Earlier this month, the unionization effort at Wizards of the Coast expanded as the staff for Dungeons & Dragons and Studio X announced their intent to unionize. During the initial announcement, the staff asked the company to voluntarily recognize the union with a date of October 13. That date has passed and Wizards of the Coast won’t voluntarily recognize the unionization effort according to the union.

That lack of recognition is not surprising. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro pushed back against the initial efforts to unionize and during the initial effort hired legal counsel from Fisher & Phillips LLP, a law firm known for its work in labor relations and, specifically, for helping companies remain union-free workplaces. In June 2026, United Wizards of the Coast voted to unionize. The movement debuted in April of this year and was started by the developers behind Magic: The Gathering – Arena. They overwhelmingly voted to unionize with 79 votes for and just 16 against. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro were asked to voluntarily recognize the union by May 1, International Workers Day, and when that didn’t happen, the staff voted instead.

This latest unionization movement is focused on:

• Wages that reflect their work and defined career progression,
• Job security against mounting industry instability,
• Reliable and easily accessible healthcare for staff and their families,
• Sustainable workloads and practices, including remote and hybrid working,
• Protection against the encroachment of AI,
• Full ownership of the work they create outside of the office.

In two separate announcements, each group went into further details of their goals and concerns.

The Dungeons & Dragons effort has highlighted:

• Layoff Protections: Employees live in fear of suddenly losing their jobs, with no warning and through no fault of their own. We need strong layoff protections so we feel secure building long-term careers here at WOTC.
• Generative AI Protections: As pressure has ramped up from Hasbro to adopt LLMs and Gen AI tools in various aspects of our work, WOTC has resisted these efforts and kept AI out of our games. That’s good! We want to preserve this commendable stance through a union contract that ensures our games will always be made by people for people.
• Remote Work Protections: Wizards of the Coast’s RTO policy has left workers unsure of whether their current living situation is tenable for their role. The company currently prioritizes in-office work, which has forced several employees to make long commutes without compensation for time or gas prices. Amidst rising costs of living and a decrease in childcare support, we want a clear, sustainable remote work policy that supports remote and in-office workers alike.
• Fiscal Transparency: Once our union is recognized, our elected bargaining committee will have the ability to request financial information and more transparency into the company’s finances.
• Sustainable Workload: Employees’ experiences with “crunch” (intense and mandatory unpaid overtime) to meet deadlines vary widely by team and project, with some teams crunching on a regular basis just to get planned work out the door. Increasing workload without matching headcount has led to many workers having unacceptable experiences with crunch. We need to take better care of our employees by enacting strong protections around workload expectations.
• Defined Career Progression: Many workers at WOTC feel like they are prevented from advancing in their role, either because opportunities for advancement are sparse or because requirements and opportunities are poorly defined. Employees’ roles should be clearly defined, and they should be able to grow their careers through meaningful raises, role changes, and promotions.
• Wages That Keep Up with the Cost of Living: Many of us are bringing home less money every month, adjusted for inflation, than we did when we were hired years ago. That needs to change.
• Better Support for Working Parents: We need to reduce bureaucratic hurdles in WOTC’s day care policies and make those plans more flexible, so parents can take their children where they want and get the level of care they need.
• Make Health Care Easier to Use and Reliable: We need to reduce the bureaucratic red tape around our health care claims, and our coverage needs reasonable deductibles and co-pays. No WOTC employee should have to turn to GoFundMe in a medical emergency.
• Our Free Time is Our Own: Currently, if an employee makes anything creative in their free time, with their own resources, Hasbro can claim ownership. What we do in our free time should not be dictated by the company, and what we make in our free time should belong to us.
• We are Stewards of D&D: Our employees and players care about doing the right thing with, and for, the games we make. Short term, profit-driven decisions may be lucrative, but we want to focus on products that grow our games sustainably, that inspire us as employees, that excite players, and continue to foster WOTC’s positive reputation.

Studio X’s concerns are:

• Compensation that reflects their work,
• Job security against mounting instability,
• Clearly defined career paths and raises,
• Healthcare that covers staff and their family’s needs,
• Stable remote and hybrid practices that allow them to do their best work,
• Sustainable workloads which enable appropriate work/life balance,
• Protection against the encroachment of AI,
• Full ownership of the work they create outside of the office,
• and additional needs beyond the scope of this letter.