[Dungeons and Dragons Fan] Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs

[Kyonshi]

Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/

Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024

Hasbro has just announced a new round of company-wide layoffs that has
reached Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team. The move
is part of what Hasbro has described as an “operational streamlining”
and is expected to impact roughly 100 employees across the company.

The news comes less than a year after Hasbro’s last round of layoffs in
December 2023, which saw 20% of the company’s global workforce let go
and a major restructuring of the Wizards of the Coast team. It also
comes during a pivotal year for D&D, as the game celebrates its 50th
anniversary and the launch of a set of new DnD core books.

So just what does this mean for the future of Dungeons & Dragons? Below,
we break out al
Why did the layoffs happen?

According to Hasbro, these changes are designed to “increase
speed-to-market by trimming at least three months from the process while
empowering teams to make decisions quickly.” In reality, however, the
likely cause is that the company has struggled financially in recent
years, with slowing toy sales dragging down revenue, despite the
profitability of digital products and Wizards of the Coast’s flagship
games of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.

In fact, during their most recent Q3 earnings report, which was released
on October 24th, 2024, Hasbro announced that overall company revenue had
declined 15%. The report also noted that Wizards of the Coast and the
Digital Gaming segment declined 5%, with revenue dropping off in
particular from the Baldur’s Gate 3 licensing deal as sales of the
popular game slowed.
Who was laid off from the Dungeons & Dragons Team?

Early reports indicate that at least four people have been laid off from
Wizards of the Coast. This includes D&D Creator Relations Manager Dixon
Dubow, who was the primary point of contact for numerous D&D content
creators and was instrumental in helping to address community concerns
in the wake of the OGL scandal back in 2023.

In addition to the layoffs, there have also been a number of major role
changes among the leadership team as Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. In
particular Chief Marketing Officer Jason Bunge will now oversee Wizards
of the Coast’s digital marketing efforts.l the details.

Final Thoughts

As far as layoffs go, the latest round from Hasbro wasn’t nearly as
devastating as last year. That’s not likely much comfort, however, to
individuals let go from the Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons
teams. It’s also not likely to go over well with fans who are still
bitter over the OGL scandal and other recent missteps from Hasbro.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead and will
update this page with new information as it’s made available.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Kyonshi
Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/
Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024

"Co-operational streamlining." What a horrible term. "Well, the
employees we just fired haven't started torching the offices yet, I
guess they're co-operating." Maybe we need less of this sort of
'co-operating'.

To be fair, D&D has always had a turbulent history with its employees
and contractors. I recall how TSR grew and grew in the early 80s, and
then went through repeated contractions after the initial D&D craze
died down and revenues shrank.

I see similarities to that time here: D&D saw a massive increase in
general popularity during the pandemic years --fueled by various
YouTubers reintroducing the game to players new and old-- that made it
appear that the game was a lot more popular than it really was. But it
doesn't look as if it was sustainable. A lot of the newcomers were
attracted to it by nostalgia, but weren't really that interested in
sticking with the hobby long-term.

Which is fairly predictable; D&D (and tabletop in general) requires
more effort to enjoy than most other hobbies. Given a choice between
D&D, or hiking, or watching TV, or shopping or almost any other way of
goofing off, D&D demands more of the players. Tabletop requires a lot
of dedication that a lot of these newcomers weren't interested in
investing into the game.

[And I don't mean this disparagingly against these players.
Many of them probably had other hobbies that already
occupied their time and money. For many of them, D&D was
just a lark; an opportunity to try something different
for a while. I'm happy they had fun with the game and I
bear them no ill-will if they decided, after a pleasant
experience with D&D, they wanted to return to their
primary entertainments.]

But companies like Hasbro don't really think that far ahead; they just
see the immediate profits and assume they'll continue to go up
forever. So they over-hire and over-develop and ultimately end up
having to lay off hundreds.

On the plus side, I think the tabletop market is still fairly strong,
and I'm hoping that many of the people who were laid off can turn
their talents to developing games either for other RPG publishers, or
independently.

[Zaghadka]

Post by Kyonshi
Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/
Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024
Hasbro has just announced a new round of company-wide layoffs that has
reached Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team. The move
is part of what Hasbro has described as an “operational streamlining”
and is expected to impact roughly 100 employees across the company.

Did they streamline the clusterflock that is D&D 2024 on D&DBeyond?
Because wow it's bad. Glitches everywhere.

I think they should be hiring, not this.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Zaghadka

Post by Kyonshi
Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/
Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024
Hasbro has just announced a new round of company-wide layoffs that has
reached Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team. The move
is part of what Hasbro has described as an “operational streamlining”
and is expected to impact roughly 100 employees across the company.

Did they streamline the clusterflock that is D&D 2024 on D&DBeyond?
Because wow it's bad. Glitches everywhere.
I think they should be hiring, not this.

Don't be silly. You hire people when you're trying to make a product
people WANT to buy, not when you're selling something they HAVE to buy
because you're the default provider.

<Lily Tomlin mode>
"We don't care. Watch this. <click> Oops, D&DBeyond just fucked
itself. We don't care. We don't care. We're Hasbro."

[Kyonshi]

Post by Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Zaghadka

Post by Kyonshi
Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/
Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024
Hasbro has just announced a new round of company-wide layoffs that has
reached Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team. The move
is part of what Hasbro has described as an “operational streamlining”
and is expected to impact roughly 100 employees across the company.

Did they streamline the clusterflock that is D&D 2024 on D&DBeyond?
Because wow it's bad. Glitches everywhere.
I think they should be hiring, not this.

Don't be silly. You hire people when you're trying to make a product
people WANT to buy, not when you're selling something they HAVE to buy
because you're the default provider.
<Lily Tomlin mode>
"We don't care. Watch this. <click> Oops, D&DBeyond just fucked
itself. We don't care. We don't care. We're Hasbro."

They also might be going all in on using AI to write their stuff. This
will be fun.

[Zaghadka]

Post by Kyonshi

Post by Spalls Hurgenson

Post by Zaghadka

Post by Kyonshi
Source: https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/wizards-of-the-coast-new-layoffs/
Wizards of the Coast and D&D Team Hit By New Round of Layoffs
October 25, 2024
Hasbro has just announced a new round of company-wide layoffs that has
reached Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team. The move
is part of what Hasbro has described as an “operational streamlining”
and is expected to impact roughly 100 employees across the company.

Did they streamline the clusterflock that is D&D 2024 on D&DBeyond?
Because wow it's bad. Glitches everywhere.
I think they should be hiring, not this.

Don't be silly. You hire people when you're trying to make a product
people WANT to buy, not when you're selling something they HAVE to buy
because you're the default provider.
<Lily Tomlin mode>
"We don't care. Watch this. <click> Oops, D&DBeyond just fucked
itself. We don't care. We don't care. We're Hasbro."

They also might be going all in on using AI to write their stuff. This
will be fun.

Honestly, if they're this all in on being non-offensive (Species instead
of Race, Focus points instead of Ki points) then it may as well be
written by AI. Written by the board of directors is worse than AI!

I'll roll a "d20-test" (formerly known as "roll bitch") and let you know
how it comes out.