Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) could be a real opportunity for the company in the first quarter earnings call on Monday.
Goldner was asked about the growing interest in NFTs in the Q&A session of the call following a question about the growth of MTG Arena, which has seen 24% growth from a year ago.
“The NFTs are a real opportunity for us. As you know, we have so many brands that really operate on multiple demographic levels. Whether it’s Transformers, whether it’s Magic and the D&D brands, brands like G.I. Joe,” Goldner said. “We have a team that’s leading our effort out of the west coast. We have our arms around this and see multiple opportunities on the NFT side, and you’ll hear more about that as we move forward. But we are actively developing our opportunity here, and we do see it as substantial.”
The earnings call also stated that WotC and Digital Gaming is up 15% compared to the first quarter of 2020. Both Magic and Dungeons & Dragons are up double digits in the quarter, with WotC’s 2021 first quarter revenue growing to $242 million. Goldner said on the call that Kaldheim was the biggest winter set of all time and expects the second quarter to be even better for Magic with Modern Horizons 2 coming along with the Dungeon & Dragons themed set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
Goldner said with the release of MTG Arena on all mobile devices, users are averaging nine hours per week on the game with more than 3.5 billion games played since its launch.
See the first quarter 2021 financial results here and listen to the earnings call here.