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Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

polygon.com

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Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#121

Post by mtmail »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #107
mikeortman wrote: post #14

I have a hunch a lot of companies that layoff in December are also motivated by the bonus structure. Many companies structure their bonus pay around the new year in line with their fiscal calendar, either paying at the beginning of the year or entitling them to the bonus paid out later in the year.

Basically a ton of arrows point towards EOY as a good time to do this. January has the most layoffs, December second most. In industries with seasonal hires, you get rid of them after the rush. Additionally, company budgets tend to be yearly, so you adjust to the new fiscal year's budget at this time too. I wonder what kind of social change would occur if each company was randomly assigned a quarter in which their ta…

In the UK the tax year ends April/5th. I don't see a particular pattern around April https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotin...

other countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year#Chart_of_various_f...

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#122

Post by brianwawok »

corethree wrote: post #83

They got lucky with D&D. The ruled gameplay isn't even that good/original with D&D when compared to other RPG mechanics from other systems... it's mostly the lore that enabled WoTC to sell rights to the IP to get us Baldurs gate, torment etc. With magic it's just an addictive game and the "lore" though slim makes it feel adultish.

D&D got lucky that both stranger things and critical role happened more than anything. I wonder what % of the popularity boom was from those two sources?

D&D has been around forever. It has always been super niche. Then it somehow jumped into mainstream?

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#123

Post by neilv »

I wouldn't feel good about giving money to Hasbro right now.

With young kids' toys given as gifts, you're a little stuck, if they really want, say, specific Transformers.

But for entertainment that teens and adults buy for ourselves, there's more choice...

I can see how MtG lifestyle players who use genuine cards might be locked into continuing to give money to a Hasbro brand.

But maybe not for some of the other brands. For example, (speaking as a former DM who wrote some modules), do D&D players really need much more than d20 dice, graph paper, and an imagination?

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#124

Post by brianwawok »

NohatCoder wrote: post #117
TheGRS wrote: post #62

I feel like a lot of attention from this is on the WotC side, which is doing very well, bully for them, I consume a lot of the D&D product line. But what's up with the rest of the company doing poorly? They have a huge trove of great IP that's failing. Play-doh and Nerf seem like they're still children's play staples no? Is there a big shift in consumption of action figures I should know about? Or is the story more a…

The problem is, nobody cares if the can actually says Play-doh on the label. When kids become brand aware it matters what phone they get, not so much the brand of a toy gun. You can pump them full of commercials to sell stuff, but anyone can do so, and it doesn't matter what your brand used to be before they were born.

I think the way kids consume commercials has also changed? I think my kids (age 2-8) have maybe seen no more than 10 commercials each in their entire life? But I know influencers and such are going to start leaving a mark.

Vs as a kid, I saw so so so many commercials for GI Joe, etc.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#125

Post by brianwawok »

sircastor wrote: post #114

The older I get the more I hate publicly traded stock. Early on it seems like it had a positive advantage for companies, but here in the fully matured market we find that it just screws up all the incentives. Every company imaginable stops being what they are: A computer company, a cookie company, a toy company, an internet provider, a movie studio, etc. They all just turn into a single, stupid thing: A stockholder a…

So what is the alternative? You can have a fully private company.. but most of those focus on squeezing cash out. A few are more "benefit the world" style which is great, but I don't think its the popular thing.

The biggest drawback is stock investors are too short sighted, and value things that are good for 1 quarter and bad for 10 years.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#126

Post by entropicdrifter »

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #104
oflannabhra wrote: post #28

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down. There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gat…

BG3 was disappointing from a monetization perspective? How on earth, it sold over 20 million copies in less than a year!

It's a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Hasbro's income from BG3 pales in comparison to MTG boosters from this year alone, let alone the income over time.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#127

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

slimsag wrote: post #78
oflannabhra wrote: post #28

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down. There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gat…

Hasbro needed to, and failed to (imo), transition into selling higher-end luxury toys for adults with nostalgia - and focus less on kids. With the exception of DnD, everything else Hasbro-owned has failed to capture such an audience I think. Their toys are generally priced ~$25 or less. Higher-end variants of their toys are not by Hasbro, but rather by other companies. Want a high-end nerf gun? You're going to Dart Z…

I remember seeing the Hasbro Interactive logo when starting up MechWarrior 3. It seems they were a victim of the dotcom crash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MechWarrior_3

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#128

Post by Macha »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #113
ska wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the jurisdiction, severance packages may be required for mass layoffs.

The WARN act (US federal law) requires that any company with over 100 employees gives 60 days notice. If they don't provide 60 days notice, they are required to give 60 days pay. Obviously, local laws will vary greatly.

(a) A fixed 60 days pay is less than the 2 months per year with the company that has been the case in the last few tech layoffs I've observed in companies I've worked at

(b) Even for the <1 year employed, 60 days of factory pay (or instruction manual writer pay, or box artist pay, etc.) is less than 2 months of tech worker pay.

Re: Hasbro lays off nearly 20% of its workers

#129

Post by hiisukun »

oflannabhra wrote: post #28

Hasbro is essentially upside down, with huge losses across all their brands being subsidized by enormous growth from their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. Even with that growth, they are significantly down. There was a big investor push recently (led by Alta Fox) to get Hasbro to spin WotC out into an independent company [0], which failed. The big concern being that forcing growth on those properties (Magic: the Gat…

As someone who enjoyed board games for a little while, while playing with a group of friends on and off, I will say I was taken aback by just how separate these two categories are:

* hasbro board games * enjoyable board games

In fact, I would say that hasbro, and especially monopoly, are responsible for a huge chunk of people thinking all board games are terrible. When I was younger, I never understood why they didn't use their large corporate resources to either purchase or create some better games.. But nowadays I realise they are more like a toy and branding company - it's just not how they work.

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