Hasbro lays off 1,100; expected to affect Magic: The Gathering and D&D

[Kal-El814]

Turns out it’s not just videogames that are fucked, it’s gaming in general:

 

Hasbro's 1,100 layoffs have hit D&D and Magic: The Gathering hard, as a growing list of staff announce their departures | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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The layoffs are happening despite both properties having "record years", as per an investor meeting in October.

 

Tale as old as time…

 

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In the memo itself, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks (who received over $9 million in compensation in addition to his $1.5 million salary last year) said the layoffs are intended to "modernize our organization and get even leaner", calling them a "lever we must pull to keep Hasbro healthy". Cocks has not announced any cuts to his pay or compensation to achieve these goals. 

 

During an investor meeting in October (thanks, Dicebreaker), Cocks noted that both Magic: The Gathering and D&D were having "record years", stating: "Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming revenue increased 40% behind strong contributions from Baldur’s Gate III, Monopoly Go! and MAGIC: THE GATHERING."

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

D&D and Magic are the only properties keeping Hasbro solvent as their toy division's revenue has utterly collapsed.

[Bacon]

Larian to buy Magic and D&D

[osxmatt]

As a daily MTG player I haven’t seen the full impact yet, but one of the Discord community managers that I interact with a few times a month was laid off. Right before Christmas too. Heartless stuff.

[Reputator]

Wow Chris Cocks is a dick.

[Kal-El814]

10 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

D&D and Magic are the only properties keeping Hasbro solvent as their toy division's revenue has utterly collapsed.

 

There is SO MUCH tremendous RPG content out there now that D&D is riding its brand recognition HARD. It's really something that it's still so popular after the OGL fiasco; I hope that some of that falls by the wayside. Not because I want D&D to fail per se, just that there's so much imaginative, niche, accessible, and rad content out there that I wish people paid more attention to.

 

Magic is... I dunno. I hadn't played since the 90's and only got a couple of the Baldur's Gate commander decks when they came out; the irony tree bears bitter fruit. There's just too much I'm not familiar enough with when it comes to MTG to have a truly informed take, but the extent to which decisions are made solely because there's a non trivial amount of capital involved in the value of cards they're deciding to not reprint solely to keep prospectors happy is... gross. Regardless it's clear that MTG is a money printer for them.

 

So many CEOs insist on slaughtering the geese laying their golden eggs because they think the foie gras must be just that rich. It's fucking bananas.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Suffering and success.

 

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Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has taken to Twitter today and—in a thread celebrating both Baldur's Gate 3's numerous awards and runaway success—mentions the recent layoffs occurring at Dungeons & Dragons. He reveals that, "of the people who were in the original meeting room, there's almost nobody left."

 

[Vitalsign]

They've destroyed the MTG brand. I've played it since The Dark and owned a hobby gaming store from 2008-2012. There was a resurgence around that time with Lorwyn and Morningtide and the sets following it, but the last few years they've printed the game to exhaustion. They tried to stay relevant by inserting questionable cultural content into the game, but games like Pokemon are riding the wave of nostalgia far better. 

[Dawnguard2001]

I have loved 5E and watching Hasbro just run things into the dirt has been depressing.  Just glad I have the books for 5E when they finally ruin DndBeyond.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

On 1/8/2024 at 2:39 PM, Dawnguard2001 said:

I have loved 5E and watching Hasbro just run things into the dirt has been depressing.  Just glad I have the books for 5E when they finally ruin DndBeyond.

 

Considering that both the CEO of Hasbro (Chris Cocks) and Present of Wizards of the Coast (Cynthia Williams) both came from Microsoft's Xbox division, it probably shouldn't come as that much of a surprise.

[Slug]

On 1/8/2024 at 2:39 PM, Dawnguard2001 said:

I have loved 5E and watching Hasbro just run things into the dirt has been depressing.  Just glad I have the books for 5E when they finally ruin DndBeyond.

 

That's the thing; you can't ruin D&D.  You can dislike the content they publish, but at the end of the day D&D is a ruleset that is, by design, malleable to your table's needs.  Don't like what they publish?  Don't use it.  Don't like DNDBeyond, don't use it.  We've played countless adventures that aren't WotC written, played for decades before DNDBeyond even existed, and have house-ruled shit every step of the way.  Hell, I got one pal who still runs a 2nd Ed. game.  Using WotC/Hasbro assets (including DnDB) are just matters of convenience.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

3 hours ago, Slug said:

 

That's the thing; you can't ruin D&D.  You can dislike the content they publish, but at the end of the day D&D is a ruleset that is, by design, malleable to your table's needs.  Don't like what they publish?  Don't use it.  Don't like DNDBeyond, don't use it.  We've played countless adventures that aren't WotC written, played for decades before DNDBeyond even existed, and have house-ruled shit every step of the way.  Hell, I got one pal who still runs a 2nd Ed. game.  Using WotC/Hasbro assets (including DnDB) are just matters of convenience.

 

This very much an argument that I've heard from many in the tabletop gaming space and it's very much a valid one.

 

It's certainly an area where tabletop gaming has an advantage over video games as far as the ability of the end-user to craft their own experience independent of developer intentions.

[Slug]

5 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

This very much an argument that I've heard from many in the tabletop gaming space and it's very much a valid one.

 

It's certainly an area where tabletop gaming has an advantage over video games as far as the ability of the end-user to craft their own experience independent of developer intentions.

 

Absolutely.  When they announced the changes coming with "One D&D/6ed", I had one buddy who was a little upset about it.  He didn't like where some of the focus was going and some of the rules changes.  But the answer I gave him, and will give anyone, was simply, "Then ignore it and keep just doing what you're doing".  It's not like video games where they patch in a nerf or something and you're stuck with it if you want to keep playing that game.