We reported in January that two of Hasbro’s shareholders, Joseph Crocono and Ultan McGlone, filed a lawsuit in Rhode Island alleging that Hasbro breached fiduciary duty by overproducing Magic cards. The suit claimed that the overproduction of cards led to a diminished value for the brand overall. Now, as reported by Rebekah Valentine at IGN, that lawsuit has been dropped without prejudice, meaning that it can be filed again at a later time but for now, it will not proceed.
At the center of this claim was the idea that Universes Beyond was being used to make up for poor sales of in-universe sets. The suit also claims that Hasbro lied about stock levels for its controversial thousand-dollar 30th Anniversary set that featured 60 cards not playable in any sanctioned event. The lawsuit alleged that former employees were ready to testify to having seen the Anniversary product in a landfill after Hasbro announced that it sold out in less than an hour.
The recent Hasbro investor’s call may have had something to do with the lawsuit being suddenly dropped. The lawsuit was initially filed on January 21st but then the Hasbro investor’s call that briefed Q4 and fiscal year 2025 was on February 10th. While not every set was a home run, revenue from Magic in 2025 grew by 59% in large part thanks to Universes Beyond. Final Fantasy became the fastest selling Magic set of all time and Avatar: The Last Airbender became the third best selling set of all time. Additionally, WPN stores saw over a million unique players enter sanctioned events like pre-release and draft, which translated into 22% player growth in organized play.
The voluntary dismissal was filed on February 17th, just one week after that investor’s call. CEO Chris Cocks and 13 other executives were named as defendants. Neither Hasbro nor attorneys for McGlone or Crocono have made any statements about the lawsuit being dropped.
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