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Elon Musk has a reputation for disrupting industries. When you’re one of the richest people in the world, it only takes a few words to get people to take notice of a company. That’s what happened recently when Musk mentioned tabletop role-playing Dungeons & Dragons and its parent company, Hasbro.
Elon Musk defends Gary Gygax
Wizards of the Coast released The making of the original D&D: 1970 – 1977 as part of the game’s 50th anniversary celebration this year. The book examines the original design documents, letters and an early version of the game. These documents have been carefully reproduced to give fans a look at how the game went from a collection of handwritten notes and typewritten pages to the experience loved by millions today.
The book’s opening foreword notes that some of the content may be uncomfortable for some modern audiences. After the book’s original publication, this section sparked heavy debate on social media. Some readers appreciated the reveal while others felt the presentation disrespected Gary Gygax, the person cited as the main creative force behind Dungeons & Dragons.
The book was offered at a deep discount as an early Black Friday deal on Amazon. A fresh infusion of readers caused the discussion to catch fire once again on social media. Except this time, Musk decided to weigh in with his opinion.
The latest edition has taken steps to move away from some of the opinions and design choices made by Gygax in his version of the game. of 2024 Players Handbook moved from “races” to “species” and character stats took away from that aspect of the characters and moved it to their backgrounds. Wizards claimed that the new version of the core book is the best-selling D&D book in the history of the game.
Elon Musk marvels at Hasbro’s asking price
The debate continued to simmer over the past week. It mostly focused on whether Gygax was a figure to be revered, someone to be relegated to the dustbin of history or as a person with a complicated legacy that each fan must decide for themselves how to deal with. Then on Wednesday, Nov. 27, Musk responded to a tweet in a way that had the industry wondering if he was returning his disruptive ways to Hasbro.
Hasbro reported $4.32 billion in revenue last year. It has $3.99 billion in reported debt. Shares traded as high as $73.46 and as high as $45.87.
Will Elon Musk Buy Hasbro?
Hasbro looks like a much cheaper acquisition for Musk than X, formerly known as Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion. The toy company has struggled in recent years due to a sluggish market for toys and collectibles. Wizards of the Coast has proven to be a great place for the company thanks to the revival D&D and they are extremely popular and profitable Magic: The Gathering.
Musk has a lot on his plate running multiple companies like X, Neuralink, Tesla and SpaceX. He has also been a very active part of President-elect Trump’s transition team and has been tapped to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy. Hasbro may be too small for his attention, or it may become a hobby in itself for the entrepreneur.
The only thing that is reliable about Elon Musk is his unpredictability. Time will tell if this was a momentary social media distraction or if he decides to enter the tabletop industry. Wherever he goes, discord follows him.