D&D fails to earn Papa Hasbro’s love during latest investor call
Nobody wants to be Connor Roy.
Dungeons & Dragons is enjoying a gangbusters year following the September release of the 2024 Player’s Handbook and fast approaching Dungeon Master’s Guide in November. Publisher Wizards of the Coast told Polygon that the new PHB’s “unprecedented print run” has already prompted a second printing of both titles. And that’s before big box retailers such as Target and Walmart in the US have stocked their own shelves, or satisfying demand in foreign language markets. But all this apparent success isn’t enough to move Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks to praise, or even mention, D&D to investors.
Cocks and Hasbro CFO Gina Goetter delivered the company’s third-quarter earnings report to a digital room of investors, where they once again praised Magic: The Gathering’s continued status as a golden goose and wrung their hands about a weak holiday season for toys (there’s “continued softness in NERF”, if you were curious). Even when hedging, the company isn’t shy about its wins and struggles—so why was D&D only mentioned within a list of literally every other brand, license and product Hasbro currently produces?
