Wizards of the Coast Gets a Big Promotion at Hasbro

Wizards of the Coast will become its own operating division within Hasbro, reflecting the wild success experienced by the game maker over the last five years. Hasbro will announce the news later today at an investor event. Under the re-organization, Wizards will become one of three Hasbro divisions and will be tasked with expanding Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and other existing games, creating new games and overseeing digital licensing for all of Hasbro. The news follows the announcement of a new Dungeons & Dragons book, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, which will greatly expand one of the game's most popular campaign settings.

Also set to be announced today are crossovers between Magic: The Gathering and the Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40,000 properties. Details about these crossovers are scarce for now, but the crossover with Tolkien's seminal fantasy property will be a full expansion-style set.

Both Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering have seen explosive growth over the last five years, and has not been slowed by the ongoing pandemic. While Dungeons & Dragons has benefited from increased pop culture relevance and more fans coming in due to a 2015 rules update, Magic: The Gathering has made in-roads in digital with Magic: The Gathering Arena, which is set to be released on mobile devices later this year. The two brands have also had some major crossovers - D&D has published two campaign setting books set in Magic: The Gathering worlds, while Magic: The Gathering is releasing a set of cards based in D&D's Forgotten Realms later this summer.

Hasbro's reorganization will divide the company into three parts. In addition to the newly minted "Wizards and Digital" division, there will also be a consumer products covering toys and classic board games and an entertainment division that works on film and television products. Notably, Hasbro is working on multiple D&D TV and movie projects right now, in addition to a previously announced Magic: The Gathering animated series.

Several new video game projects are also due to be announced today at Hasbro's events.