A Hasbro conference call from April 27 has confirmed Magic: The Gathering revenue for Q1 2023 is up 16% on the previous year. “The fundamentals of Magic, our first billion-dollar brand, are strong, with new growth, player engagement, and player sentiment all pointing in the right direction”, says Hasbro CEO and former Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks.
According to Hasbro, there are plenty of factors contributing to MTG’s growth. A press release from Thursday lists the “higher-than-expected performance” of Phyrexia: All Will Be One as one factor. Older sets are also mentioned – according to Hasbro, Modern Horizons 2 became MTG’s first $200 million set in the first quarter of 2023.
Universes Beyond also apparently plays a major role. In the conference call, Cocks calls last year’s Warhammer 40k Commander decks, which are now on their fourth reprint, “one of our best-selling Commander decks ever”. The MTG Lord of the Rings set is also apparently “one of [Hasbro’s] most successful pre-orders ever”. As Cocks says in the conference call, it seems “Magic is strong” right now.
While Magic has seen revenue growth, other Hasbro lines don’t seem quite as strong. The net revenues across Hasbro’s entire brand portfolio have declined from Q1 last year.
Franchise Brands (which include MTG and D&D, as well as Nerf, Play-doh, and Peppa Pig) have the smallest revenue gap. However, Thursday’s press release points out that, other than Wizards of the Coast’s two tabletop titles, nearly every other Franchise Brand dropped in revenue from last year (the one exception being Transformers).
Despite declines, Cocks says “first quarter results came in ahead of our expectations and position Hasbro to meet our full-year financial targets”.
Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming net revenue saw an overall increase of 12%, and Cocks says this is due to growth in both MTG and D&D. However, operating profit is down slightly from last year. From the conference call, it sounds like this is partly due to high levels of investment in Wizards’ “personnel, organised play events, and marketing for upcoming releases”.
“We expect MTG revenue to decline in the second quarter based on year-over-year release timing”, says the Hasbro press release. “Third quarter revenue is expected to increase on a strong release slate and robust ongoing demand for the game.” You can read more about Hasbro’s financial results in Thursday’s press release.
Keep an eye on the MTG 2023 release schedule for more Magic: The Gathering news. And if you’re looking to polish your favourite MTG Arena decks or nab some new MTG Arena codes, stick around on the Wargamer site.