Poor one out for these folks whom were so unceremoniously let go from their DND Division: Dan Dillion, designer Trystan Falcone, graphic designer Dixon Dubow, creator relations Bree Heiss, Art Director Eytan Bernstein, Senior Development Editor Mike Mearls, director of game design MtG (previously worked in DnD and consultant for Larian for making Baldur's Gate 3) Even if some of them were broiled in their own controversies, being told you're fired weeks before Christmas is disgusting.

@tome7998

7 ай бұрын

so mearls is also laid off? that is interesting as that one only just switched to mtg oO

@simmonslucas

7 ай бұрын

Even Mearls!!

@Hey-Its-Dingo

7 ай бұрын

Amy Dallen from D&D Beyond has also been confirmed as one of the layoffs. :(

@MageRooster

7 ай бұрын

...they fired Mike Mearls? What?

@AxsorXI

7 ай бұрын

The question is: why some people still support Hasbro after all they have done to their franchises? That company can't even celebrate its 100th anniversary in a decent way. Screw whoever is in charge of that company. They don't deserve support because of their awfulness. Come on, guys! Hasbro even ruined its own IPs. Can you stop supporting Hasbro? Can you stop supporting MTG? Can you stop supporting their IPs? Can you? If you still support them, then you are part of the problem too. Some people are so obsessed by their IPs that they can't even stop supporting that bad, greedy, incompetent and awful company. But they should do that, because Hasbro is one of the worst entertainment companies ever. You tell me.

Makes one respect the late great Satoru Iwata even more. He actually slashed his own salary at least twice to not need to lay off Nintendo employees.

@Nonat1s

7 ай бұрын

A true legend in gaming. Gone too soon.

@MetPhD

7 ай бұрын

And we see a modern, relatively healthy company. Unlike Hasbro.

@fabiomaurell3215

7 ай бұрын

Not only him, even Shigeru Miyamoto helped.

@frostmagemarii

7 ай бұрын

I mean.. there's a difference. There actually is. Iwata didn't want to lay people off because he thought the company would be worse off for letting them go. Hasbro had so much useless bloat though.. it really did. These people needed to go (though, i think the leadership needs to be held to account even more because they bloated the company in the first place.) The timing is what is scummy though. This isn't a knee-jerk thing, this was planned well in advance (this kind of thing has to be).

@Xfushion2

7 ай бұрын

Iwata was the GOAT

Will anyone be surprised if the Hasbro CEO gets a big bonus for "reducing expenditures" with these layoffs? I know I won't be.

Crazy how the CEO gets to keep his job even though his decisions led to blunder after blunder and tanked the stock price.

@Skaxarrat

7 ай бұрын

And a bonus of 6 times his salary :)

@AxsorXI

7 ай бұрын

The question is: why some people still support Hasbro after all they have done to their franchises? That company can't even celebrate its 100th anniversary in a decent way. Screw whoever is in charge of that company. They don't deserve support because of their awfulness. Come on, guys! Hasbro even ruined its own IPs. Can you stop supporting Hasbro? Can you stop supporting MTG? Can you stop supporting their IPs? Can you? If you still support them, then you are part of the problem too. Some people are so obsessed by their IPs that they can't even stop supporting that bad, greedy, incompetent and awful company. But they should do that, because Hasbro is one of the worst entertainment companies ever. You tell me.

@jeremyh3567

7 ай бұрын

FedNet update: Do your part citizen, Switch to Pathfinder, Would you like to know more?

@ZeroRoyale

7 ай бұрын

*stares at WB Discovery…*

@clarkkent163000

7 ай бұрын

I'd like to play pathfinder if I get the time. Still playing 5e though. Not paying a dime, however.

It's time for Hasbro to end. They took losses because of their own actions, and now they're punishing their employees for the CEO's decisions. If I weren't already boycotting them, I would be now.

@isaacgraff8288

7 ай бұрын

Its like they tried selling their liver for cash and then start wondering why they have health issues.

@morganpetros9635

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's almost as if trying to screw over the D&D content creators and *SENDING ARMED THUGS TO A CUSTOMER'S HOME* weren't enough PR disasters for a single year. Every time I see or hear news about Hasblow lately, my decision to never give these scumbags another dime is revalidated.

@alexisglaab2572

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, you would think they would lay off with the absolutely terrible PR decisions until at least first quarter next year, after the OGL disaster and Magic scandals this year, but nope! I guess they feel like they are too big to fail, which is odd since they seem to be failing to run Wizards all the time.

@jar8240

7 ай бұрын

Layoffs are a good indication the boycotts are working

Paizo has the chance to do the funniest thing of all time with this

@DawidSikora

7 ай бұрын

All they have to do is release a statement about firing 0 people

@djanne1510

7 ай бұрын

Hire all the laid off employees. It would be petty and amazing!

@KajtekBeary

7 ай бұрын

@@djanne1510 I don't think that's possible... because paizo has like, 120 employes?

@frostmagemarii

7 ай бұрын

@@djanne1510 Yes. Lets tank a (mostly) good company by bloating the work force beyond what's tenable for profits of something Paizo's size and market.

@djanne1510

7 ай бұрын

Tell me you don’t know about capitalism without telling me you don’t know about capitalism. I do love it when people show off their ignorance by responding to comments with nonsense lols

As you talked about this story, it just brought me flashbacks of my previous job. Working at Best Buy for 11 years, I was part of a 120,000 person workforce. Then I woke up one day with an email from the CEO saying they "needed" to lay-off a bunch of employees. The next day, 20% of their employees were let go. I was one of them. But the big catch at the end of the story: the CEO boasted high profits and stock market increases! So the moral of the story is that big corporations believe everyone is disposable. No matter how essential in your field you feel you are. Unless you are a friend of the CEO, these companies will do whatever they can to save money in their pockets.

@simontemplar3359

7 ай бұрын

100% correct. A corporation has 1 purpose: profit. It has no morals and will do what it must. GROSS.

It would be crazy if Paizo started hiring these guys just because

@AndreLucasVidalMelo

7 ай бұрын

But, yeah... Money.

@Iceblade269

7 ай бұрын

I’d work for Paizo for free considering how well they treat people

@hellfrozenphoenix13

7 ай бұрын

​@@Iceblade269yep. It used to be horrible, but since they got Unionized, it's been much better. Paizo is growing in reputation and product. Picking up some experienced ex D&D employees may be foe the best. Edit: Stupidly said stocks even though they have none. Putting this here because I own my mistakes.

@GCarssow

7 ай бұрын

@@hellfrozenphoenix13 Paizo is not growing in stocks because they don't have stock, they are not a publicly traded company.

@hellfrozenphoenix13

7 ай бұрын

@@GCarssow derp. I should fact checked, that was a bad assumption on my end. I'll edit that now

What's sadder is that they probable did this to avoid also giving those employ's Christmas bonuses as well, trying to extract as much work out of them before kicking them to the curb. Whoever is a shareholder of Hasbro need to fire the current CEO 'chris cocks' and the rest of his higher management staff for their terrible management of the company. Losing close to 2000 staff members in a single year at there size is a sign of poor financial decisions and business strategies that requires someone who actually cares about the consumers and business they run to keep them afloat.

That CEO needs to go.

@DargorV

7 ай бұрын

The whole board you mean

@absolutleynotanalien8096

7 ай бұрын

@@DargorV Exept for those who voted against the majority on those decisions.

@amelialonelyfart8848

7 ай бұрын

They've only been in power for a year too. The previous one, Goldner, died of cancer in 2021. From what I've read, he was a pretty decent dude as CEO's go.

@absolutleynotanalien8096

7 ай бұрын

@@amelialonelyfart8848 some say power corrupts. But it's more that good rarely pursue power and is rarely effectively breed from souch positions. But sometimes it happens like with Cyrus of Persia.

@absolutleynotanalien8096

7 ай бұрын

@@amelialonelyfart8848 But yeah that's good few care about the CEO and is thus easier to replace.

What makes this even worse is Christmas is already a time of high suicide and then Hasboro pulls this... I can't even express my anger and sadness.

@phillconklin382

7 ай бұрын

😂😂

Hasbro has been making bad move after bad move since acquiring Wizards. It's so frustrating as a fan of both MtG and TTRPGs.

If I hadn't already decided that hasbro wasn't getting another penny of my money after the OGL and Pinkerton incidents this would be enough to make me make that decision.

When higher ups screw up, lower rank workers are laid off. When higher up don't screw up, workers might still get laid off cause the product is too successful amd increasing profits becomes impossible without cutting costs. Amazing system

Don't apologize for anything. Hasbro deserves every ounce of flak you're giving them.

@BlueTressym

7 ай бұрын

And more! I am so angry on behalf of those 1,100+ people right now.

Rich people mentality. My old boss/store owner had what I think is a similar mindset. Rather than viewing the store's total income as a pool from which the store's product, the corporation he was running with, the employees' wages, and his own wages were paid out of, he viewed every cent of it as HIS money, and saw everyone else he owed to keep the store afloat as thieves who were taking away HIS money. He has been known to say, in earshot of employees at the store, that he wouldn't pay his employees at all if there was a legal way to get away with it. Obviously, not knowing the executives in Hasbro personally means I can't guarantee that this is their mindset as well when it comes to Hasbro's profits, but it would make their inability to consider a personal wage cut as a possibility. And if a person like my former boss can personally see how much work his employees put into his store and still feel like he is the only one who deserves the credit and the spoils of that hard work, imagine how people who don't see for themselves how hard employees on the lower rungs of the business ladder work must actually think about what those employees deserve for their efforts.

The common theme of 'incompetency of the leadership leading to the suffering of employees'. I hope those affected can quickly get taken on board by better companies. They don't necessarily have to go into game design, as a lot of their skills translate to other positions in other fields.

Certain quote from the documentary Shrek comes to mind: "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." It speaks volumes, when a company making toys shoots itself in the leg during the supposedly most profitable season... for the second year in a row.

The "higher ups" almost never get a pay cut and they will say, well let the peasants eat cake...

I haven't stopped being mad at WotC/Hasbro since the start of the year.. And people have almost completely forgotten about it already, too. :/

"We will continue doing disreputable things until it makes us reputable again." I know Paizo's budget is much smaller, but I hope they are in a position to expand and pick some of them up. I can hope.

@frostmagemarii

7 ай бұрын

No. I don't know why you people think that people should just be hired out of charity. Paizo's first and foremost concern should be keeping and building a solid base of staff to do what they need to do efficiently and keeping costs low. The more staff bloat you have, the more your expenses go up, the more your sales have to be. If you want Paizo to stay Paizo, then they should not just hire people because another job let them go. Those people were let go from Hasbro for a reason; The timing was horrendous, but they wren't let go because they were the best employees they had.

@jimmymcrip9071

7 ай бұрын

@@frostmagemarii The people laid off were professional game designers working at WoTC, they're plenty capable. Hell, it even looks like they fired MIKE MEARLS. They wouldn't just be hired out of charity, and I'm sure there'll be people who end up at Paizo. It's also pretty gross of you to immediately take a stance defending these people suddenly being jobless, but go off I guess.

@frostmagemarii

7 ай бұрын

@@jimmymcrip9071 The OP just wanted them to be hired. He didn't say why he wanted them, what use they would have or even what they do.. simply he wanted them to be picked up. That is a want to hire them out of charity, not out of being useful. And it doesn't matter if its Mike Mearls or not. Do you really think he hasn't been involved in recent issues with WOTC? Or is it simply everyone above him that are evil and he's a good boy? As for it being "gross", i don't care. Reality doesn't change because the truth of a situation is too harsh for you.

I love how people are surprised. No only have I stopped buying Hasbro products, but I now support Hasbro competitors.

Also this is all simeltaneous with them bringing YTbers like Dungeon Dude's content onto D&D Beyond. Simeltaneously outsourcing what was once salaried work while also making sure those creators are financially incentivised to not speak out, keeping their audience out of the loop.

@klauskeller6380

7 ай бұрын

so villainous smart

Me when the drive for high profit and low expenses drives a decrease in employees that is inherently inevitable within a capitalistic company:

its not just the DND movie that came out this year; barbie, and bg3 came out too. The fact that hasbro isnt doing well despite all this success has nothing to do with any of the people who got laid off - its leadership thats fumbling the bag despite VERY successful efforts from literally everyone else

@wopaah

7 ай бұрын

Barbie is owned by Mattel, not Hasbro. Apparently there is some deal between the two companies to work together on stuff like 'Barbie Monopoly', taking IP from both, but those profits wouldn't mean a lot to Hasbro.

Right before Christmas too? That's rotten.

@BlueTressym

7 ай бұрын

I mean this is Habro; rotten is on form for them.

Hasbro workers need an union. ASAP.

@eostyrwinn5018

7 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, as far as anti-union industries go, games is one of the worst. It's not a coincidence that Paizo's union was a first of its kind. It's not going to be easy to get a union at Hasbro. (Source: Am a game dev)

@frostmagemarii

7 ай бұрын

A union isn't the answer. Unions exist for reasons, not for job security. If your union's only reason for existing is because people shouldn't be let go, then it's a parasitic union and will ultimately kill the company its feeding off. Unions are there to solve issues and grievences.

This is the current method of disgusting business tactics, tech has been doing it for years. How it works: You fire a bunch of people so you can ride the stock low, you build hype for some sort of product, you hire a load of people to show investors how important this new hype cycle is, investors invest in the hype, you deliver nothing and fire a bunch of people before the hype crash. It's disgusting when tech started it and it's even more disgusting when companies saw it working and try to emulate it.

Reading about this yesterday has convinced me to never spend another cent on any Hasbro product or service. If they can say 'fuck you' to the talented men and women just doing their best to make toys and games that are fun and worth a damn, then we can say fuck you right back.

Yeah man. I'm done with WOTC and HASBRO. Not spending another cent filling the CEO and the executives pockets. I'm moving on.

They've straight up become the Hollywood evil capitalist villain archetype holy hell.

That been a common annual occurrence at Assbro .

'The Last Resort'. They've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas. Maybe, just maybe, if they stopped pissing off their consumers, they might not be in this mess. Fine, we all know that companies don't care about consumers except in as far as they need consumers because that's how they get money. Still, being as blatant about their disdain for the people who are the reason they get to go on existing as they have been is stupid and obnoxious. "We're confident that the future looks bright (for our shareholders)!" That's what happens when companies sell their souls and let people with no passion for anything but money hold the strings. You don't need to apologise for being angry, NoNat; people should be angry when injustice occurs. Thank you for making this.

While this is bad, I'm sure if you dig through their history and employees you may find something even worse. It seems as though many companies are trying to hide horrible shit behind being an "ethical" company.

If folks dislike this, support labor unions. Use your channel to raise money for unionization efforts in the gaming industry. Workers *definitely* need the help!

Don't forget they are also shutting down the Providence office and consolidating in Pawtucket. May not seem like much, but as a parent uprooting like that can be big.

If there was ever a reason to divest in anything Hasbro...

-"Hasbro's Actions are Disgusting and Unforgivable" -Damn again????

Its just the company culture in the US, bosses get 99% of the salary even though they just sign some papers (it exists outside of the US as well, but not to this extent because unions force higher pay for workers) DnD is also a really small part of hasbro, like 4% so even it it doubled its a drop in the bucket

Hasbro's best of quotes this year: -"They won-and so did we." -"It’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1." -"A lever we must pull to keep Hasbro healthy" -"Do you guys smell fire?" (Unverified)

Hasbro executives make the decisions that loose money. Then lay off portion of workforce to stop the bleeding of money for executives prior decisions. Executives keep salary and bonus. Executives reassure investors problem solved. Problem is executives not the employees.

Kyle Brink didn't offer himself up to get let go? Shocking.

God I'm happy I did not gave that company any money since their OGL debacle.

Their stock plummetted cos the money men made HORRIBLE decisions over and over and over. But, AS ALWAYS, it's not the big men upstairs that suffer. It's always the lower level peons.

The fact that people still support Hasbro/wizards after allll the crap theyve done, and still contintue to do, speaks volumes on them. i walked away from everything and everything Hasbro/Wizards and still continue to stay away from them. I know they have their greedy little fingers in so many pies that I dont know if i can truely walk away from them completely.

The question is: why some people still support Hasbro after all they have done to their franchises? That company can't even celebrate its 100th anniversary in a decent way. Screw whoever is in charge of that company. They don't deserve support because of their awfulness.

Ah yes. The fiscal year lay offs. They will start hiring again after the investors have been pleased.

How do these corporate executives that keep running companies into the ground continue to get hired at new companies?

@zenvariety9383

7 ай бұрын

Probably because they have the right politics. They're usually woke leftists who virtue signal and then encourage their woke employees to attack the customers. Yet it's always the competent employees who suffer while the incompetent woke employees keep their jobs.

@user-kz6jp9kl4l

7 ай бұрын

I saw a video that states that as long as you cooperate with the government there’s a legal way for a CEO to redistribute assets however they want in case of bankruptcy. I wonder how they will be redistributed

Looking at the bright side, most people say they don't get enough time off around the holidays.... Spend time with your family, be save and keep the faith they will find a better opportunity.

There is evidence of annual layoffs at WotC since 2000. Absolutely disgusting, and this year is much more than most years!

I'm taking bets for Hasbro's board taking record bonuses next quarter for "successful cuts"

I have gotten to the point where I can't stand Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. To be fair though, I'm honestly surprised that all the big toy companies aren't having to do this. So many kids don't buy or play with toys anymore. They're all playing on their phones or playing video games, so the toy companies definitely suffer. I'm sure I'm not the only person to bring this up, but I felt I needed to mention it. That being said... SHAME on Hasbro for doing it right at the holidays. They need to find someone that cares about D&D (as in NOT WotC) and sell it before they ruin it forever.

So I see they are ending the year on the same "wonderful" note they started on!

Poor Management decisions. I would have gotten rid of upper management. Mistakes that lead to stock drops like this are usually the result of leadership. Shame on them.

I think it’s worth noting that the entirety of Hasbro is essentially bankrolled by WotC. And a vast majority of WotC’s revenue is MTG. The trading card game funds the toy giant. Not excusing anything, I just like information and understanding. To be clear, I agree that this Situation is absolutely unacceptable.

Fire the managers who ran the OFL decisions. I was going to renter playing and running games again when the OGL debacles pushed me into deciding to run Pathfinder instead

I mean when WOTC sent The Pinkertons (Ya know ... the group that went around killing entire families to pave way for the Railroad when people said no?) to a poor man's house and terrorized his wife and threatened them all over a booster pack of cards that he got just THREE days early? .... This doesn't surprise me at all... it's why I've stopped giving WOTC money. I'm sorry for these Employee's Losses for WOTC letting them go, especially during Christmas. 😞

Executives: Gain all the benefits of business Workers: Take all the losses of business Welcome to the corporate world

The outrage is real. I appreciate you making this video, Nonat. If ever anyone needed evidence that Hasbro is pure scum, this is it.

I need to stress that letting these layoffs happen without taking a paycut first is not a great look for the CEO. That being said, while 1.5 million does seem like a lot, it's worth bearing in mind that Hasbro had an operating expense of 5.8 BILLION in the year 2023. The optics on the layoffs are terrible, but cutting the CEO's salary would do very little to remedy that. Even if we slashed it by 50%, that would only increase the employee budget by about $681 each for those 1,100 *(that's roughly $56 per month per employee)*. His salary isn't the issue, it's the fact the company is just pissing away money and can't seem to make ANY financially wise decisions as of late. And as CEO, his responsibility first and foremost is to help PREVENT this from happening in the first place. This company is disgusting these days and it's so unfortunate to see.

Let's see how much more good will Hasbro can flush down the toilet in 2024. Can they beat their record?

It’s wild that honor among thieves and Baldur’s Gate being beloved GotY and this shit is still happening. Yay capitalism

Honestly, if hasbro does go bankrupt, it will really make the world of games better as a whole. They will lose all of their strangleholds on so many titles that people want to work on/with, their greedy share of the “employment standards” will be gone, and people who were stuck working inside their system will finally have reason to make better things than the company allowed. Sure, it would be insanely tough for a while, but, i think that, over all, hasbro no longer existing would be far better for the world than it still being around.

Hasbro is bleeding but tales of the valient, shadowdark, and MCDM rpg backed over a million dollars. It is sad, but it is exciting. I hope they all land at smaller developers that are making waves.

Moon Channel has a great video talking about the (video) game industry layoffs, and Hasbro does get its own brief section that might add context to this baffling decision-making. Spoilers: it's business cynicism at its finest.

Hasbro don’t be evil challenge difficulty 1000

Completely unrelated but you can get 25 pathfinder books, including all three bestiaries and the entirety of Age of Ashes, for $25 The most recent D&D book is $100

Hot Take incoming: this sucks for those employees, however this isn't something unique to Hasbro any large company does layoffs to show different stats to investors.

@Fragamacrunch

7 ай бұрын

I think it’s bad when other companies do it too

Toy sales aren't strong enough because parents aren't being forced to overspend on toys in an attempt to keep their no longer pandemic-isolated and suffering children from being too depressed. Hasbro thinks there's not enough suffering in the world. So they made some of their own.

@michaelturner2806

7 ай бұрын

I found out Mike Mearls was among them. I know I wanted him gone, but that's a heck of a monkey's paw finger curl.

There's a reason that december layoffs are such a taboo. shame hasbro, shame. Maybe paizo will upsize and create even just a slightly bigger market to try to offset this

oh yea don't forget that Baldur's Gate 3 released this year as well, and is GOTY and is a masterpiece. even with its massive success, it didn't help them.

Great video Nonat. Thanks for bringing this to our attention! It's almost impressive how quickly Hasbro has been able to destroy D&D. I mean, the game has had 50 years of precedent and they destroy the product in less than a year...

Hasbro over here being like just go to the Pathfinder we don’t want you anymore

It's weirdly, eerily similar to what Carvana put their employees through around the same time last year. Unfortunately, if Hasbro continues to follow the same story beats as Carvana has been, then those who were laid off were the lucky ones -- they'll at least have some sort of severance to hopefully keep them afloat while the look for work elsewhere, while those who survived the layoffs will now have to pull all the weight once borne by those the company let go. These CEOs and corporate executives are absolute filth

WotC has done absolute miracles for Paizo and a number of other TTRPG makers. Paizo sold 8 months of product in a matter of weeks. Shadowdark got over $1mil on its kickstarter Many other TTRPGs have flourished because Wizards of the Coast screwed itself.

I don't need any more reasons to boycott Hasbro.... Regardless of whether the company is bloated and people need to go, the executives should have cut their own salaries to limit immediate layoffs (sadly this will not likely change, this is a problem with American corporate culture). This is the company that views their customers as obstacles to the contents of their wallets. Anger is justified here.

Wizards may be fine, but the Furby relaunch team has likely veen decimated.

"To keep Hasbro healthy" means to maintain shareholder and CEO profit margins.

Hasbro and those CEOs made over 30M in BONUSES... not covering their salaries. This is scummy.

If Hasbro can't make "enough" money from D&D... perhaps they should consider spinning it off.

Whenever any company's stock has dropped, announcing layoffs. Immediately increases its stocks share value. It's a really strange reaction in my eyes. Business-wise I understand it. I don't like it but I understand it.

To be honest, bashing the older fans, and making rage bait, the poor management of the product, the virtue signalling (which comes off as more offensive), and the fact the fact that have people in charge who don't get the hobby, is any wonder their stock'w down the drain?

@hellfrozenphoenix13

7 ай бұрын

This. When paizo "virtue signals", it feels more like something they legitimately want to represent while with Hazbro, it feels like a PR move.

@patrickdees5256

7 ай бұрын

@@hellfrozenphoenix13 exactly

I will NEVER buy another D&D book again. EVER!

@user-kz6jp9kl4l

7 ай бұрын

You were still doing it?

Normal big corporation behavior (still definitely disgusting) - it would be nice if it wasn't but layoffs are almost always done well before cutting executive pay. US corporations are now almost all about short-term shareholder and executive compensation - never mind employees or long-term health of the company.

Hasbro execs are really like “Some of you may die, but that is a price I’m willing to pay”

You should be disgusted at the US system too, which allows for such short firings. Also keep in mind that they need to do something to stay afloat (or everyone will not have a job). It is apparent though, that they mismanaged the situation (they could as you mention slash the salaries of the higher-ups, as they get way too much in the US).

Again and again, that company proves how awful they are and yet people will still defend them like the idiots they are.

I don't think a CEOs salary can cover 1100 people. But when you have properties you could sell layoffs are definitely not the last resort.

On one hand, my inner "Satoru Iwata" (former Nintendo CEO) is laughing at Hasbro's B.O.D., as their actions have brought shame to themselves, and their subordinates. These dummies have really gone from "Hasbro" to "What you Has, Bro?", in terms of their business practices being socially tone-deaf, and it's reflected in how well their stock price is doing. On the other hand... I simply just don't care, because the writing's been on the wall for their people for some time now. In January 2023 we saw the OGL Debacle unfold in real time, but 5 years or so prior in 2018, didn't WOTC/Hasbro change their MSRP policy on a fair amount of their sealed MTG product? Just so that they could mass sell it to Amazon at a much greater volume rate and sidestep their distributors? (If memory serves me right, they removed the MSRP on their sealed product in Q1 of 2018, under the direction of Hasbro.) As mean as this is gonna sound, this is a "welcome to disaster capitalism" moment if I ever saw one. That being said... I also wouldn't necessarily expect any of these people (much less anyone out there elsewhere in the U.S.) to take money out of their pockets for people who are struggling, just because someone got fired or laid-off from a job before the holidays... Unless those affected are close family members, and even then, that's not guaranteed, depending on certain specific circumstances. But... that's also what you sign up for when you live in a selfish culture like the U.S.: A "screw-you, pay me" attitude that wreaks of entitlement. It's late stage capitalism at some of its best. But beyond that... It is what it is. *shrugs*

@Kenpokid4

7 ай бұрын

Fuck You, Pay Me isn't entitled except in the most literal sense (you are entitled to recompense for your labor)

This, plus the OGL situation, plus everything else Hasbro/WoTC have done....... genuinely shocked people like the Dungeon Dudes are getting into bed with them just got get their stuff on D&D Beyond to make money

wow, I am beyond pissed over this. corporations have just gone all in on evil for greed's sake. I've already spread this video around to communities I'm a part of, so hopefully you'll get some views and at least this article will get circulated a bit more. This is just beyond unconscionable... Ebenezer Scrooge, The Grinch, Krampus, eat your hearts out, Hasbro just did more than all of you and your ilk combined, and have learned nothing from it and all for profit!

Big corporation does a capitalism. Support your indie creators and publishers. MCDM is making an RPG ! Looks awesome and innovative !

@mechaulfr9600

7 ай бұрын

Every mega Corp starts as an indie. The original McDonalds was amazing. *gestures at what Roy Croc turned it into.* Just saying the problem is the system, not any one company. Fuck Hasbro of course.

This is nothing more than typical capitalism. It won't be better unless the framework is intrinsically different

I have to wonder if in some way the people they fired - in addition to potential AI and other “money saving” routes - were because when the whole OGL drama went down were those who either spoke out about it, we’re in opposition to it, etc, and Hasbro took this chance to quietly get rid of the rest of the ‘bad seeds’ in a scummy but plausibly legal manner to “create a healthy company” (aka a place where we don’t have our employees speak out against our underhanded and deceitful business tactics) Makes me glad I decided to stop giving them money after the OGL debacle.

So Baldurs Gate 3 and Honor Among Thieves together were not enough to save hasbro from their association with the pinkertons

Yet another reason for me not to go back to D&D.

WHAAAAA?!?! You mean boycotting a company will have consequences beyond the stock going down? Who could have predicted this??????

Hasbro's financial crisis are totally they did to themselves.Just the WOTC's part,the OGL and the AI art scandal are totally self did.If not the Baldur's Gate 3's massive hit,the WTOC these year are totally failing at reputation.But Hasbro's act is to not improve their products quality but let the normal person who love this jobs take the consquences.JUST disgusting!

CEO living up to his name. We need to look at this as a society- why top executives make like 900x what their average employee makes is simply broken and not sustainable. But we slid into oligarchy starting in the most poisonous decades I can think of: the 80s. Everything Reagan represented culminates in crap like this. We need dramatic change or outright revolution. This is only going to keep happening.

It's the end of the year, this happens every year to many corporations. This is what companies do when they're losing money. It's unfortunate but it's a part of business. The truth is that kids just don't play with toys like they used to. They don't buy the action figures like they did when I was a kid in the 80's. They want the iPads and console games these days. D&D, GI Joe, and Transformer action figures are just peg warmers these days.