The Many Deaths of Dungeons & Dragons | Game On | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fifty years after its inception, Dungeons & Dragons has become more than just a fantasy game for nerds. It’s a cultural phenomenon, thanks in part to Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and livestream channels like Critical Role. So how can D&D’s parent company Wizards of the Coast keep the momentum going and deliver more innovations? Ryan Dancey, former VP at Wizards of the Coast, breaks down this D&D ‘Golden Age’ and explains what it will take for the game to enter a new digital realm.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars.
0:10.2	I'm David Brown, but this cult favorite is experiencing a resurgence.
0:37.4	What used to be a niche game for
0:38.9	fantasy nerds has become a global phenomenon. YouTube channels like Critical Role generate millions
0:45.4	of views on their live stream D&D campaigns. And Thursday nights, all eight founders will be
0:50.6	returning for Campaign 4, which will still be nerdy-ass voice actors playing
0:54.7	Dungeons and Dragons.
0:56.1	And we can't forget about the Netflix series Stranger Things, right?
0:59.5	Final season just dropped not too long ago, in fact.
1:02.5	In season one, the D&D Demon Prince gets a pretty big cameo.
1:06.7	A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness.
1:10.8	It is almost here.
1:12.4	What is it?
1:13.2	What if it's the demigorgon?
1:14.8	Oh, Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the demigorgian.
1:17.3	It's not the demigorgian.
1:18.8	This newfound popularity has launched Dungeons and Dragons into what some are calling a golden age.
1:24.7	Yet despite the buzz, D&D only generates a small slice of the profits for
1:28.8	Wizards of the Coast, the studio that manages the game for its parent company Hasbro. So how can
1:34.4	they build on D&D's popularity and continue to expand beyond the tabletop? Guiding us through this
1:40.8	quest is Ryan Dancy. He's the chief operating officer for Alderac Entertainment Group, a company specializing in tabletop games.
1:49.3	Before that, he was a VP at Wizards of the Coast, where he helped restructure D&D's rules for the third edition in 2000.
	...

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