Wizards of the Coast Hit With Layoffs as Part of Hasbro Cuts
Employees of Wizards of the Coast were included in Hasbro's year-end layoffs.
Wizards of the Coast was not spared from a wide-reaching round of layoffs announced by its parent company Hasbro earlier this week. ComicBook.com has confirmed that employees of both the Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering teams of Wizards of the Coast were among the 1,100 employees laid off by Hasbro this week. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks announced the 1,100 layoffs earlier this week in response to market "headwinds" that were "stronger and more persistent than planned." While the Toys division of Hasbro has seen the greatest challenges related to market conditions, Hasbro's employee cuts include even profitable divisions. For instance, Hasbro's most recently earnings report stated that Wizards of the Coast saw a 40% increase in revenue in Q3 2023 compared to the previous year.
Multiple teams within Wizards of the Coast were impacted by the layoffs, including design teams, production teams, digital teams, and the art team. Among those who publicly confirmed they were laid off this week were Mike Mearls, one of the original architects of Dungeons & Dragons 5E, Dungeons & Dragons game designer Dan Dillon, and Megan Galbraith Donahue, the Director of Universes Beyond Creative and Production for Magic: The Gathering. ComicBook.com has confirmed at least 15 people were laid off from Wizards of the Coast. Sources have told ComicBook.com that Wizards of the Coast employees expect additional layoffs to occur in the next six months, which matches a timeline for layoffs established by a memo written by Cocks.
While Hasbro reports an operating profit loss of $169.5 million for the year, the company is set to offload eOne, its TV and movie business, to Lionsgate for a reported $500 million by year end. Additionally, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks made a reported $9.4 million in 2022.
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