Hasbro, parent company of Wizards of the Coast (WotC), is reported to be testing a new video game version of Commander — Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format — that would be separate from MTG Arena and Magic Online, according to an article from Bloomberg.
The interview with Hasbro CEO, Chris Cocks, makes it clear that Hasbro and WotC are putting more resources into video games after the smashing success of Baldur’s Gate 3. Hasbro has invested $1 billion in video game development, and Cocks has allocated around $100-150 million a year for more games. In addition to the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons and a GI Joe video games that are in the works, Hasbro is looking to tap into the collectability and multiplayer environment from Commander with a future game that can excel where MTG Arena comes up short.
While virtually nothing is known about this new video game version of Commander, Hasbro and Cocks wants the digital cards to be more collectible — something both Marvel Snap and the recently released Pokémon TCG Pocket have done to massive success. Cocks hinted at this back in April during the Hasbro First Quarter 2024 Financial Report earnings call where he said Hasbro has a multi-year plan to invest in the areas of social-based play and collectability in the hopes to refresh the MTG Arena platform.
“We continue to invest in Arena, we continue to mimic all the card sets that are inside of it, and we are also investing over the long-term to refresh the platform, so you will be hearing more about that over the coming next couple of years,” Cocks said durin the call. ” It will be a long-term digital project. When you look at Magic and where our growth has been, a lot of that growth has been in social-based play like Commander and in collectability. So, certainty we will be investing in those areas on the digital platform over the long-term.”
It’s possible those plans have shifted from MTG Arena to this new Commander video game as updates from MTG Arena developers have quieted in recent years on the subject of the client implementing the game mode.
Read the original article from Bloomberg.
