As all of you are probably aware by now Disney made big news last week when they announced they had purchased Lucasfilm for over 4 billion dollars. It looks like Mickey and company haven't put away the old checkbook just yet. MTV Geek is reporting a rumor that Disney is now in negotiations to purchase Hasbro! It's just a rumor for now, but according to MTV Geek a reliable source has stated high level discussions are happening at this moment. Click here to visit MTV Geek for the full story.

Is Opti-mouse Prime in our future?

MTV Geek wrote:
Well, we have it on good authority that serious discussions are happening at the highest levels of both Disney and Hasbro to fold the largest toy and game company on the planet into the Mouse.

MTV Geek wrote:
The acquisition would give Disney the rights to Transformers, G.I. Joe, Dungeons and Dragons, Beyblade, Battleship, Nerf, and Magic: The Gathering among several dozen other game titles and IP. When you add Marvel and Star Wars to that list it’s a pretty comprehensive lock on boy’s entertainment; a far cry from a few years back when Disney was heavily criticized for losing its grip on boys.

The ramifications to the Transformers hobby could potentially be extremely significant. Everything from the upcoming 2014 Transformers movie to BotCon locations to potential exclusives being available at Disney stores could be affected by this decision. Tell us what you think by clicking here.

http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=26155

That'd also give them the rights to Jem and the Holograms, which has had a bit of a comeback recently, and also indicates it is not only a lock on what one might call "boys entertainment." Although in this day and age, do we really have to make gender designations to such things? Silly me, watching and playing with Transformers and G.I. Joe, reading and enjoying Marvel, playing D&D. How come I didn't get the memo that was only for boys?

Anyway, to the real matter at hand, I am concerned in the sense that Disney is owning an increasingly huge amount of major IP. They're on the path to becoming a sort of weird entertainment monopoly.

But at the same time, I am less concerned in the sense that many of their latest cinematic ventures have actually turned out pretty well, in my personal opinion.

And moreover, if Disney got Hasbro and thus the rights to Dungeons and Dragons, I actually could see a possibility of them doing better with the brand name than Hasbro has done. Of course, it could also be much worse, very hard to tell. As it hasn't happened yet I'll save the worrying for later, but I'll be very interested to see if or how this develops.

That'd also give them the rights to Jem and the Holograms, which has had a bit of a comeback recently, and also indicates it is not only a lock on what one might call "boys entertainment." Although in this day and age, do we really have to make gender designations to such things? Silly me, watching and playing with Transformers and G.I. Joe, reading and enjoying Marvel, playing D&D. How come I didn't get the memo that was only for boys?

Anyway, to the real matter at hand, I am concerned in the sense that Disney is owning an increasingly huge amount of major IP. They're on the path to becoming a sort of weird entertainment monopoly.

That is kind of disquieting, particularly as they're pretty aggressive in their lobbying for extending copyright (AIUI, pushing the time from creator's death to make sure that Mickey never enters the public domain).

But at the same time, I am less concerned in the sense that many of their latest cinematic ventures have actually turned out pretty well, in my personal opinion.

And moreover, if Disney got Hasbro and thus the rights to Dungeons and Dragons, I actually could see a possibility of them doing better with the brand name than Hasbro has done. Of course, it could also be much worse, very hard to tell. As it hasn't happened yet I'll save the worrying for later, but I'll be very interested to see if or how this develops.

I suppose I'm more worried about how the Zaukömaupo would deal with the plethora of derivative works based on WotC intellectual property.

More reason to stick with Pathfinder friends.

My man just said "come on apocalypse" at this news.

So if Disney gets Hasbro, does that mean that any games based on Disney IPs will now be put out by WOTC?

FFG last year got the rights for a bunch of Star Wars games.

Well Disney wouldn't be a monopoly yet... they would be just one company away from it however. If they gobble up Time Warner after Hasbro then they would own the entire US entertainment industry.

I do worry about Pathfinder however if Disney gets Hasbro. Disney's lawyers are rumored to be more aggressive than the old TSR lawyers who sued everyone who merely mentioned D&D. They might just activate the clause in the open content agreement that lets them shut down all d20 based games.

FFG wouldn't immediately lose those rights... not till the term lease of those rights expired or Disney sued to get them back.

... They might just activate the clause in the open content agreement that lets them shut down all d20 based games.

?? I don't see anything like that in the OGL.

Aranna wrote:

... They might just activate the clause in the open content agreement that lets them shut down all d20 based games.

?? I don't see anything like that in the OGL.

Hmmm... I just reread it. You seem to be right. I could have sworn I saw it in there when the OGL was brand new. Either I misread it years ago or they removed that part before starting the OGL... but John is correct.

The closest thing I could find was the first line of Section 9:

Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License.

That'd presumably, taken in isolation, give them the right to update the OGL into uselessness. However, the rest of the section takes that off the table:

You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.

Disney's overdue for a bankruptcy...or a proper siege.

I'm more worried about the bronies than the gamers, to be honest. :P

Funny that..I predicted this the day The House of Mouse bought Lucas film and was told I was talking rubbish.

Well Disney wouldn't be a monopoly yet... they would be just one company away from it however. If they gobble up Time Warner after Hasbro then they would own the entire US entertainment industry.

That's why I said "on the path to"...

I do worry about Pathfinder however if Disney gets Hasbro. Disney's lawyers are rumored to be more aggressive than the old TSR lawyers who sued everyone who merely mentioned D&D. They might just activate the clause in the open content agreement that lets them shut down all d20 based games.

I think at least anything in print already would be okay, especially with the clauses you posted later in the thread.

And Hasbro has never liked the OGL, I don't think (hence the more restrictive GSL for 4th), but they never got rid of it because they knew that could have negative repercussions -- and they are also VERY protective of their IP. We can hope if Disney obtained Hasbro they'd see the wisdom in leaving it be.

And OTOH Hasbro itself is pretty giant. As much as Disney may be making a play for it, it may ultimately have what it needs to remain independent (for better or worse).

More reason to stick with Pathfinder friends.

I'm only sticking here because Pathfinder sank my boat.

The boat's name was 3.5e, and if Pathfinder sinks, I won't mind.

Well Disney wouldn't be a monopoly yet... they would be just one company away from it however. If they gobble up Time Warner after Hasbro then they would own the entire US entertainment industry.

Universal. Paramount. CBS. Columbia/SONY.

Shall I continue?

SuperSlayer wrote:

More reason to stick with Pathfinder friends.

I'm only sticking here because Pathfinder sank my boat.

The boat's name was 3.5e, and if Pathfinder sinks, I won't mind.

What? I hope you're kidding. WoTC sank your boat. Pathfinder is your life raft.

Cripes. Some people are so ungrateful.

I'm ungrateful at the fact that they promised me mustard and gave me ketchup when Pathfinder was first advertised.

My life raft came with the 3.5e reprints. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't know why I'm on this second boat in the first place!

As an old school Transformers fan, I'm pro-Disney acquisition if it means they boot Michael Bay off the franchise. And a MLP:FIM (and Star Wars) addition to the Orlando themepark would be sweeeeeeeet.

I'd hate that more IP falls under Disney's neverending copyright, and I'm worried about Fantasy Flight losing the Star Wars license they just acquired. Maybe I'm paranoid, but big corporations have a track record of tying up little competitors in years of litigation just to drain their coffers/wear them down... I'd be concerned Disney might do the same to Paizo eventually.

Disney wielding their copyright over D&D would be painful. I don't think WoTC would get StarWars again. At least right away. I would expect Disney to licence out the D&D brand to other things though.

Can you say content mafia?

As an old school Transformers fan, I'm pro-Disney acquisition if it means they boot Michael Bay off the franchise. And a MLP:FIM (and Star Wars) addition to the Orlando themepark would be sweeeeeeeet.

I'd hate that more IP falls under Disney's neverending copyright, and I'm worried about Fantasy Flight losing the Star Wars license they just acquired. Maybe I'm paranoid, but big corporations have a track record of tying up little competitors in years of litigation just to drain their coffers/wear them down... I'd be concerned Disney might do the same to Paizo eventually.

Same crap the game industry has pulled off.

I hope the name EA rings a bell for some people.

My man just said "come on apocalypse" at this news.

Bring it on.

I wouldn't mind if Paizo got the Star Wars rights they could make a cool RPG game with it unlike FFG who is only making card games/miniature games with it.

FFG is making a star wars RPG. It's in beta right now.

Potential crisis averted.

.....Sooooo you're saying Alusair Obarskyr could be the new Disney princess?

Imagine a world... where Disney owns all of the old IP.

Imagine a world... where people have to suddenly come up with NEW ideas for movies, books, and television.

Imagine a world... where Disney owns all of the old IP.

Imagine a world... where people have to suddenly come up with NEW ideas for movies, books, and television.

Now imagine a world...where Disney's lawyers scrutinize everything new that comes out to make sure it doesn't infringe on their IP, and sue the creator's pants off if the new work looks even slightly derivative.

I really don't like the hate for Disney's movies. Who says Disney isn't original? Pirates of the Caribbean was a swell trilogy. And the old Disney cartoons--Tangled, in particular--actually tried to appeal to adults as well as kids, an idea that a lot of companies have abandoned nowadays.

Not to even mention the movies like The Avengers that were created under Disney's 'cruel reign'. ^_*

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

princeimrahil wrote:

Imagine a world... where Disney owns all of the old IP.

Imagine a world... where people have to suddenly come up with NEW ideas for movies, books, and television.

Now imagine a world...where Disney's lawyers scrutinize everything new that comes out to make sure it doesn't infringe on their IP, and sue the creator's pants off if the new work looks even slightly derivative.

And in that same world, the rules that govern human creativity work like this..

1.
2.
3.
4.

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

That's not really accurate. And it's not like pirates are romanticized--they're played straight as murderous jackasses.

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

They stole that one boat.

Thanks Kobold for that Link

I took notice of this line..

And for any deal to happen, Hasbro would have to dissolve agreements with Disney's competitors.

If Disney Bought out Hasbro would that not make FFG a competitor since they would have WotC in house then?

I could see that upsetting a few people...

Terquem wrote:

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

They stole that one boat.

Okay, Jack Sparrow is a fake pirate. But Barbosa pulls plenty of piracy.

Jack is the one that stole the boat. And the first movie did have the black pearl raiding a town.

There could definitately be more piracy in the movies.

Scintillae wrote:

Terquem wrote:

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

They stole that one boat.

Okay, Jack Sparrow is a fake pirate. But Barbosa pulls plenty of piracy.

I think the pirates were too busy with other things to go out and do some real pirating during the course of the movies.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Scintillae wrote:

Terquem wrote:

Pirates of the Caribbean - four movies about pirates in which no actual piracy takes place, genius.

They stole that one boat.

Okay, Jack Sparrow is a fake pirate. But Barbosa pulls plenty of piracy.

I think the pirates were too busy with other things to go out and do some real pirating during the course of the movies.

Yeah for real.

I think that they would have done more pirating if they we'ren busy trying to get that bloody curse removed.

The second and third movie are basically the pirates realizing that their world and way of life are being threatened and their rag tag efforts to stave off that threat.

The fourth movie is best left not spoken about.

As an old school Transformers fan, I'm pro-Disney acquisition if it means they boot Michael Bay off the franchise. And a MLP:FIM (and Star Wars) addition to the Orlando themepark would be sweeeeeeeet.

I'd hate that more IP falls under Disney's neverending copyright, and I'm worried about Fantasy Flight losing the Star Wars license they just acquired. Maybe I'm paranoid, but big corporations have a track record of tying up little competitors in years of litigation just to drain their coffers/wear them down... I'd be concerned Disney might do the same to Paizo eventually.

Re: taking back liscencing...

Given that Disney based a movie on a water flume ride, that any of the Pirates movies were at all genuinely entertaining is impressive enough to me, never mind the details.

The pirates movies were not homeruns imo. They were actually kind of of boring, with boring characters and poorly paced. I liked the 1st one the best out of all of them. They need more action for a pirate movie, and they are so watered down for a pirate movie. A pirate movie should be R rated but Disney is scared of the R rating.

I disagree on pretty much everything in the prior post.

my theory with regards to the whole pirates franchise basically boils down to this.

When you encounter some one who loves them, ask them to mentally have some one else play the part of either Jack Sparrow or Hector Barbossa.

Now ask them if they love the films.

In case anyone was missing it:

Disney=Evil+Bad Productions.

[There are 9 Muses, not 5. Heracles was the bastard offspring of an extramarital affair, and Hera SENT the serpents to slay him in his crib. The Little Mermaid turns into sea-foam at the end of the story, because she cannot bear to use the cure for her legs: murdering her prince. Etc., ad infin. Disney couldn't make a proper movie about ANYTHING that actually existed before they pissed in it.]

I disagree on pretty much everything in the prior post.

Me too. No...wait, well you know what I mean.

A "real" pirate movie would be an R movie?

Now that would have worked if it was put out by MIRAMAX which was owned by Disney at one point. The same studio that put out Pulp Fiction and a slew of adult themed indie films.

But if you honestly expect Disney which has for the most part been family friendly (G, PG, PG-13) to release a hard R movie then anyone who says that has no idea what the hell they're talking about.

They did put the queen asking for snow whites heart in...

But they missed the iron shoes.

I'm all for it. I just got back from a week with the family at Disney. A major company dedicated to customer service and a quality product. Yay for them.

Between Pixar and the Marvel franchise, how can anybody complain about their movies? With the amount of crap put out by other studios?

I'm all in on Pathfinder, but maybe there could be a D&D movie that wasn't unworthy of even straight to DVD in the future???

my theory with regards to the whole pirates franchise basically boils down to this.

When you encounter some one who loves them, ask them to mentally have some one else play the part of either Jack Sparrow or Hector Barbossa.

Now ask them if they love the films.

Wow so my enjoyment of the films are dependent solely on the performances of Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush? and that's it? I didn't know that. This feels like the Dave Chapelle bit where some white guy tells hims that he's predisposed to liking fried chicken because he's black, not because, you know fried chicken ACTUALLY TASTES REALLY FRICKING GOOD...