I’m excited to finally post my pieces for the To Be Gentle and Peace Through Tyranny zines from @allsparkzines ! These were so fun to work on and connect together. Check out all the other amazing art these zines have to offer!
Hasbro, owner of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, lays off 1,100 workers
The corporate owner of Wizards of the Coast (maker of D&D and Magic) announced it will lay off 1100 employees just two weeks before Christmas. Hasbro had already fired 800 workers in January of this year.
At the time, CEO Cocks trumpeted the new corporate plan: focus on fewer and larger brands, increase digital development, and invest in direct-to-consumer and licensed deals like Baldur's Gate 3, demonstrating his disconnect with customers.
Cocks first became Hasbro CEO in February 2022, and now gets an annual salary of $1.5 million. While the company's income dropped and 800 workers went jobless, this one executive received $9.4 million in total compensation last year, an amount that could have saved many creative jobs if even slightly trimmed. Instead, 1100 more actual workers will go.
No reduction in executive salary, bonuses, or additional compensation was announced.
Proposals to refer to One D&D as "6th Edition" in order to spite Hasbro marketing don't go far enough. We should retroactively assign full edition numbers to every major core rules revision for which the game's publishers declined to do so, as follows:
White box OD&D is now 1st Edition
Holmes Basic is now 2nd Edition
AD&D 1st Edition is now 3rd Edition
BX/Moldvay Basic is now 4th Edition
BECMI/Mentzer Basic is now 5th Edition
AD&D 2nd Edition is now 6th Edition
The Rules Cyclopedia is now 7th Edition
The AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook redux with the infamous "This Is Not 3rd Edition" foreword is now 8th Edition
Player's Option is now 9th Edition
D&D 3rd Edition is now 10th Edition
D&D 3rd Edition Revised (3.5E) is now 11th Edition
D&D 4th Edition is now 12th Edition
D&D Essentials is now 13th Edition
D&D Next (later informally rebranded as "5th Edition" due to consumer pressure) is now 14th Edition
Finally, this means the forthcoming One D&D is 15th Edition.