PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro, one of the largest toy and board game manufacturers, has now set its sights on the video game industry. According to a press release from executives, the company has laid off 1,100 workers to attempt to emulate the conditions of successful companies in the games space.
“As a company, we’ve been thinking about entering the video game industry for a while. We had an internal team analyze the success of that industry and how we could emulate it,” said Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks.
“We looked at companies like Activision Blizzard, EA, Epic Games, companies that generate huge profits, and noticed one thing they all had in common: Massive layoffs.”
Other executives at Hasbro expressed excitement at the decision to enter the video game industry.
“It’s an industry with a market size of $97 billion in the US alone. I can’t wait to get a piece of that for myself,” said Hasbro’s chief revenue officer. “I’m as excited as everyone else on the team. With a leaner company, we’ll be able to shift revenue gains upwards in the company.”
Hasbro’s long term plans for entry into the video game industry are still unclear, but industry insiders view the layoffs as a key step for Hasbro in establishing itself as one of the power players in the video game industry.
Hard Drive reached out to one of the remaining employees at Hasbro for their point of view on the recent developments.
“I came into the office yesterday and my whole team was gone. In an email, I was told I was now responsible to cover all the additional work. Leadership has been unavailable since they went on vacation at the start of December. I don’t know if I’ll be able to spend the holiday with my family this year,” said an employee who asked to remain anonymous.
When reached for further comment, CEO Chris Cocks was unavailable due to spotty internet at his remote ocean-view vacation home.
