Magic: The Gathering continues to see massive success this year, and it looks like the digital free-to-play version of Wizards of the Coast's trading card game, Magic: The Gathering Arena, is increasing its revenues, and Hasbro has plans to invest in the growth of the popular franchise.
Hasbro recently shared its Q3 2019 earnings presentation, and it revealed that Magic: The Gathering Arena has been profitable for the company, and thanks to its success, Hasbro has plans to invest in long-term marketing and product development for Magic: The Gathering.
"Revenue growth was driven by Magic: The Gathering Arena and Transformers: Bumblebee film revenues, partially offset by lower digital streaming revenues for Hasbro television programming," the Q3 Earnings report stated. Hasbro also stated its plans to "launch and grow new areas" of their business, such as Magic: The Gathering Arena and esports initiatives from Wizards of the Coast.
On Slide 16 of the Q3 Presentation, Hasbro mentioned that one of the "unfavourable" aspects to their lower Operating Profit in comparison to Q3 2018 is the "Advertising and Product Development for Magic Arena and future digital games." It looks like the company is spending more this Q3 compared to last Q3 on developing Arena.
This report shows that Hasbro's isn't slowing down MTG's growth, and that the franchise continues to be successful this year after seeing great results in Q1, Q2, and now Q3 of 2019.
Last July, MTG head designer Mark Rosewater told the Command Zone that the "second quarter of 2019 was the best Magic's ever done ever."
Since at least the 3rd quarter of 2018, Magic has been a major area of growth for Hasbro. In Q1 2019, Hasbro's earnings went up 20% thanks to profits from "most notably Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly."
Last April, Brian Goldner, Hasbro's chairman and chief executive officer told Mad Moneythat tabletop Magic: The Gathering is growing and Magic Arena is driving more in-store growth and new players. A Hasbro spokesperson also said in an earnings call that "In fact, tabletop has shown increased momentum" alongside digital growth.
With Magic's new Pioneer format and Arena's development plans, it looks like Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have a clear vision to invest for MTG's continued growth and success in the near future.
Related: MTG Fans React to The New Pioneer Format
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Magic: the Gathering