Hasbro is best known for manufacturing decades worth of toys, but the North American multinational corporation also deals in electronic entertainment. As rights holder of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)—via its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary—Hasbro has enjoyed monumental success with a particular video game development partner. In 2023, Larian Studios released the full version of Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3) to widespread critical acclaim, quickly followed by impressive sales figures. Since then, the Belgian outfit has moved away from making licensed D&D content. In a curious turn of events, CRPG fans playing on Nintendo platforms have restarted chatter about BG3 potentially heading to current-gen hybrid hardware. Late last month, Doug Bowser retired from his President + COO positions chez Nintendo of America.

In a surprise move, the long-time computer game industry exec has just joined the Board of Directors at Hasbro. Earlier this week, Rich Stoddart (chairman) welcomed two new members: "we are delighted to have Doug (Bowser) and Carla (Vernón) join our seasoned and dynamic (Board)...Doug and Carla bring extensive leadership experience across consumer brands and franchise management. Their expertise and guidance will be invaluable as Hasbro continues to execute its long-term innovation and growth strategy." Before his ten-year-long spell at Nintendo's Seattle, WA area-based HQ, Bowser worked as VP of global demand planning at Electronic Arts. Half-jokingly, the computer gaming community believes that the former NoA boss could hold enough weight to convince Swen Vincke & Co. to port Baldur's Gate 3 over to Switch 2. After all, Larian managed to get a slightly compromised version of Divinity: Original Sin II to run on the original Switch console. A Switch 2 Edition launched last month; better hardware enabled higher resolutions and frame rates.