Hasbro is turning into a video game company

Hasbro is increasingly leaning toward video game development. The company’s CEO confirms this in a conversation with investors Chris CoxOf its total annual budget of $250 million, the company currently spends about half on “digital games.”

“I think with the leadership changes and the talent we bring in (…) we’re going to be a digital games company,” Cox says, pointing to the names of game team leaders who include former Bioware employees. James Olen And Christian Daly or Ames Kirshenproducer of the Arkham Batman series. Division President Wizards of the Coast and Digital Games became the new former vice president of Blizzard John Hight.

The division just mentioned, which in addition to video games also includes the Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering brands, was the only one to show financial growth last quarter. Despite sales growth of 20% year-on-year, the division Consumer goods there was a 20% decrease and Entertainment fell 90% as Hasbro sold its film production company Entertainment One and its TV production business to Lionsgate.

A licensed mobile game has been Hasbra’s biggest box office earner in recent memory. Monopoly Go from Skopli. He earned $3 billion in sales. But it’s still a success Baldur’s Gate 3Starting in 2025 or 2026, Hasbro wants to release one or two games a year.

Despite its high ambitions, the company could not avoid layoffs. At the end of last year, more than a thousand people lost their jobs. We do not know how and whether the situation developed for game studios, but, for example, almost the entire team that negotiated the Bladur’s Gate license with the Larian studio found itself in it.