Last updated on February 20, 2025
Smothering Tithe | Illustration by Mark Behm
Hasbro (HAS) released its 2024 financial report, and Wizards of the Coast remains its shining star – even though Magic: The Gathering's revenue dropped 1% last year.
Cooling off slightly after a record year, MTG brought in $1.08 billion in revenue, a slight decrease from 2023. This may seem like a red flag at first, but it’s important to remember that 2023 was an all-time high, largely fueled by the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Universes Beyond crossover. This is even more notable when looking at WotC's Q4 Performance: Sales dipped 19% in the final quarter, again due to the lack of a mega-hit like LOTR during the holiday season.
Source: Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call – Supporting Material
WotC's results are nevertheless solid, with revenue up by 4% and yearly operating profits growing from about 530 to 630 million between 2023 and 2024 – the digital bet has paid off massively for WotC, with the Digital and Licensed Gaming segment contributing to most of WOTC's growth.
Source: Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call – Supporting Material
Source: Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call – Supporting Material
Hasbro's report makes it a bit unclear to parse things in too much detail when it comes to Magic, because WotC's main brands (Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering) both have tabletop and digital offerings – in other words, this report lumps together MTG Play boosters and D&D rulebooks. But even with a 1% dip, Magic: The Gathering remains a billion-dollar brand:
Source: Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call – Supporting Material
Hasbro’s “Playing to Win” Strategy – What’s Changing?
Hasbro also revealed its long-term strategy through 2027, called “Playing to Win.” The goal? Shift Hasbro’s focus toward gaming, digital expansion, and high-margin products like Magic, with a pretty ambitious growth goal: to expand the company’s global audience from 500 million today, to 750 million by 2027.
Hasbro also provided us cardboard junkies with the perfect rebuttal for whenever somebody calls our hobby “a kids' game”: Hasbro overall wants to expand collectible appeal for fans aged 13+, with a clear focus on older audiences (and looks like we MTG players are past our 30th birthday on average, but, I mean, who's counting?).
It's also a safe bet that Universes Beyond won't stop coming – this is probably not news to anybody that has been following MTG closely, but today's financial report and “Play to Win” announcement makes it clear that licensing is Hasbro's way forward.
Source: Hasbro Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call – Supporting Material
According to the report, Hasbro has scaled to become the third largest entertainment licensor on the planet (something they had already achieved by mid-2024, only behind Disney and Warner Bros) and the biggest in digital games (probably thanks to the insane success from Scopely’s “MONOPOLY GO!”, the fastest mobile game to ever pocket $3 billion.)
Wrap Up
Unexpected Windfall | Illustration by Alayna Danner
Friendly reminder that this is not investment advice, folks…
Source: TradingView
… but at the time of writing, the market seems pretty happy about Hasbro's stock, which has been steadily rising this month and jumped from about $61 to $66 since yesterday.
Wizards of the Coast remains Hasbro’s most profitable division; even with Magic: The Gathering’s slight dip, the company is in a strong position heading into 2025. Hasbro's full-year operating profit rose to $690 million (from a $1.548 billion loss in 2023), and adjusted operating profit reached $839 million (up from $700 million), putting it in a good path.
Can Spider-Man and Cloud give Frodo and Gandalf a run for their money, and reverse Magic's 1% dip in 2025?
We're just about to find out!
Follow Draftsim for awesome articles and set updates:
Add Comment