WotC Hasbro Gaming Down 17% But D&D Remains 'Bright Spot'

ICv2 reports on Hasbro's latest quarterly report, noting that "Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons were two bright spots in Hasbro’s Q3, an otherwise tough quarter with sales and earnings both hit by actual and threatened tariffs on goods from China".

Other notes from ICv2:

• Hasbro Gaming, which does not include franchise brands Monopoly and Magic: The Gathering, was down 17%
• Total gaming sales, including Magic and Monopoly, were roughly flat, a big change from the 26% growth in Q2
• WotC has close to a dozen [digital] games in development for delivery over the next five to six years
• Hasbro believes that WotC sales can be doubled over the next five years, “…as we’ve accomplished over the past five years.”

 

[Celebrim]

Tough time to be in the toy business.

Good time though to play RPGs.

 

[darjr]

Wait, WotC sales doubled over the last five years? The duration of this edition? I would love to know how much of that was D&D.

 

[LordEntrails]

WotC has close to a dozen [digital] games in development for delivery over the next five to six years

Huh, why am I so ... suspicious that we will probably never see more than one of these and that will only be some sort of alpha demo?

 

[LordEntrails]

Wait, WotC sales doubled over the last five years? The duration of this edition? I would love to know how much of that was D&D.

No, it says "over the next five years"

 

[Morrus]

No, it says "over the next five years"

...”as we’ve accomplished over the past five years.”

 

[Rhianni32]

...”as we’ve accomplished over the past five years.”

Half the reason I swing by ENWorld is to see the regular zingers like this from you.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Huh, why am I so ... suspicious that we will probably never see more than one of these and that will only be some sort of alpha demo?

Since they're pinning a lot of hopes on these, I think we're very likely to see most of them. But it's entirely likely that half or more of these are mobile titles, and not Baldur's Gate IV or what have you.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

If one of those games is Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 3, I'll be happy.

• WotC has close to a dozen [digital] games in development for delivery over the next five to six years

 

[Jer]

I think this deserves a call-out too:

the acknowledgment that that “only a small percentage” of sales on Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons is captured by NPD data (that’s the percentage that goes through chains or online retailers such as Amazon);

"only a small perecentage" can mean a lot of things, I suppose, but to me this suggests that most D&D sales are still happening at the small retailer level rather than the big online sellers or the chains like B&N. Is there another way to read that claim that I'm not seeing?

(ETA: I mean, I get how that's probably true of MtG - I would not be surprised at all to find out that the majority of MtG sales are still through small retailers who are hosting local weekly tournaments and generating both draft buy-ins and impulse purchases. But D&D being lumped in there too is a surprise to me.)