The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

Magic: The Gathering Had Its "Best Year Ever", According to Hasbro CEO


Today, Hasbro reported its fourth-quarter revenue of $1.72 billion, up 4% from Q4 2019, beating analysts' expectations. The toy company's Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, and Monopoly were strong performers in the quarter. CEO Brian Goldner also revealed that Magic: The Gathering had its "best year ever" in 2020.

click to enlarge
Credit: Hasbro

Despite Hasbro's 5% year-over-year decrease in revenue from the company's other Franchise brands, Magic's revenues continued to soar throughout the year. Compared to 2019, Hasbro's overall revenue decreased 8% to $5.47 billion in 2020 when compared to the previous year. However, it's adjusted operating profit increased 15% to $825.7 million.

According to Goldner and CFO Deborah Thomas, Hasbro saw increase investment costs at Wizards of the Coast in 2020, and Thomas said that Hasbro is expecting returns on those investments in 2021.

Its gaming category posted a 27% rise in revenue to $561.2 million as Hasbro continued to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has decreased retail sales, it has also caused the rise in stay-at-home activities like streaming and game playing, both areas of strength for the toy company.

"In 2020, we lived our purpose of making the world a better place for all children and all families. In what was a most challenging year, the global Hasbro team fully demonstrated its resilience, tenacity, creativity, flexibility, and empathy," Goldner said in the earnings release.

With the upcoming release ofNetflix's Magic: The Gathering animated series,mobile release of MTG Arena,and theOpen Beta release of the upcoming ARPG gameMagic: Legends, Hasbro will continue to expand the popular card game franchise this year.

Related: Magic: Legends Senior Writer Winter Mullenix Reveals Game's Timeline & More Details

Goldner also confirmed that Magic: The Gathering Arena will be released for the iOS in the upcoming months, and it's expected to release sometime in 2021. You can try the Early Access for Android devices now.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Magic: the Gathering page.