Hasbro Hit With Layoffs, Wizards of the Coast Impacted

Hasbro has announced they had laid off "less than 100" employees, with Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team impacted as a result. Hasbro announced the "operational streamlining" of their team ahead of their third quarter earnings report, along with several organizational changes impacting oversight of different business lines. as part of these business realignments, Chief Marketing Officer Jason Bunge will now oversee Wizards of the Coast and digital marketing moving forward.

EN World has learned that at least four people at Wizards of the Coast were laid off as part of these changes. One of the four is Dixon Dubow, who publicly announced that he was laid off on Twitter yesterday. Dubow was the creator relations manager for Dungeons & Dragons and was a critical part of helping to repair D&D's image after the 2023 OGL scandal. Dubow was a primary point of contact for content creators who worked with the D&D brand.

Hasbro previously laid off a number of Wizards of the Coast employees as part of a wider employee reduction line last year. Numerous employees from various Wizards teams were either laid off or retired as part of a 20% reduction in the overall Hasbro workforce.

Hasbro also announced year to date operating profits of $630 million during their quarterly earnings report, with a $98 million dividend payout to shareholders.

 

[Superchunk77]

I think you have a very good point here. I honestly haven't liked a lot of things WotC has done and I'm not purchasing their products from them as a result. What I am doing is supporting the Foundry team by purchasing their products. I guess that's the point where I find myself comfortable. If it was just a question of buying the new book or getting it from WotC electronically ... I wouldn't be doing that. I don't know where that puts me on an ethics scale.

But: I'm also not judging anyone who is buying it, because it's a game we all love. And I sure am not in a position to judge anyone in any way for buying a product (far from it!) In my opinion, WotC made a shrewd decision by licensing their product through a company that I like and want to support. I'm sure there will be a similar thought from people who use Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds (or any other VTT that I'm forgetting the licensing for).

I'm pretty sure WotC gets a cut of all of the sales of their products via Foundry. So you're still ultimately giving WotC money.

 

[CleverNickName]

Yeah it's still a problem. But it's not surprising.

And it's not going away as long as the TTRPG industry is dependent on WOTC.

You're half-right; it's not going away as long as (any industry of any size) is dependent on (any company of any size).

Again--I'm not saying any of this is good.

 

[Stormonu]

Give 'em time. It's only mid-October. There should be more coming in December.

At this point, I'm kind of surprised there's anyone left on the Hasbro side below the Board of Directors. WotC's been pulling their dead weight, haven't they?

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm pretty sure WotC gets a cut of all of the sales of their products via Foundry. So you're still ultimately giving WotC money.

If you want to play 5E Dungeons & Dragons, but you don't want to give a single red cent to Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro, there are ways you can do it:

1. Buy used books. (Bonus points for buying them from a local brick-and-mortar store). WotC/Hasbro will not see a dollar of your purchase.
2. Download and use the SRD_5.0. It's a lot more work, but WotC/Hasbro won't get a dollar from you.
3. Use the free version of Roll20, or FantasyGrounds, or Foundry VTT, etc. These virtual tabletops have libraries that have only the SRD-compliant rules and elements in them. You'll have to create (or live without) anything that isn't in the SRD, but again: WotC/Hasbro won't see a dollar from you.

I'm sure there are other ways; these are just the first that came to mind.

I'm not saying it'll be easy. I'm not saying it'll be seamless, I'm not saying it'll solve anything. I'm not even saying it's worth the trouble. All I'm saying is, it can be done.

 

[TiQuinn]

Wish there were more companies in the industry large enough to give more people opportunities to leave places like this.

 

[Minigiant]

You're half-right; it's not going away as long as (any industry of any size) is dependent on (any company of any size).

Again--I'm not saying any of this is good.

Well not (any company of any size).

TTRPGs would totally different, almost as bad or even worse problems if it were dependent on a smaller company.

I agree this isn't good. But like you, I'm not shocked.

 

[CleverNickName]

Wish there were more companies in the industry large enough to give more people opportunities to leave places like this.

Is Paizo still a contender? Back in the early twentyteens they were at the top of the heap.

 

[TiQuinn]

Is Paizo still a contender? Back in the early twentyteens they were at the top of the heap.

Yeah, but then it trails off considerably. I mean it’s great that there are places like Kobold Press and MCDM but they can’t have the kind of head count to offset these kinds of annual layoffs.

 

[darjr]

Wish there were more companies in the industry large enough to give more people opportunities to leave places like this.

This situation is probably better now than it’s ever been. Gotta play and run other games or 3pp for it to get even better.

 

[Minigiant]

Wish there were more companies in the industry large enough to give more people opportunities to leave places like this.

If there were large enough to absorb WOTC's annual layoffs, they are large enough to do their own annual layoffs.