Hasbro Lawsuit Over Magic: The Gathering Overprinting

The Hasbro Magic: The Gathering overprinting lawsuit is actually two separate cases. In January 2026, two shareholders sued Hasbro’s leadership in Rhode Island federal court, accusing executives of deliberately overprinting Magic cards to plug revenue holes in weaker parts of the company and misleading investors about it. They dropped that case less than a month later, after Hasbro reported record Magic sales. A larger securities fraud class action making similar allegations remains pending in federal court in New York.

What the Shareholders Alleged

The Rhode Island complaint, Crocono et al. v. Cocks et al., was filed January 21, 2026, by shareholders Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone. It named CEO Chris Cocks, former Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams, and 13 other current and former officers and directors, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, gross mismanagement, and violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and SEC Rule 10b-5.¹²

The “Parachute” Strategy

At the heart of the complaint was what the plaintiffs called a “parachute” strategy. Starting as early as 2018, according to the suit, Hasbro began printing extra Magic sets that could be assembled cheaply and released quickly for the sole purpose of generating between $40 million and $80 million in revenue to offset shortfalls in Hasbro’s weaker consumer products division.² By 2022, the complaint alleged, these parachute sets accounted for 46% of all Magic releases that year.¹

The plaintiffs relied on anonymous former employees. One, identified as “FE 1,” said the company released extra card sets specifically to make up revenue gaps in other Hasbro divisions. Another, “FE 6,” told the plaintiffs they had seen photographs of unsold product, including the premium 30th Anniversary set, dumped in a Texas landfill.²

The 30th Anniversary Set

The complaint gave special attention to the November 2022 release of the Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Edition, a 594-card set priced at $999. Hasbro publicly said the set went out of stock within about 30 minutes. The lawsuit alleged that Williams directed the company to cut off online sales early to conceal that demand was “much lower than anticipated,” and that unsold units were later sent to a landfill or given to employees.³²

What Executives Told Investors

Covering the period from September 2021 to October 2023, the complaint alleged that Hasbro executives repeatedly told investors the rising number of Magic releases reflected a legitimate “segmentation strategy” aimed at different player types. According to the suit, the real driver was overprinting to plug revenue holes. When inventory climbed, executives allegedly attributed the buildup to “timing issues” and “upcoming set releases” rather than unsold stock.⁴

With the stock price allegedly inflated by those statements, Hasbro repurchased about 1.4 million shares of its own common stock for roughly $125 million between April and July 2022, overpaying by an estimated $55.9 million, the plaintiffs said. Senior executives, they added, personally benefited through compensation tied to the inflated valuation.⁵¹

Why the Derivative Suit Was Dropped

The Rhode Island case lasted less than a month. On February 17, 2026, Crocono and McGlone voluntarily dismissed it without prejudice, meaning they can refile. The filing did not give a reason.⁶⁷

The timing points to an explanation. One week earlier, on February 10, 2026, Hasbro released fourth-quarter 2025 earnings showing that its Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment grew revenue 45% year over year and that fiscal 2025 was the best year on record for Magic, with 59% revenue growth. Legal analyst Andrew Spacone said those numbers “undercuts the alleged harm” and that the “theory for the lawsuit appears to have evaporated.”⁶

On the same earnings call, Cocks defended Hasbro’s approach, saying the company was “building a system of play with multiple entry points, product types, and engagement paths.”⁶

The Securities Class Action Still Pending in New York

A separate and larger securities fraud class action had been filed months before the derivative case. West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Hasbro, Inc. (Case No. 24-cv-08633) was filed November 13, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of investors who purchased Hasbro common stock between February 7, 2022, and October 25, 2023.⁸⁹

On August 29, 2025, the court appointed the West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund and the City of Miami General Employees’ and Sanitation Employees’ Retirement Trust as lead plaintiffs. They filed an amended complaint on November 26, 2025, alleging that Hasbro, Cocks, and Williams engaged in a fraudulent scheme that caused investors more than $2.7 billion in losses.¹⁰

The amended complaint raises the same core factual claims as the derivative suit: the parachute printing strategy, the allegedly fabricated “out of stock” messaging for the 30th Anniversary set, and the characterization of elevated inventory as “upcoming releases” when it consisted of unsold, overprinted product. It also cites former Wizards employees who said Cocks and Williams knew the strategy was harming the brand’s long-term value.⁹¹⁰

Hasbro has filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the complaint fails to prove executives made false statements or caused investor harm. The company has publicly said the claims “have no merit” and that its strategic plan for Magic “was implemented, and the results underscore the strength of that strategy.”¹¹

Both cases point to the same event as the moment the alleged truth reached the market: Hasbro’s October 26, 2023, third-quarter earnings report, which disclosed an 18% year-over-year decline in consumer product revenues, cut guidance for the rest of the year, and reported roughly $50 million in one-time costs to move stagnant retail inventory. Hasbro’s stock fell 11.7% that day.¹²

How the Overprinting Claims Reached Court

The allegations did not originate with the plaintiffs. On November 14, 2022, Bank of America analyst Jason Haas double-downgraded Hasbro’s stock from “buy” to “underperform,” concluding that the company was “killing its golden goose.” Haas documented that Magic set releases had nearly doubled from 15 in 2019 to 29 in 2022, that growth was being driven by “extracting more revenue from each player rather than by growing its player base,” and that the increased supply had crashed secondary market prices, leaving distributors and local game stores selling products at a loss.¹³

The 30th Anniversary set, released two weeks later, deepened the backlash. Priced at $999 for four booster packs, the cards were not legal for tournament play and had a different card back, making them functionally proxies. The inclusion of cards from the Reserved List, which Wizards had promised in 1996 never to reprint, created what Haas described as “panic among collectors.”¹⁴¹³

In December 2022, Williams stated publicly that “there is no evidence that Magic is overprinted,” attributing an overlap of two October 2022 releases to supply chain issues and promising a more spaced release cadence in 2023. Cocks said Hasbro had taken its first pricing action on Magic products in a decade, driven by rising paper costs and press demand.¹⁵ Those public denials later became central exhibits in both lawsuits. Williams resigned as Wizards president effective April 26, 2024; Hasbro did not publicly explain the reason for her departure.¹⁶

Where Things Stand

The Rhode Island derivative case is closed, dismissed without prejudice. The New York securities class action is active but early: the amended complaint was filed in November 2025, Hasbro’s motion to dismiss is pending, no class has been certified, and the case has not reached discovery.⁹¹¹

1
Rhode Island Current. Shareholders Sue Hasbro Over Allegedly Printing Too Many Magic: The Gathering Cards
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WPRI. Lawsuit Accuses Hasbro of Overprinting, Devaluing Magic Cards
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Providence Journal. Hasbro Accused of Overprinting Magic: The Gathering Cards in New Lawsuit
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Polygon. Hasbro Lawsuit Magic Card Overproduction
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Yahoo Finance. Hasbro Being Sued by Own Shareholders
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Rhode Island Current. Hasbro Shareholders Drop Suit Alleging Toymaker Overprinted Magic: The Gathering Card Sets
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IGN. Hasbro Shareholders Drop Magic: The Gathering Lawsuit
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CourtListener. West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Hasbro, Inc.
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Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. Hasbro Investigation
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Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. Amended Complaint – West Palm Beach Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Hasbro, Inc.
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Polygon. Hasbro Lawsuit Dismissed Magic: The Gathering
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BESPC. Hasbro, Inc. Securities Class Action
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Polygon. Magic: The Gathering Overprinting Hasbro Stock Downgrade
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CBR. Magic: The Gathering 30th Anniversary Controversy
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CNBC. Hasbro Defends Magic: The Gathering Strategy
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GeekWire. Wizards of the Coast President Cynthia Williams Stepping Down After 2 Years Leading Game Giant