During a recent fourth-quarter earnings call, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks hailed the company’s internal use of artificial intelligence as a “clear success,” projecting that the technology will save the toy and gaming giant over one million work hours annually. The announcement comes as Hasbro celebrates a record-breaking financial year, driven largely by the explosive growth of Wizards of the Coast, which saw revenue surge 86% in the final quarter of 2025. While the CEO framed AI as a vital productivity engine, the news is likely to reignite debates within a tabletop community that remains deeply protective of human-led creativity.
Productivity Over Prototyping
According to the transcript from the 10 February call, the focus of Hasbro’s AI strategy is currently rooted in operational efficiency rather than replacing the artists and writers who fuel Dungeons & Dragons. Chris Cocks detailed how the technology is being deployed to streamline finance, supply chain management, and inventory forecasting.
In the toy division, however, the impact is already being felt in the design room. Chris Cocks, CEO at Hasbro, told investors:
We’re seeing tangible benefits… particularly in toys where our ability to concept and make an early kind of prototype real has, you know, 10x in terms of speed. And so instead of saving and just doing one toy concept, we do 10 toy concepts in the same amount of time at the same amount of cost.”
The goal, according to the CEO, is to “harvest” these time savings – estimated at a conservative million hours – and reinvest them into higher-value innovation. For a community still reeling from previous instances of AI-generated art appearing in official Dungeons & Dragons supplements, the promise that “people own the creative outcomes” remains a vital, if scrutinised, pledge.
Digital Growth and the “Collector” Focus
The financial results underscore why Hasbro is leaning so heavily into digital transformation. Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming now represent a massive portion of the company’s profit, with Magic: The Gathering alone seeing a 141% revenue jump in Q4. Interestingly, Chris Cocks noted that 60% of Dungeons & Dragons revenue is now derived from digital sources, largely through the D&D Beyond platform.
Looking further ahead, the CEO suggested that AI would eventually move beyond simple productivity. He predicted the technology would open “all new categories of play,” specifically targeting the adult and collector markets first. This aligns with recent shifts at Geek Native where we’ve tracked the growing tension between human-authored and AI-assisted content on third-party marketplaces like DriveThruRPG.
The Road to 2027
While AI dominates the internal strategy, the public-facing future of Hasbro’s gaming wing looks crowded with high-profile partnerships. The company confirmed new licensing deals for Harry Potter, Street Fighter, and Voltron, while their self-published video game slate, including the sci-fi RPG Exodus and the D&D action title Warlock, are both slated for 2027.
As Hasbro continues to position itself as a “digital-first IP company,” the challenge will be balancing the efficiency of automated workflows with the artisanal soul that many tabletop roleplaying fans feel is non-negotiable.
