Hasbro is now facing a shareholder class-action lawsuit that directly accuses the company of fabricating strong demand for its ill-fated Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition by halting sales within an hour of launch and then misleading investors about the product's rapid sell-out.
The legal filing, brought by investors in federal court in Rhode Island, targets Hasbro and several top executives, including CEO Christian Cocks, for allegedly violating securities laws through false statements about the performance and health of the Magic: The Gathering franchise. At the heart of the complaint lies the premium Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition, a $999 boxed product released to mark the trading card game's 30-year milestone. Containing just four booster packs of non-playable reprints—including high-value classics like Black Lotus—the set immediately drew backlash for breaking Wizards of the Coast's longstanding pledge against reprinting certain Reserved List cards, a policy long credited with preserving collector value.
The lawsuit asserts that Hasbro executives deliberately paused online and direct sales of the Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition mere minutes after it went live, despite publicly suggesting the limited-run product had sold out due to extraordinary consumer enthusiasm. Plaintiffs argue this created a false impression of scarcity and blockbuster success, propping up investor confidence in the Magic: The Gathering brand at a time when Hasbro relied heavily on the division to offset weaknesses elsewhere in its portfolio.
Court documents detail how this alleged deception fits into a broader strategy of aggressive overproduction and rapid-fire releases. The suit describes a so-called "Parachute Strategy," in which Wizards of the Coast rushed out new sets—including Masters editions, Secret Lair drops, and crossover products—to generate quick revenue spikes whenever Hasbro faced shortfalls in toys, games, or other segments. In 2022, these parachute releases reportedly made up nearly half of all Magic: The Gathering output, contributing to a flood of product that devalued existing cards and strained collector goodwill.
The complaint points to a sharp escalation in release volume: between 2016 and 2022, the annual number of Magic: The Gathering sets increased more than fivefold, culminating in 39 distinct products in 2022 alone. While this expansion drove significant revenue growth for Wizards of the Coast—roughly doubling segment earnings from 2018 to 2021—the plaintiffs contend the gains were artificial, built on unsustainable practices that prioritized short-term financial patching over long-term brand integrity.
Shareholders Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone, who initiated the action, seek to represent all similarly affected investors during the class period spanning September 2021 to October 2023. They are pursuing compensatory damages, corporate governance reforms to increase shareholder oversight of the board, and remedies for what the filing labels as breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, waste of corporate assets, gross mismanagement, and abuse of control.
Magic: The Gathering, first introduced in 1993, remains one of the most influential trading card games ever created, blending deep strategic gameplay with a collectible ecosystem that has generated billions for Hasbro since its 1999 acquisition of Wizards of the Coast. The brand has since expanded into digital platforms, organized play circuits, and cross-media tie-ins, making it a cornerstone of Hasbro's entertainment holdings alongside Dungeons & Dragons. Yet the lawsuit portrays recent leadership decisions as having eroded that foundation by treating the game primarily as a revenue lever rather than a cherished hobby.
Former employees cited in the complaint provide some of the most damning testimony. They describe internal awareness of the rushed production schedules and the fallout from over-saturation. One particularly vivid account recounts how Wizards staff observed evidence of discarded inventory:
[Former Employee 6] likewise stated that the Company paused its sales of the Magic Anniversary Set less than an hour after its release, only selling a portion of its available inventory. FE 6 further noted that shortly after the set’s release, he and other Wizards employees viewed photographs of Magic Anniversary Sets dropped off at a Texas landfill alongside older Magic products.
This detail underscores the plaintiffs' argument that unsold stock was quietly disposed of rather than managed transparently, further contradicting any narrative of overwhelming demand. As the case advances, it raises serious questions about transparency in investor communications, especially for companies whose flagship products sit at the intersection of entertainment, collectibles, and financial performance.
For Hasbro, already contending with broader industry headwinds in physical toys and gaming, the outcome could influence future strategies for Magic: The Gathering and other intellectual properties. The allegations, if substantiated, highlight the risks of leaning too heavily on a single brand to mask underlying challenges across a diversified corporation.
