While Magic is, at its heart, a physical game, it has been making serious strides into the digital in recent years. MTG Arena helped keep the lights on when game stores were closed during Covid, and it’s retained a significant user base ever since. MTG Online, while dated, is still a go-to space for many competitive players. These digital gaming options are important, in other words. And thanks to a new commitment from Hasbro, they may be getting a lot better before long.
The Hasbro Digital Gaming Gambit
This was revealed in Hasbro’s quarterly earnings report for Q2 of 2024. Although times have been tough for the toy titan as of late, Hasbro actually exceeded its sales expectations this quarter. Specifically with regards to Wizards of the Coast and their digital gaming sector. Both saw a promising 20% increase in revenue, which is great in anyone’s book.
Discussing this, Hasbro pointed to a few key factors. The continued success of MTG, naturally, played a large part. The smash-hit release of Modern Horizons 3 last month contributed a lot to this, but it wasn’t the only thing. Revenue from the company’s other digital enterprises, specifically Baldur’s Gate 3 and Monopoly Go!, was also cited as a reason for this newfound success.
With its digital gaming arm performing so well, Hasbro is now looking to raise the stakes. On their quarterly earnings call, CEO Chris Cocks noted that the company is “going all in on becoming a digital play company.” He also referenced the recent appointment of John Hight as WotC President as part of this. Hight was a major figure at Blizzard Entertainment for over a decade, so bringing in someone of that caliber is a surefire sign that this commitment to digital excellence is not a half-hearted one.
What This Means For Magic
Naturally, a shift in focus like this has big implications for the future. Both within the scope of MTG and beyond. Plans for a Baldur’s Gate 4 are already in motion and Monopoly Go! shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. Combined with the new “international publishing deal” mentioned in the report, Hasbro’s non-Magic offerings are looking strong indeed.
As for Magic itself, this new digital gaming focus could be a huge blessing. MTG Arena is a beloved client, certainly, but it’s not as feature-rich as many would like. You can’t sit down to a game of Commander on there, for instance. Even Pioneer isn’t fully featured yet, with the placeholder format Explorer still sitting in its spot for now. Both of these formats are already being worked on, but this new announcement could spur them along.
Of course, things could go in a different direction. While Alchemy hasn’t been particularly well-received thus far, Wizards could use this refocus as an opportunity to try again, in an attempt to compete with the likes of Hearthstone and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. Many in the community would be averse to such a move, but it’s certainly one they could make.
Leaning more into the digital side of things could, in a certain light, be seen as a pivot away from the physical. Something which would be a huge problem for Magic. I highly doubt this will be the case, though. Physical Magic is one of Hasbro’s biggest earners, and jeopardizing that would be foolish.
This is all pure speculation for now. We’ll see the consequences of Hasbro’s digital gambit in the weeks and months to come. Hopefully, they’ll be a net good for the MTG community.
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