Hasbro Lawsuit Over Magic Card Overprints Voluntarily Dismissed

A lawsuit claiming that Wizards of the Coast was harming its Magic: The Gathering brand by overprinting card was voluntarily dismissed last week, bringing this chapter of the lawsuit to an end. Earlier this year, Hasbro shareholders Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone filed a lawsuit against Hasbro and several of its executives claiming that Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks and others had made misleading comments about the printing strategy for Magic: The Gathering. The lawsuit claimed that the overprinting of Magic sets, which has increased exponentially in recent years, had weakened confidence of the brand and also resulted in a temporarily inflated stock price, influencing a stock buyback and ultimately resulting in a significant loss back in 2022.

One claim made in the lawsuit was that Wizards artificially overhyped the performance of its 30th anniversary set, which sold for $999. While Wizards claimed that the set sold out in an hour, the lawsuit claimed that leftover stock was dumped at a Texas landfill, reinforcing claims of misleading the public about its performance.

However, a year-end earnings report for Hasbro shows that Magic: The Gathering continues to be the primary revenue mover for Hasbro, accounting for a major part of Hasbro's 14% sales growth compared to 2024. Overall, Wizards of the Coast's revenue grew by 45% in 2025, largely due to Magic: The Gathering's performance.

As the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed, it can be refiled at a later date. No reason was given for why the lawsuit was dismissed, nor has its plaintiffs commented on the dismissal.

 

[Cruentus]

‘Increased revenue by 45% in 2025, largely due to MtG’s performance.’ I guess I’m just not seeing the mismanagement. They may not be doing things the way you want them to, but as a business making money for shareholders, yeah…

 

[Scribe]

but as a business making money for shareholders, yeah…

 

[MichaelSomething]

There goes my strategy of forming an investment group to force WOTC to make reforms on D&D. Guess you were all right to ignore my call on that one.

 

[Cergorach]

I believe, they have mismanaged the game, out of a desire to continue to maximize short term profits, to prop up Hasbro, and D&D.

I would even go so far as to say that management maximizes their own short term profits via bonuses and stock benefits over the long term viability of the company, maybe even at the cost of the company...

but as a business making money for shareholders

That happens in only two ways:

• increasing the value of the stock, so shareholders can sell in with a profit. Hasbro stock is still at a lower level then pre-pandemic.
• Paying out dividend. The currently pay out 70 cents every quarter: https://www.investing.com/equities/hasbro-inc-dividends

That the stock prices of Hasbro cratered due to the pandemic isn't that strange and kind out of the hands of Hasbro/WotC management. They did start with trying to be less dependent on purely physical products, Magic Arena was officially released a couple of months before the pandemic hit, and D&D Beyond was still owned and operated by an external licensor...

The lawsuit was filed on the 17th of February, pulled on the 23th of February, the yearly results were published on the 10th of February. Yes stock prices are now a lower then when the yearly results were published, and bounced back again a bit when the lawsuit was pulled. But I don't see the lawsuit as the reason of the lower stock prices (happened before the suit). Did they think that the lawsuit would have a bigger impact on stock prices? Did they pull out when they realized that wasn't happening? Could they have settled something outside of the courtroom?

 

[Remathilis]

This is further proof that the reserve list was a strategic failure for WotC ...

 

[Valetudo]

Is the resale value of mtg really wizards problem?

 

[Parmandur]

Is the resale value of mtg really wizards problem?

It is most definitely not, though if they blew it up it may impact new sales.

A lot of people buy packs to have the fun of opening them, sell the big ticket cards and build low level "Pauper" decks for their own use.

 

[JML]

Is the resale value of mtg really wizards problem?

It depends. If you believe that the continued sales growth of the game requires robust participation by resellers in the secondary market and access to "chase cards", rather than by actual players opening actual packs (or participating in online venues controlled by Wizards) then they need to care about the secondary market.

So long as Wizards is treating MtG as a game to be sold to players rather than a trading card to be sold to speculators, then they don't need to care about the secondary market, and frankly the interests of the secondary market are more detrimental to the actual play of the game than beneficial...

 

[Scribe]

frankly the interests of the secondary market are more detrimental to the actual play of the game than beneficial...