Announcing the Formation of United Wizards of the Coast

Beginning today, Monday, April 27th, the workers behind Magic: The Gathering Arena are forming a union in affiliation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). We have achieved a public supermajority of committed employees to our cause and are offering Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) and Hasbro the opportunity to demonstrate their stated values by voluntarily recognizing our union.

MTG Arena is a foundational part of how the world interacts with Magic: The Gathering. We believe unionizing will improve staff well-being and retention, foster transparency, ensure equity, and create the healthy environment needed to continue making excellent products. We know the workers who make the game can and should be treated better, and our goal is to show the world through union action. We are building the game industry we want to see in the world.

Why are we organizing?

We are seeking better conditions for the members of our union. Recent decisions by WOTC and Hasbro leadership have not been aligned with the values of their employees. These are some of the issues we face and how we intend to address them as a union:

  • Layoff Protections: Employees currently live with the fear of suddenly losing their jobs, without warning and through no fault of their own. We have the opportunity to create robust layoff protections so we can feel secure in building long-term careers at WOTC.
  • Remote Work Protections: Leadership is enforcing a mandatory Return to Office (RTO), forcing numerous remote workers across the United States to work in person or resign. This painful choice splits employees between their homes, their communities, and the jobs they love. Company results demonstrate that we are able to meet and exceed goals without an in-person structure; workers should be able to continue working in the way that best suits them.
  • Generative AI Protections: Over the past few years, there has been increasing pressure from leadership to adopt LLMs and generative AI tools in various aspects of WOTC's work, often despite explicit concerns from the employees involved. WOTC lacks a robust AI policy, leaving room for abuse and showing a lack of respect for artists and creatives. We want to establish clear guidelines, with a focus on protecting workers.
  • Sustainable Workload: Employee experiences with “crunch” (intense, mandatory, and unpaid overtime) vary greatly across teams and projects, with some groups forced to regularly resort to it just to meet planned deadlines. Increased workload without a corresponding increase in staff has led many workers to experience unacceptable situations. Employees need better protection by establishing clear limits on work expectations.
  • Defined Career Progression: Many workers at WOTC feel they cannot advance in their roles, either due to a scarcity of opportunities or a lack of clear criteria. Roles should be precisely defined, and employees should be able to grow through significant raises, role changes, and promotions.
  • Our Free Time is Our Own: Currently, if an employee creates something 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, nor should what we create belong to the company.
  • We are the Keepers of Magic: Employees and players care about doing the right thing for the games we make. Short-term profit-driven decisions can be lucrative, but we want to focus on partnerships and products that grow games sustainably, inspire us as employees, excite players, and maintain WOTC’s positive reputation.

We invite Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to voluntarily recognize our union and publicly commit to maintaining neutrality throughout the unionization process — not just for the MTG Arena team, but for all Hasbro employees and all unionization efforts, present and future. We believe in building bridges between colleagues from different teams, not division. Respecting neutrality ensures a fair and democratic process for everyone.

We are filing for an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ensure we can make our democratic choice to form a union without interference from management, but we will withdraw this request should you agree to voluntarily recognize our union (in principle) by close of business on Friday, May 1st — International Workers' Day. We would much rather the company choose to voluntarily partner with us, but we are still proceeding with the election request to ensure a timely resolution to union certification. Should you agree to voluntary recognition in principle, we are available to coordinate an independent card check to confirm our supermajority support and finalize the agreement.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Official website: https://unitedwizardsofthecoast.com/