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.

 

[Clint_L]

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:

If your goal is to minimize layoffs, this is not the correct strategy. Just sayin'.

 

[CleverNickName]

If your goal is to minimize layoffs, this is not the correct strategy. Just sayin'.

Also very true. In fact, it would have the opposite effect.

 

[mamba]

Hopefully we don't see the cycle of WotC finding more rakes to step on beginning again once the core books are out the door.

I am not sure that cycle had ended

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The way to "Stick it to WotC", if you're so inclined, is not to stop spending money on D&D and other TTRPGs, but to spend as much as you reasonably can on 3PP and other "competing" products. It's not just to stop giving them money - it's to give the money (or more) to other people.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I am not sure that cycle had ended

I'm not sure that it's possible for it to end under the current corporate climate - it's more likely that it will, sadly, continue to escalate.

We might have a short reprieve, though! If we're lucky! But it's likely to just be a matter of time.

 

[bedir than]

At one point an audience member asked a question – I don't remember what it was – but Dan Rawson, the VP of whatever (who has now moved to a new position of whatever + digital whatever) tried to answer and it was super clear he had no idea what the person was asking.

Dixon put his hand up at the guy and took Dan's microphone from him and directly answered the question. It was such a clear sign of the giant gap existing between the people at WOTC who knew their audience and the executive team who knew, as far as I can tell, jack.

This story is an excellent reminder that employees closer to the people who love the product are the people that understand those of us that use the product.

Employees closer to shareholders understand shareholders.

It's a story of scale and relationships.

Dixon understood us Farmers and Soldiers and Artisans (especially the Artisans). Rawson understood Dragons and Liches. It's all D&D, but the game needs the zeroes to become heroes more than the end boss.

 

[Ross Winn]

because it's a game we all love.

It NOT a game we all love. It might have been some decade ago, or 20, or 30, or 50 years ago like me. However the games I played with the people who helped me; those were what I loved. Dungeons & Dragons is a soulless backpack. It wasn’t the backpack, it’s what I carried in it.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Wait, is it December already?

 

[SteveC]

It NOT a game we all love. It might have been some decade ago, or 20, or 30, or 50 years ago like me. However the games I played with the people who helped me; those were what I loved. Dungeons & Dragons is a soulless backpack. It wasn’t the backpack, it’s what I carried in it.

I wasn't saying that everyone loves 5.5E, I'm just thinking that everyone here loves some version of D&D. Even the people who are playing a totally different version love the game that, well, they love. Otherwise I can't think of a reason to be on Enworld. I'm not a current WotC fan, but I still love the game in a larger sense. I think it's bigger than any one edition. My favorite is ... let's just say it's not the most popular one these days.

 

[GreyLord]

It's still a problem; it's just not a surprising one. This happens so often across so many industries, it's become the norm.

Again, "normal" is not the same as "good." I'm not saying layoffs are good. Nobody is saying that.

Most companies wait until late 4th Quarter to do their layoffs--which means most folks end up getting laid off around Christmas. That seems like it would be even worse.

Which would you rather have though, layoffs before Christmas so hopefully you know that you are going to have less money, or layoffs right after Christmas after you've spent all that holiday money?