As to your thoughts on this I would say:

Axis & Allies. Big name, not necessarily associated with Wizards. They have announced the Gleemax version coming up and didn’t make that big a deal out of it.
Roborally. While well respected in the gaming community, it wouldn’t really reach the level of “one of the most treasured IPs in the games field.”
Risk. I don’t see this one being that treasured.
Neopets. You might be able to argue this one, but I still don’t see it.

IPs that they own that I would consider “treasured.” D&D. Magic. That’s pretty much it. If they “owned” the Star Wars IP I would add that too.

Something else that’s interesting here is the term “downloadable online game.” Would XBLA qualify? I guess. Maybe. I mean, you do need to download them but it seems strange to phrase it that way unless you were really trying to obfuscate what the plans were. Meh. I’m probably reading into it too much now. Those guys do XBLA games, so that’s pretty much what is going to happen here.

Just some that have some degree of penetration in the popular conscious. As a note, has anyone else noticed that WotC has started a very deliberate push into the online space? Gleemax has gotten all the attention here, but keep in mind that they’re also the force behind Eye of Judgement and the new Maple Story TCG is using an online model similar to their existing Neopets TCG. If you throw in MtG:O, you’ve got four different online models - that’s more diverse than most actual video game companies…

Magic is a ton of fun even without the collectible aspect of things - in fact, it’s perhaps more fun. I had a blast a few years ago playing online with Apprentice. Give people a cheap and easily accessible way to play it, and it would likely drive demand for their main products.

That’s the funny thing about Magic Online. Anybody who doesn’t play it assumes that it must be doing poorly. I mean, who’s going to buy virtual trading cards, right? Turns out LOTS of people buy them. Even the sale prices of single cards between players is similar in pricing to the physical cards. In some cases the virtual cards command higher prices (and some lower, of course). Don’t believe me? Go check eBay.

They’d cut Microsoft into the deal because they don’t have their very own delivery service - not yet, anyway, and not with anything like the reach and qualities of Xbox Live for the foreseeable future. There’s no reason for them to put all their eggs in one basket. (But on the gripping hand, what if they actually port the Gleemax engine to XBLA? I don’t think it passes the “treasured IP” test for what they just announced, but it’s a compelling thought.)

I think Scott probably nailed it on the head but, again, thats just my /own/ wild-ass guess too.

One thing about the press release is it simply says they are developing an “online downloadable game” but doesn’t mention anything about XBLA. While Stainless’ recent work has been with XBLA it seems like it would make more sense for them to be developing something for Gleemax. After all, why would they cut Microsoft into the deal when they have their very own delivery service?

As for D&D4, they can afford to ignore those cries if they start getting their messaging right… but I can’t think of a way to do that any better than they seem to be able to.