Critical Role, up to and including The Legend of Vox Machina, has brought a great deal of attention to it, and Stranger Things helped bring D&D to mainstream media. Baldur’s Gate 3 only served to add more fuel to the fire, so it is not a