WotC Hasbro Earnings Call: WotC/BG3 carrying Hasbro

[Henadic Theologian]

Wizards of the Coast revenue up $120m amid Hasbro slump

Hasbro's revenue continues to fall while its Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming segment grows $120m, bolstered this quarter by BG3 and Monopoly.

www.wargamer.com

Pretty juicy news and it could help explain what looking like a big bump in D&D books being released next year. It still annoys me we don't have the full slate announced yet.

I think Larian Studios hadls to be under alot of pressure by Hasbro to do an expansion DLC.

Monopoly Go another good earner.

Btw The Lord of the Rings set for MtG is the second set to make over $200,000,000 ,

So no surprise Marvel is going to its own full release set next year like Middle Earth got, along with the other releases for next year.

D&D up by 18% btw, MtG 20%. Digital Gaming doubled. Hasbro as a whole down 10%.

So for next year 3 new core books, Vecna/D&D 50th, Rod of Seven Parts, Infinite Stair Case, and maybe one or two more things.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Btw The Lord of the Rings set for MtG is the second set to make over $200,000,000 ,

And probably the last. I can feel it happening - Magic is heading for a cliff. They dug too deep in their attempt to "monetise" their product and hit the Arkenstone with the LotR set - its success looks shiny and impressive, but it portends DOOM from obsessive greed. Mark my words.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And probably the last. I can feel it happening - Magic is heading for a cliff. They dug too deep in their attempt to "monetise" their product and hit the Arkenstone with LotR set - its success looks great on paper, but it portends DOOM from obsessive greed. Mark my words.

I think as long as they don't mess it up, Marvel Set will do fine, but yeah eventually it's going to crash, and it could collapse Hasbro with it.

 

[Alzrius]

And probably the last. I can feel it happening - Magic is heading for a cliff. They dug too deep in their attempt to "monetise" their product and hit the Arkenstone with LotR set - its success looks great on paper, but it portends DOOM from obsessive greed. Mark my words.

I was going to say, while it's just a vague suspicion on my part with nothing to back it up, I wonder how much the LotR set got a sales boost from people looking for that one-and-only One Ring card (that Post Malone eventually snagged).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think as long as they don't mess it up, Marvel Set will do fine, but yeah eventually it's going to crash, and it could collapse Hasbro with it.

The Marvel set will do fine, I agree. (Though it's quite likely that it will be over-ordered, but we'll have to see). No, it's not down to any specific upcoming set - it's just the overall direction. I've been selling Magic for 30 years, and I can almost literally feel the chasm opening in front of us. It's giving me vertigo. It's sad, too - magic spent 25 of those 30 years as the "perfect" product! It takes up very little real-estate for its potential return. I don't think that it'll die completely (even if its collapse destroys Hasbro - it'll sell off to someone who will (hopefully) respect it enough to shepherd it correctly) but it could take a decade to recover from the last 3 years.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I was going to say, while it's just a vague suspicion on my part with nothing to back it up, I wonder how much the LotR set got a sales boost from people looking for that one-and-only One Ring card (that Post Malone eventually snagged).

It got a MASSIVE boost from that. I can tell you FOR SURE. I'd guess 40-50% of its overall sales.

 

[Lanefan]

I was going to say, while it's just a vague suspicion on my part with nothing to back it up, I wonder how much the LotR set got a sales boost from people looking for that one-and-only One Ring card (that Post Malone eventually snagged).

They could easily do something similar with a Marvel-based release: six unique cards, each represnting one power stone.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The Marvel set will do fine, I agree. (Though it's quite likely that it will be over-ordered, but we'll have to see). No, it's not down to any specific upcoming set - it's just the overall direction. I've been selling Magic for 30 years, and I can almost literally feel the chasm opening in front of us. It's giving me vertigo. It's sad, too - magic spent 25 of those 30 years as the "perfect" product! It takes up very little real-estate for its potential return. I don't think that it'll die completely (even if its collapse destroys Hasbro - it'll sell off to someone who will (hopefully) respect it enough to shepherd it correctly) but it could take a decade to recover from the last 3 years.

For me the Phyrexian Arc (Dominaria United, Brothers War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, and Aftermath), especially the last two, just absolutely ruined MtG for me, even with the these two Awsome, amazing rescent sets with Wilds of Eldraine and Lost Caverns of Ixalan, I can't make myself play them.

Personally at this point they should just fold MtG's setting into D&D, to salvage whatever is salvageable.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They could easily do something similar with a Marvel-based release: six unique cards, each represnting one power stone.

And 1 of a kind completed Infinity Gaunlet written in Thanos' native tongue. Only one available in the whole world to be bought by Post Malone again.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

For me the Phyrexian Arc (Dominaria United, Brothers War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, March of the Machine, and Aftermath), especially the last two, just absolutely ruined MtG for me, even with the these two Awsome, amazing rescent sets with Wilds of Eldraine and Lost Caverns of Ixalan, I can't make myself play them.

Personally at this point they should just fold MtG's setting into D&D, to salvage whatever is salvageable.

I may have come in doom-saying, but I'm not sure that it's quite THAT drastic - YET. It's possible that they will course-correct in time to not totally go off the cliff with their foot on the gas, but the damage is done when it comes to a slump, which at this point is pretty inevitable. You can tell that THEY know it, from the new "Play" Booster fusing Draft and Set boosters into one. That's them putting on some breaks, but not anywhere near enough break yet. Gear down, WotC! Gear DOWN.