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Magic: The Gathering Arena is Having 'Strongest Period Since Launch' Despite COVID-19 Pandemic


Despite the struggles some industries are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast's free-to-play digital card game Magic: The Gathering Arena is doing well, according to Hasbro chairman and CEO Brian Goldner, as he recently revealed that Magic: The Gathering revenue has increased "significantly" in the first quarter of 2020.

Goldner shared the update during Hasbro's earnings call on Wednesday, saying that January through March 2020 has been a period of significant growth for MTG Arena, the major digital version of the popular collectible card game, revealing that Q1 was Arena's "strongest period since launch".

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Credit: Wizards of the Coast

Arena's success is not surprising since the game grew at a time when more MTG players were opting to stay indoors while retailers that host Magic events are temporarily closed to comply with social distancing standards. Despite the delay of the tabletop version of the latest MTG set, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, Wizards launched Ikoria on schedule in Arena and Magic Online (the older digital version of MTG). Wizards also worked with local game stores to shift gameplay events like Friday Night Magic to Arena instead.

According to Goldner, Preorders for the monster-themed set Ikoria were the strongest ever for any set released digitally on MTG Arena. What Goldner reported reflects a recent analysis that revealed that Arena is one of the most impactful PC games of Q1 2020.

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Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is now available on Magic: The Gathering Arena, and it's also available for tabletop play in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and everywhere else on May 15. Commander 2020 will also be released on May 15.

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