Hasbro's Restructuring and More of This Week's News for Nerds

Welcome to this week’s PUNCHLIST, where we round up the biggest news in nerd culture. We highlight the tastiest morsel in some detail and then close you out with a link round-up.

Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming

During an investors meeting, Hasbro announced a restructuring of the company into three major segments:

Hasbro Consumer Products will include all revenue associated with Hasbro’s traditional business — the sales of toys and games — plus licensing and the company’s Global Operations unit that services the supply chain.
Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming includes all revenue associated with Wizards of the Coast tabletop and digital games, including Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and licensed Hasbro digital gaming.
Entertainment includes all revenue associated with Hasbro and eOne entertainment across the company’s family brands, TV and film, and music divisions.

Even while Hasbro saw on overall decrease of 8% in revenues last year, Wizards of the Coast saw an increase of 24%.

Hasbro acquired Wizards of the Coast in 1999 and has treated it as a subsidiary of the company since. This is a huge promotion for Wizards of the Coast as it is now its own division within Hasbro. Its task is to continue to grow both Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering – both of which saw records sales in 2020. In addition, the division will oversee all digital licensing for all of Hasbro, including Magic: The Gathering Arena, Spellslingers, Dark Alliance, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more.

Wizards of the Coast CEO Chris Cocks outlined the five “engines” that would further fuel the company’s record growth: