Magic: The Gathering Made an Estimated $500 Million For Hasbro Last Year, Will Tap Into Market ‘Upwards of 250 million'

Hasbro Inc. has huge hopes for Magic: The Gathering as it plans to tap into a market of upwards of 250 million fans.

According to the company, the online incarnation of the popular trading card game, Magic: The Gathering Arena, is a hit, and the expectations are high when the game officially launches later this year. Hasbro and its subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, have been testing an open beta version of MTG Arena since September, and according to Hasbro, over a billion games have been played on the PC version. The hope is that MTG Arena will draw in a larger crowd.

Brett Andress, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, estimated (via Bloomberg) nearly 3 million active users will be playing MTG Arena by the end of this year, and that could grow to nearly 11 million by 2021 —especially if they release a mobile version for the game. That number is still not close to its rival, Hearthstone, which has an estimated 70 million to 80 million registered users and earns annual revenue of more than $600 million, Keybanc estimates.

According to Wizards of the Coast President Chris Cocks, there's a market of about 250 million people who are into collectible- or trading-card games such as Magic, and that Arena could "appeal to a very large number of those players."

Hasbro's "franchise brands" that includes Magic, accounted for $2.45 billion in net revenue for the company last year, and Cocks said that MTG accounts for a "meaningful portion" of that. According to KeyBanc, Magic's estimated contributions are already more than $500 million—including both the physical cards and digital version. Of Hasbro's franchise brands, only Magic and Monopoly showed revenue gains last year, with My Little Pony, Nerf, Play-Doh, and Transformers all down.

Back in April, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner shared some amazing insights about Magic: The Gathering, talking about how the popular card game is bringing a lot of growth for the company. They're also planning to release a new MTG mobile game called Valor's Reach.

Watch our new Magic Arena video below:

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