Hasbro has announced that it will be consolidating Wizards of the Coast, formerly a semi-independent division, into its games division. That division includes the Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley brands, among others. Vince Caluori, WotC's President and COO will now report to Dave Wilson, previously the head of Hasbro Games, now the new head of the games division, including Hasbro Games and WotC. This is seen as a loss of autonomy for WotC by most. The Hasbro release specified that despite the consolidation at the management level, WotC will continue to operate out of its Seattle offices.
This move was part of a larger consolidation which also saw Tiger Electronics become part of Hasbro's toy group. The consolidation was touted as a move to increase efficiency at Hasbro, which has had rough sledding recently (see 'Hasbro Results Cite Pokemon Decline') and has been looking for ways to cut expenses. It's unclear what effect, if any, the move will have on the operations of WotC, although former WotC employee John Tynes (who wrote the infamous revelatory article on Salon, see 'Our Wild and Woolly Industry') told the New York Times, 'Whatever independence and originality WotC had in the past seems like it will be subdued for the foreseeable future,' expressing concern that Dungeons and Dragons might be allowed to wither with further integration into Hasbro.
