Hasbro, parent company of Wizards of the Coast (WotC), has released its Third Quarter 2024 Financial Report and Magic: The Gathering continues to be the standout performer for the company.
While revenue for Hasbro declined 15 percent in the Q3, and revenue for WotC declined five percent, Magic revenue increased three percent behind growth in tabletop and MTG Arena.
The drop in WotC revenue was mainly due to the lap of Baldur’s Gate 3, with it more than offsetting the growth of Magic and Monopoly Go. Magic grew three percent behind the releases of Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House of Horror along with strong results from backlist, like Commander Decks, and Secret Lair drops. Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks called out the success of Magic’s intellectual property and new-player acquisition for Arena during the Hasbro Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call.
“Magic: The Gathering continues to be a standout, leading the Trading Card Game genre in growth year-to-date. This is despite big shoes to fill form last year’s blockbuster Lord of the Rings set,” Cocks said. “In Q3, Magic posted another quarter of growth led by our tentpole releases Bloomburrow and the horror-themed Duskmourn, showing how original Magic IP consistently delights fans. Arena posted solid growth, driven by Bloomburrow, and healthy engagement with the Standard format, with sequential upticks in new-player acquisition rates and weekly average user counts. Beyond the strength in tentpole sets we saw out-performance in backlist, particularly Commander Decks, as well Secret Lair, including a sold-out Festival in a Box ahead of this weekend’s MagicCon in Las Vegas.”
Gina Goetter, Hasbro’s CFO, pointed out that Q4 for WotC and Magic will be down in comparison to last year because 2024 doesn’t have an equivalent to the Lord of the Rings Holiday release like 2023 had. Goetter said it will all start to even out in 2025 thanks to the upcoming product lineup.
Cocks said it is tough to bet against Magic, because it has long legs and 2025 will be great. This sentiment comes on the heels of the announcement of five Marvel Secret Lair drops at New York Comic Con last week, and Hasbro is expecting all five to sell out immediately. On top of the Marvel Secret Lair drop announcements, MagicCon: Las Vegas will also reveal the full Magic set release schedule for 2025 tomorrow. Cocks mentioned that the year will include the first major set with Marvel — the Spider-Man set — along with the Final Fantasy set scheduled to release in June, and yet another Universes Beyond product still to be announced.
“At New York Comic Con, we announced the Spider-Man set, which will be the first major set we’re doing with Marvel. We have multiple sets that will happen over the next four or five years with Marvel, and you can imagine what a Spider-Man and Spider-Verse set might be able to do from a revenue perspective,” Cocks said. “As we look out to 2025, Magic’s going to be a core part of our thesis in terms of topline growth. We have Final Fantasy which will come out in June, we have the Spider-Man collaboration which will come out in the second half of the year, and we have a third Universes Beyond that we haven’t announced yet that fans will also really be clamoring for by the end of the year. The future of Magic looks pretty bright and when Magic is healthy Hasbro tends to be healthy.”
Star City Games will have an updated Magic: The Gathering Full Set Release Schedule For 2025, similar to this year’s guide, published tomorrow evening following the panel broadcast from MagicCon: Las Vegas.
Read the press release from Hasbro.
